Italian expat, here. Maybe I can help (even if I haven't read it - yet: I have read the Italian reviews when it was published). You are correct in mentioning

Italian expat, here. Maybe I can help (even if I haven't read it - yet: I have read the Italian reviews when it was published). You are correct in mentioning that it is "not too different" from Focault's Pendulum. Let say that while F.P. was mostly about esoteric sects and the people who believe in supernatural, this one is more about conspiracy theories (Italian post-war history and politics are full of events that have never been explained in a satisfactory manner) and how media can use "information" no matter if it real or fabricated, to bargain for power. The meta-themes about real and fake might be universally interesting, but I wonder if the book can really be enjoyed by readers that have not been living in Italy for at least two decades.