A Traveller in Southern Italy

About A Traveller in Southern Italy

 

'Easily this century's best general English book on the Mezzogiorno - Campagnia, Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria. Selective, but generous; particularly strong on Apulia, whose glories receive their due at last, on popular piety, pagan survival and - unfashionable traveller - on people. Read it first, but do not leave it behind either'

The Times

 

The vivid story of a journey by road through Italy's southern regions, by one of our greatest travel writers.

 

When the Autostrade del Sole extended south from Naples to the Reggio di Calabria, Morton seized the chance to explore a part of Italy comparatively unknown (as it still is) to travellers.

 

From the mountains of Abruzzi he went to the 'heel' and 'toe' of Italy, with their memories of Magna Graecia; and he explored the undeveloped rivieras of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian coastlines.

 

Everywhere he went he found himself - characteristically - fascinated by the people, their folklore and traditions. In Cocullo he saw the local saint's statue carried through town, covered with living snakes; in Bari, he attended the annual feast where the statue of St Nicholas is taken out to sea for a day; and in the 'deep south', he found people who believe that a cure for being poisoned by the tarantula spider is to dance the 'tarantella' until they fall down exhausted. Lively, intimate, informative and personable, this, like all of Morton's books is travel writing at its very finest.

The Author

H. V. Morton

 

H. V. Morton (1892–1979) was one of the most popular travel writers of his time. After a brief period of military service he established a career as a journalist and became a reporter for both The Daily Express and The Daily Herald. H. V. Morton’s debut as an author came in 1927 with In Search of England, a book that became a best seller. His genial writing style endeared him to the countless readers of the books he wrote about his travels around the British Isles, Spain, Italy and the Middle East between 1927 and 1950. In 1941 H. V. Morton accompanied the delegation which travelled to Newfoundland for the meeting between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill which established the Allied policy for post Second World War Europe, known as the Atlantic Charter. Morton was famously present at the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter and his team in 1922. After the Second World War, H. V. Morton emigrated to South Africa where he lived until his death in 1979.

Rights

Methuen holds the rights to this title in the territories listed below:

• WAL - World All languages

Reviews

 

'Easily the 20th century's best general English book on the Mezzogiorno - Campagnia, Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria. Selective, but generous; particularly strong on Apulia, whose glories receive their due at last, on popular piety, pagan survival and - unfashionable traveller - on people. Read it first, but do not leave it behind either'

The Times

 

'This veteran Fleet Street reporter was quiet simply peerless as a travel writer'

Nottingham Evening Post

 

'The master of his genre, often imitated but never matched. His books are genuine classics'

Jan Morris