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Italian Journeys

By: Jonathan Keates
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
ISBN: 0434384860
ISBN-13: 9780434384860
Released: 13 May 1991
RRP: £16.00
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Customer Reviews

Entertaining and idiosyncratic - By: Jeremy Walton, 08 Oct 2008
I found this in a second-hand bookshop a few years ago, & picked it up prior to a Roman holiday. I've re-read it a couple of times (most recently while in Venice a couple of weeks ago), & found it enjoyable & interesting. Throughout a variety of pieces set alll over Northern Italy, the author confesses to being hopelessly in love with the country, the language, the people, the buildings & the food, so this is a pretty good book to read if you were unsure about whether visiting that country was a good idea. However, it's not a guidebook, but a series of personal impressions. Thus, a glance at the index reveals the geographical coverage to be wildly uneven (Venice gets three chapters to itself, while Rome is mentioned on two pages). This idiosyncracy can be intriguing: for example, there's a lengthy attempt to set out the appeal of Modena, which - as the author admits - is a place that Italians never visit "if they can help it". I'm not sure if I'd ever end up visiting it either, but it's nice to read about it.