What's Inside
This volume gathers dozens of distinct excursions across the Mediterranean and the Alps, moving from the physical labor of mowers in the Umbrian sun to the sparkling gala nights at Milan’s Scala Theatre. The pieces blend architectural scrutiny with landscape painting, contrasting the ‘sooty torrents’ of Etna against the roseate whiteness of ridged snow. Beyond the geography, the collection functions as a cultural inventory, mapping how Italian literature informed English giants like Milton and Chaucer, and analyzing the ‘realism’ of Sienese sonneteers. It is an account of a traveler who studies the dust of Arausio as closely as the operatic fashions of Lombardy.
Works & figures
- Correggio
Renaissance painter whose decorative mastery dominates the churches and cathedral of Parma. (in “PARMA”)
- Goldoni
Comic author whose memoirs represent a specific pole of the Italian character. (in “TWO DRAMATISTS OF THE LAST CENTURY”)
- Alfieri
Tragedian whose vivid autobiography is contrasted with the comic works of Goldoni. (in “TWO DRAMATISTS OF THE LAST CENTURY”)
- Folgore da San Gemignano
Sienese poet noted for a fresh, realistic style resembling missal-margin miniatures. (in “FOLGORE DA SAN GEMIGNANO”)
- Orange
A town in Provence housing a stupendous and indestructible Roman theatre. (in “OLD TOWNS OF PROVENCE”)
- Mount Etna
A snow-crowned volcanic pyramid that has blackened the land for miles with lava. (in “ETNA”)
What it's really about
- Cultural Continuity
- Tracking Roman influence in Provence and Italian influence on English literature.
- Landscape as Spirit
- Mapping colors and altitudes of mountains to spiritual and purgatorial stages.
Why it's memorable
- Thirty grey oxen with crimsoned horns standing against the sunset on an Umbrian hill.
- The massive wall of the theatre at Orange looming over narrow, dirty modern streets.
Where to start
Start with 'The Love of the Alps' for a sensory introduction to the physical relief of leaving the dusty plains for the Swiss mountains.
For your book club
- The distinction between Greek focus on art and Roman focus on iron-willed administration.
- The way Italian court society first developed the refinements of modern domestic life.