This vademecum had its origin as a few pages of notes and couple of articles the author would photocopy for friends and relatives who were making a trip to Italy—as something to “take along” to read on the plane heading to Rome’s Fumicino airport, or while waiting for a vaporetto in Venice, on the train down to Pompeii, or while relaxing over a cappuccino at a café in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria. Gradually, the pages grew in number as the author’s own encounters with his “favorite country” expanded as a traveler, tour guide and lecturer resulting in historical articles, film studies, scripts, essays and travelogues. Hthis compilation that is neither guidebook, nor memoir, but the observations and impressions of a knowledgeable and familiar traveling companion, to accompany one on an Italian sojourn, or to revive its memories in a comfortable chair at home.
