Exploring Tuscany's Chianti Countryside: Four Excursions Out from Radda and Gaiole in Chianti Book

Henry Vollum Morton (how could I resist his full name?) did not cover the whole of Italy in his travels here, but rather a chunk in the middle of the country.

He writes with such knowledge I presumed he was an historian, but he was a journalist, working for The Express and The Times in London. His learning melts seamlessly into the writing - which is effortlessly peppered with history, art, architecture, anecdotes, observations and meetings with different people.

I found the book rather patchy though. I enjoyed the beginning - his explorings in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria were wonderful....and the section on Venice was an absolute delight, but I found the final bit - about Tuscany - rather boring.

The book is also quite detailed in its discussions about people and events in major Italian families - and the ins and outs of these discussions were rather too complex for me to follow, even with the help of an appendix at the end of the book citing the main players & their relationships.

Most of all I enjoyed his quirky stories....
Re the Scala Opera House in Milan : "Here opera lovers would arrive with their servants and their dinners, which were heated up in a restaurant on the premises. The boxes had sitting rooms with fireplaces and card tables....and the Grand Duke's box even had a bedroom." Berlioz mentions in his Mémoires that he could not follow the opera because of the clatter of cutlery."

I would have given the book another star had his observations about Tuscany been as pleasurable as the previous chapters.