Calabria. A dramatic peninsula of rugged mountains & windswept coastlines facing Sicily
- `the most beautiful kilometre in Italy`
- wrote Gabriele d` Annunzio of its coastline. Though steeped in a rich & ancient past, Calabria had been lost from view when Norman Douglas visited in the early 1900s. Long familiar with southern Italy, the region captivated him & the wild & unspoilt landscape inspired him. Tracing a typically adventurous route from the promontory of Gargano in the north
- linked in ancient times with Byzantium
- to the southern tip of Aspromonte, he scaled vast mountain ranges, trekked through dense forest & crossed remote & often dangerous countryside. Within Douglas` vibrant account of his adventures is woven the rich history
- from Greek settlers & Roman conquerors to the powerful ` Ndrangheta organized crime family
- that has shaped the l&, language, culture & people of a place that Douglas grew to adore. Witty, erudite & elegant, ” Old Calabria” is a literary classic, acclaimed as much for its sparkling prose as for its exquisite portrait of Italy`s most unpredictable & colorful region.