From Italy with love. A fine vintage Campania guidebook longing for a cozy shelf.

It´s raining cats and dogs at my place, it´s flipping cold and windy and myriads away from "im wunderschönen Monat Mai" and Heinrich Heine. Maybe a nice armchair traveling to Italy would help. Forget about the Italy of today, dream of the alltime dreamland of chilled-to-the-bones Europeans and North Americans; of blossoming lemon and spicy-smelling pine trees, singing cicadas, a warm night in spring, with a fresh breeze from the Mediterranean, caressing your face, red vine and pasta on the terrace, watching beautiful signore and attractive signori passing by; ancient ruins and brandnew fiat cars, bella figura and mamma mia, fashion, masses of cell phones and Pater Pio, big drama in the streets, canzone and Capri by night - all that kitschy folklore stuff a hearty dose of we´re all in need of from time to time, like a little child needs a lollipop or an addict his shot.

The best way to travel to your pittoresque private Italy without leaving your cozy armchair, is studying a richly illustrated guidebook. Leave the Italy of a Silvio Berlusconi and his Comedy of Errors and School for Wives to the
media and reach for a fine vintage guide to console your shivering soul. Like this one that joined my stock one of these days: it´s about
Campania in southern Italy.

Guide D´Italia: Campania. Napoli. La Campania fra il Garigliano e il Sele e le isole partenopee. Il Cilento eil Vallo di Diano. Fabbri Editori, Milano 1985, 276 pages, with a bibliography and a register. The book is far more than a simple guidebook but a high quality first introduction into Campanian history, culture and landscape,conceived and written under the scientific guidance of Umberto Bonapace, a well-reputed expert for geographic studies from Novarra: his opus magnum, a 5 vol. world geographical encyclopedia, was
translated to English.

The said guidebook is in a very fine vintage condition, with very mildly tanned pages, a red ribbon and a decent odeur pleasing to the nose; the photos the book is packed with are not kitschy but tasteful with pleasant colors and in a good style, so is the washable cover, illustrated with a scenic color photo of Naples. The relatively large volume is rather heavy and made for the domestic coffee table and not for your purse or your rucksack;-). Who is interested in purchasing the book and is in need of further information should contact me via e-mail. The copy I have in stock is the only one available on the internet at the moment. It feels fine at my place, but is longing for a cozy shelf at a true coinnaisseur´s home;-). Help yourself!