If you would like a little break from Tuscany, Umbria or even Rome, you'll enjoy
a more provincial part of Italy, Basilicata, at the instep of the boot.

"Seasons" may not be as engaging as "Dances With Luigi: A Grandson's Determined Quest to Comprehend Italy and the Italians" by Paul Paolicelli, but if
you're Antecedents were from Southern Italy, it will surely help you "connect".
=================================================================================
AUTHOR PORTRAYS REMOTE AREA OF ITALY

"Seasons in Basilicata"
David Yeadon, HarperCollins,
463 pages. $25.95.

Associated Press
By Ray Locker
October 31, 2004

After spending a year in Provence or lounging under the Tuscan sun or riding the Patagonian express, readers of contemporary travel writing can be forgiven if they've become a bit jaded by the quirky plumber or the telephones that never work or the balky bureaucracy of the writer's chosen country.

In each, there's always that special place that beckons the cognoscenti, the unique cheese or aperitif or mouth-blistering moonshine that captures the essence of each locale. While the reader can visit these places after reading the book, there's a haunting sense that his trip will never quite cut it, that the author was the last person to see it before the inevitable Starbucks franchise nabs the last empty storefront in the local piazza.

Rising above cliches

So it's understandable that a reader may view David Yeadon's "Seasons in Basilicata" with a sense of dread. After all, the book fits the pattern: A writer spends a year somewhere getting to know the locals and then writes about it.

Such travel books are loaded with stock characters, and this one is no different. There's sprightly Don Pierino, the local priest, and Vito Montemurro, the farmer and winemaker. But Yeadon rises above the cliche to write a delightful book about an obscure part of Italy with none of the cachet of Tuscany, or even Umbria for that matter.

Basilicata sits in the instep of Italy's boot, a poor region of southern Italy barely mentioned by Fodor's or Rick Steves or Lonely Planet. Its people are poor, and
so is the land. Few wax eloquent about the region's prosciutto; it rarely leaves
the small towns in which it's made.

No one will associate Basilicata with the rich cultural life of Rome or Florence.

But Yeadon, who also illustrated the book with dozens of fine sketches, finds comfort in the rugged landscape and its people, such as Don Pierino.

"Little did I know when I met him just how much this man would become involved in my life and experiences there."

Enjoying simple things

And he also knows how to find a good time. His friend Giuliano shows him how to make olive oil and wine, and they sample richly from both.

Many passages begin or end with him about ready to overindulge or dealing with the effects of having done so.

Thematically, much of this ground has been covered by other travel books, but not this part of Italy, and not in such a warm and knowing way.

Author portrays remote area of Italy
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/190699-3236-021.html