Sunday, May 20, 2007

Book: About Italy: Puglia to the Po by David Hume

The ANNOTICO Report

 

 Prior to About Italy: Puglia to the Po, David D. Hume has written;Cities of the Italian Renaissance  and About Sicily.

 

 

Tour Italy with new book by David Hume

 

Currents

Star News Online.com

May 20,2007

As David D. Hume sees it, most Americans miss the real Italy, even if they travel there. They make the standard tourist stops in Rome, Florence and maybe Venice but they see little of the rest of the country, where the scenery is gorgeous, the food is usually superb, and the people are charming and hospitable.

Hume should know what he's talking about. Ever since he and his wife Cathy retired to Wilmington in 1990 - after he spent 37 years as headmaster of St. David's School in New York - they've traveled through Italy every summer, usually by rail or rental car.

Between trips, he's shared his experiences with armchair travelers in such volumes as Cities of the Italian Renaissance  and About Sicily. This summer, he's adding a new one, About Italy: Puglia to the Po, due in mid-June from PublishingWorks of Exeter, N.H. ($16.95 paperback).

Hume introduces readers to such out-of-t he-way gems as Paestum, with Greek temples that were ancient before Rome was built; Piacenza, where Giuseppi Verdi's house is preserved as a shrine; Pisa, which has much more to offer than an off-kilter tower; and Perugia "where the chocolate comes from."

Between travelogues, Hume also dishes up details on ancient Roman road-building, the convoluted family trees of Renaissance popes, and the real scoop on Lucrezia Borgia (who apparently wasn't as bad as she's made out to be) - "the byproducts of a disordered education," Hume said, with a chuckle.

Hume, a Yale graduate, knows his stuff - but he didn't know modern Italian until he and Cathy began traveling there. "Your mind's like a muscle and needs to be exercised," he said, "and one of the best ways to exercise it is to learn an inflected language like Italian. Every time someone speaks, there's this whole collection of inflections that can change the meaning. You have to pay attention."

Fortunately, man y Italians speak at least some English today and feel flattered when someone attempts their language, he added. Besides, any tourist can quickly figure out simple phrases like the abbreviation for "double bed."

Not all of the Humes' trips have been smooth. (For hotels rated less than 3 stars, he advised, always check the bed before you agree to move in.) Still, he finds, the overwhelming courtesy and generosity of most Italians quickly smooths over any misadventures.

An avid sailor, Hume is especially proud of his first book, Blueberry: A Boat of the Connecticut Shoreline (1994), an account of his building and sailing a somewhat unorthodox gaff-rigged cutter around New England. By the time you read this, he and his wife will be off for a summer in Salem, Conn. - and at least a couple of weeks in Italy.

 

 

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived at:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com (Formerly Italy at St Louis)

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at

 

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net