Heel To Toe: Encounters in the South of Italy

Not many people go to the south of Italy. South of Naples, they say, belongs more to Africa than to Europe. But it is through this extraordinary region that Charles Lister travels, first by bicycle and then on an erratic moped forced on him by a bartender. Starting in Brindisi, at the foot of the Appian Way, he heads into a region with a glorious history, riven by contradictions and straining at its enforced union with the rest of Italy. In the course of his journey, Lister is nearly bombed by the local mafia, meets a number of tomb robbers, and is equally enchanted by the wine and the women of the region. The people he meets along the way are by turns warm, aloof, and curious, and the landscape is magnificent—the reminders of fallen empires and ancient wars ever present. A fascinating, utterly enjoyable portrait of a little–known part of Italy, belonging firmly to the best traditions of travel writing.