Following the critical and commercial success of A Literary Tour of Italy, acclaimed novelist Tim Parks presents a new selection of his latest essays on Italian literature, offering a lively, accessible and stimulating diorama of the cultural landscape of Italy.Containing pieces on major figures such as Dante, Machiavelli, Leopardi and Manzoni, as well as articles on some of Italy's best-known modern authors - from Pirandello and Pavese to Pasolini, Levi and Calvino, through to more recent writers such as Camilleri, Saviano and Ferrante - this book will delight and interest any lover of Italian culture, and confirms Tim Parks as one of the finest and most perceptive essay writers of his generation.