The north and south of Italy are virtually different countries. In parts of the north you might overhear English or German as easily as Italian, but the south is an exotic and often empty land, of a kind rare in Europe now. Yet the southern sea, beaches and landscape are often so beautiful one is amazed not to have seen them pictured everywhere, and new roads and hotels have now removed what were once the drawbacks of travel beyond Naples. Puglia (the heel of Italy) has more signs of its history, and it is more densely settled. It has particular beauties like the Gargano Peninsula, the baroque churches of Lecce, and the unique Castel del Monte. Basilicata and Calabria (the instep and toe of Italy) are lands of exhilarating scenery where the quality of man-made sites is often less important than the pleasure of coming across them in the middle of nowhere. To visit these regions is to leap across time - to the glittering Greek cities of Sybaris and Taras; to Roman Apulia where Hannibal won Cannae, where Horace was born and Virgil died; to the kingdoms won by the Normans, Byzantines and Saracens. To all these places and times, as well as to the south as it is now, Paul Holberton's book aims to be a useful up-to-date guide.