The aerial view of Italy juxtaposes two equally fascinating stories: that of the Mediterranean environment and that of the numerous peoples for whom this country was a cradle. Thirty centuries and as many cultures have left their imprint on a land of contrasts. Italy divides into distinct regions, each with its own particular beauty, Northem Italy offers an infinite variety of countrysides - alpine glaciers, the lakes of Lombardy, the long river courses of the Po and the Piedmontese watershed, the Val d'Aosta with its chateaux, and even the industrial heartland of Liguria and Emilia. The centre of the country is made up of fertile hills undulating from Emilia right up to Latium. Rome acts as the pivot around which the lives of its neighbours - Umbria and the Abruzzia revolve. Further south are the ancient Muslim and Phoenician centres of Naples, Bari and Palermo. Lastly, there are the islands, especially Sicily and Sardinia, which preserve unique art and a violent heritage derived from the Normans and Romans - more than matched by the natural violence of Mount Etna. Panoramic views of remarkable clarity capture both the magnificence of Italy's most celebrated landscapes and the topographies of its less accessible reaches, in a visual travelogue of this endlessly surprising nation. Franco Lefevre has spent a lifetime as a journalist and commentator in Italy, and is currently Editor-in-Chief and art director of Il Venerdi, the weekly supplement of La Repubblica. Guido Alberto Rossi is director of the photographic agency Image Bank Italy.