ITALIAN WAYS, by Tim Parks

If you love Italy as I do, this book should be yours. This is not a travelogue in the traditional sense, it is a love note (more or less, and sometimes a lot less) to the Italian train system. Parks, an Englishman, has lived in Verona for three decades, and commutes 100+ miles each way to Milano where he is a professore. He knows Italian trains intimately. And just like some trains, he doesn't go directly to his destination, there's delays and what at first seem like inexplicable detours. If you are the type of tourist that has seen Italy in five days with a guide, this book may not be for you. If you've backpacked through it, or gone from one hostel to another as I did l year before last, if you've taken time to smell the pizza sauce...read this little book. You'll love it. I loved it for its last paragraph alone. It's a 4.