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Blue Guide Southern Italy
‘The Neapolitans are like their own Vesuvius, which after appearing to have slumbered for many years, bursts forth suddenly, more terribly than ever, and causes the whole land to tremble’. Thus an adventurous British traveller, Craufurd Tait Ramage, described southern Italy and its volatile people in the early 19th century. The South is above all a land of contrasts, where wildly beautiful countryside clashes with urban decay, and where the legacy of many great civilizations combines with great poverty. It has a confused and turbulent history, ruled by a succession of foreigners: Greeks and Romans, barbarian invaders, Normans and Hohenstaufens, Angevins and Aragonese, Habsburgs and Bourbons. All this makes for a rich and fascinating country, often difficult to understand, always impossible to categorise.
Southern Italy is made up of six regions: Campania (with Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast), Basilicata, Calabria, the Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia.
The first Blue Guide Southern Italy was published in 1925 and it has been a popular title ever since. The 11th edition (2007) is available in print and digital format.
Inside look
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