Italian Journeys

An interesting book that could use maps and editing for the 21st century. I really have not the least idea of what a diligence is, other than "a vehicle of some sort" and when the author is sharing a "car" with a Swiss family, it doesn't seem like a railway carriage but I'm not at all sure. And I was often confused about the route, especially since there were detours due to natural disasters. The author was in Italy during the American Civil War and some of the conversations about the war were interesting (although again, editorial notes about the course of the war would be helpful). Howells had a lot to say about "the Italians" as an ethnic group, comes across as benignly bigoted at times ... apparently Italians always dress beyond show more their means etc. I was immensely interested in his trips to Pompeii and Herculaneum, but here again a little bit of background information and even better, illustrations, would be welcome. After some 200 pages of moderately to very interesting prose, Howells offers a chapter on "Ducal Mantua" which, unlike the rest of the travelogue, is purely history. It reads like his history notes or perhaps a term paper from an undergraduate class and it goes on and on and ON for at least twice the length of any of the other chapters. I hung on for forty pages of this and then caved without finishing the last ten pages of the book. show less