David Gilmour packs into one volume an excellent exploration of Italy. Metternich once said that Italy was just a geographical expression. A Prince of the Empire, his point was that Italy could never be a single Nation.
Gilmour explores this and many other ideas about who, what, why, when and where Italy is and was.
Gilmour choses to avoid the chronological approach which I think was necessary given the compact nature of the book. It means he could be selective on topics and still feed in essential historical elements to suit.
If you buy one more recently written general book on Italy – I think this one gives you some really excellent perspective.
Highly recommended.
The Wargaming Erratic 