Exiles in Paradiso

A unique look at Italy, its life and people by published British and American novelists, poets and journalists, all “voluntary” exiles in a country they have chosen to make their permanent home.

If you thought there was nothing new to say about Italy, think again. This is what it’s like to live in Venice with warring rats scrambling up the walls of your house, to take lessons in ballroom dancing in a remote village hall, to fall overwhelmingly in love. From north to south strange things are happening: a small Umbrian hill town is inexplicably proclaimed “the most liveable city in the world”, a railway station in Sicily is taken over by aliens, and a scientist explains how the miraculously liquefying “blood” of Saint Gennaro in Naples can be concocted in your own kitchen. Perry Mason gives Italian language lessons to a wine expert in Verona, and a doting grandmother in Florence and her English daughter-in-law stand firm over what is best for the children.

Unsentimental, compelling and totally absorbing Exiles in Paradiso is a hymn to a sometimes baffling but glorious country and will appeal to lovers and critics of Italy the world over.