The literary genius of François-René de Chateaubriand, the famous author of the memoirs from beyond the grave, gives life to a gifted landscapes of an almost mythical beauty, which survive the remains of an extraordinary past. Chateaubriand, in the letters that make up this book, describes the Italian country with all kinds of details and with constant references to the classical world, whose prestigious memory permeates everything.

François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) is one of the most prominent literary figures of the nineteenth century French author of works such as The Genius of Christianity, which earned him immense popularity in his time. His masterpiece is his memoirs from beyond the grave, appeared posthumously. Chateaubriand was a man of his time and participated passionately in the historical vicissitudes which he lived, what he sought a life full of ups and downs and extremely moved. His trip to Italy, written at age 35, when Chateaubriand was already a celebrity, is a series of letters to close friends, notes and diagrams. In the early nineteenth century, Italy is almost an exotic country, with almost mythical places like Rome and Naples, places of pilgrimage for poets and painters, and the newly discovered Pompeii and Herculaneum. Chateaubriand gives vivid descriptions of all these places with constant references to its glorious past. The spirit of classical Rome with its emperors, military leaders, poets and writers, still lives in the ruins that dot the Roman countryside and the author evokes a characteristic mixture of excitement and very romantic melancholy. This book Chateaubriand, agile and interesting writing, is a beautiful example of travel literature that flourished so splendidly in his century.