Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The Po : An Elegy for Italy's Longest River, Hardback Book

The Po : An Elegy for Italy's Longest River Hardback

Hardback

Less than 10 available - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

A captivating journey along the iconic River Po and through Italian history, society and culture. 'Delightful... A wonderful cornucopia of history' TLS'Uncovers the Po's fascinating history' GuardianThe Po is the longest river in Italy, travelling for 652 kilometres from one end of the country to the other.

It rises by the French border in the Alps and meanders the width of the entire peninsula to the Adriatic Sea in the east.

Flowing next to many of Italy's most exquisite cities – Ferrara, Mantova, Parma, Cremona, Pavia and Torino – the river is a part of the national psyche, as iconic to Italy as the Thames is to England or the Mississippi to the USA. For millennia, the Po was a vital trading route and a valuable source of tax revenue, fiercely fought over by rival powers.

It was also a moat protecting Italy from invaders from the north, from Hannibal to Holy Roman Emperors.

But as humans radically altered the river's hydrology, those floodplains became important places of major industries and agricultures, the source of bricks, timber, silk, hemp, cement, flour and risotto rice. Tobias Jones travels the length of the river against the current, gathering stories of battles, writers, cuisines, entertainers, religious minorities and music.

Both an ecological lament and a celebration of the resourcefulness and resilience of the people of the Po, the book opens a window onto a stunning, but now neglected, part of Italy.

Information

Other Formats

Save 12%

£25.00

£21.79

Less than 10 available - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information