The Villa Diana: Travels in Post-War Italy

by Alan Moorehead

Originally written in 1951, a post-World War II journey through Italy  Above Florence and the valley of the Arno stood the Villa Diana, in one of the oldest inhabited parts of Italy, at the end of an old Etruscan road that wound among olive groves and lines of cypresses. The home of Poliziano in the 15th century, it had been occupied by the troops of seven different armies during World War II but otherwise escaped damage, if one overlooked the looting of the grand piano. It was here that Alan Moorehead, known as one of the greatest correspondents of that war, moved in 1948 to travel through Italy and write this celebrated book. His experiences illustrate the issues of the day, yet surrounded as always by extreme physical beauty and governed by the rhythms of the seasons. He describes with wit such diverse matters as the daily drama of life among the servants, the reviving fortunes of Portofino, the 500-year-old horse race around the main square of Siena, the gondoliers' union in Venice, and a traffic clash between a family of pigs and a cart full of crucifixes.

Genres: Travel, History, Italy, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2008

About the author

Alan Moorehead was lionised as the literary man of action: the most celebrated war correspondent of World War II; author of award winning books; star travel writer of The New Yorker; pioneer publicist of wildlife conservation. At the height of his success, his writing suddenly stopped and when, 17 years later, his death was announced, he seemed a heroic figure from the past. His fame as a writer gave him the friendship of Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw and Field Marshall Montgomery and the courtship and marriage of his beautiful wife Lucy Milner.

After 1945, he turned to writing books, including Eclipse, Gallipoli (for which he won the Duff Cooper Prize), The White Nile, The Blue Nile, and finally, A Late Education. He was awarded an OBE in 1946, and died in 1983.

Reviews

[James Horgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An occasional work from Moorehead consisting of reports made for magazines of life in Italy in 1949. Moorehead lived with his wife in the Villa Diana in Fiesole, just outside Florence. He reflects on how Italians survived life after the war amidst occasional communist strikes.

There are accounts of the rebuilding of Cassino town, life in Portofino, the nobbled Palio of Siena, the life of bandit Salvatore Giuliano in Sicily and the artistic recovery of Venice. The most substantial piece is a short biography of Florentine poet Angelo Poliziano, who once lived in the villa. A servant of Lorenzo Medici in the Florentine golden age, he outlived him for a few years. His poetry was the model of style for the following hundred years.

A light work, nothing profound, enjoyable to read. Oh to be able to travel to Italy...

[Anne Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and vivid insight into Italy in the years immediately following the second World War, plus a wonderful account of Angelo Poliziano the classical scholar and poet whose patron was Lorenzo de Medici and who first lived in the Villa Diana. If nothing else it will make you yearn to book a trip to Tuscany.

[Matthew Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alan Moorehead was a foreign correspondent for the Daily Express, notably during the second world war, and he is perhaps most famous for his trilogy of books on the North African campaign. After the war, he became a travel writer and historian (and occasional memoirist or novelist). This book is a collection of pieces from Italy written (mostly) for the New Yorker between 1948 and 1951. They are a mixture of travel, history (especially the long final piece on Angelo Poliziano) and accounts of the recovery from the war – both the literal rebuilding and also the return of the tourist industry. My favourite piece was the shortest and least serious: a delightful sketch about the Palio horse race in Siena.

[Debs Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories about Moorehead's travels around Italy were interesting, but I wanted to know more about the Villa Diana itself, the immediate area, the tales of the armies who'd based themselves there.

The final chapter about Poliziano was the most satisfying, despite him being a decidedly unsatisfying character. It was full of history and gossip - and I felt I was there.

The style of the book wasn't coherent as it was the drawing together of a number of articles/essays written for a variety of publications to form this book and I'm afraid that the joins really showed. It needed more, more re-writing, more linking of the tales, more stories of the journeys he took. It's not like the book was already too long.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are lucky in Florence to have a new English Bookshop owner who is passionate about the books he sells and always gives me fantastic recommendations - this book The Villa Diana, was written after WW2 by journalist Alan Moorehead whilst he was living in the Villa once lived in by famous Renaissance poet Angelo Poliziano - his stories range from the rebuilding of the Monastery of Monte Cassino after it was blown to smithereens by the Allies to the Life of Poliziano himself. Every chapter is a delight - giving lots of insight into the post-war problems in a style thst just makes you want to go on reading it forever. Thanks John Werich - another great recommendation

[Louise Davy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely holiday read about another era.