Between Salt Water and Holy Water: A History of Southern Italy

Well written, engaging history of Sicily and Southern Italy. Wryly humorous occasionally. Very valuable as preparation for my recent trip there. The best way to understand the past is to read. This book is aimed at a general audience. Don't tour the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies without it! Stay home if you won't read.

I enjoyed this book overall, though for me it was a bit of a slow read because of all the facts included. The coverage of the early history in particular seemed to jump around quite a bit and I had difficulty keeping everything straight. This got much easier by the time we were in the 16th to 17th centuries! The biggest disappointment was seeing the captions under Illustrations which obviously appear in the print copy but were left out of the digital one. There were many, and I really wanted to see them!

The book is moving but sometimes hard to read because of the hardships and abuse the Souther Italians had to go through.

This was a book to start learn more of the traditions, history, and politics which shaped the character of the Southern Italian people. Remeber that this is a history book, so at times it's not an easy read. But as it is difficult to find detailed information about Southern Italy, this provides some useful data. The focus is mainly on Naples and Sicily and only gives glimpses of other areas (Calabria, Puglia, etc.).

Comprehensive history of Naples with detailed information. Very informative

This is a good book with a heavy focus on Naples. The author does a good job of narrating the unusual and complex succession of kings and queens in Southern Italy. Also of interest is his description of early Greek and Roman times in Southern Italy. Recommended for those who seek a scholarly overview of this subject. Peter L. Belmonte Italian Americans in World War II (IL) (Voices of America) Days of Perfect Hell: The U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, October-November 1918

highly recommend to read it before going on a vacation in southern Italy - especially Naples ( but its not a travel guide ..)

Provided great insight to history and culture of southern Italy prior to recent trip from Naples to lecce

As someone with a passion for Naples, I found this a useful brief history of the south of Italy. The author does focus on Naples (and Sicily) but I found he managed also to give a sense of the enduring problems of the south generally as well as aspects of its culture like the strong influence of the Catholic Church and popular beliefs in things like the evil eye.