Xenophobe's Guide to the Italians

About the Author

Brought up in England, Martin Solly first became enamoured of Italy as a student, staying with his amici in a superb farmhouse complete with swimming pool. The red-earthed landscapes of Tuscany, Renaissance culture, Chianti and mouthwatering tortellini and zucchini convinced him that the Italians enjoyed the ultimate in sybaritic living.

After working on farms, and in bars, restaurants, bookstores and schools, he settled in Piedmont with the intention of improving his knowledge of things Italian. He little realised this would include a local girl and, ignoring the old Italian saying Moglie e buoi dei paesi tuoi (‘Choose your wife and your cattle from your own backyard’), he married her and stayed.

Still happily ensconced in the area and the author of a dozen books on English language and literature, Solly has never lost the habit of looking around for the queue. He does, however, admit to a distinct penchant for the Alfa-Romeo, and to only ever wearing Italian ties.