An Autumn in Italy
by .Devin-Adair, $3.50.
Mr. O’Faolain spent his Italian autumn in the south, traveling from Naples to Sicily and back through Calabria to the Adriatic. At first glance, his book looks like the traditional charming collection of impressions, local characters, and antique architecture. Actually it is a shrewd study of the history and present condition of southern Italy. The book ends with a survey of the program of land reform and housing construction instigated in the district by ECA, from which Mr. O’Faolain draws the encouraging conclusion that U.S. funds have been well spent there. Since any book about this region inevitably recalls Norman Douglas, it may be as well to point out that for all his wit and elegance of style, Mr. O’Faolain writes as a judicious reporter rather than an impassioned devotee. The book was never intended to be another Old Calabria.