The French author Jean Giono is known for his writings which are all set in his native area, the Provence region in France. Giono spent most of his life in Manosque, about which he also wrote a short novella. Giono travelled very little, and this book of Italian travels, Voyage en Italie, is exceptional.

Somewhere in the book, Giono says that his main objective while travelling is to be happy, and that happiness would be achieved best by drinking a cup of coffee in a street-side cafe. I can fully agree with that view, but that does not seem the best starting point for a volume of travel writings. This volume of travel writings about various Italian cities, notably Venice, Florence and Rome, tells us more about Giono than about the cities he visits. Information about the cities and interesting sights which can be visited there seems to be added as an afterthought, and very researched. As a travel guide, the book is quite useless, and it did not inspire me as a travel diary.

I traveled through Italy myself in the summer of 2010, visiting virtually the same cities as described by Giono. The book is structured in chapters, bearing the names of the respective Italian cities, and I had hoped to share some thoughts and ideas reading Giono's book. However, in that sense the book was a disappointment. ( )