A captivating journey along the iconic River Po and through Italian
history, society and culture. 'Delightful... A wonderful cornucopia
of history' TLS 'Uncovers the Po's fascinating history' Guardian
'Tobias Jones is the perfect guide' Spectator The Po is the longest
river in Italy, travelling for 652 kilometres from one end of the
country to the other. It rises by the French border in the Alps and
meanders the width of the entire peninsula to the Adriatic Sea in
the east. Flowing next to many of Italy's most exquisite cities -
Ferrara, Mantova, Parma, Cremona, Pavia and Torino - the river is a
part of the national psyche, as iconic to Italy as the Thames is to
England or the Mississippi to the USA. For millennia, the Po was a
vital trading route and a valuable source of tax revenue, fiercely
fought over by rival powers. It was also a moat protecting Italy
from invaders from the north, from Hannibal to Holy Roman Emperors.
It breached its banks so frequently that its floodplain swamps were
homes to outlaws and itinerants, to eccentrics and experimental
communities. But as humans radically altered the river's hydrology,
those floodplains became important places of major industries and
agricultures, the source of bricks, timber, silk, hemp, cement,
caviar, mint, flour and risotto rice. Tobias Jones travels the
length of the river against the current, gathering stories of
battles, writers, cuisines, entertainers, religious minorities and
music. Both an ecological lament and a celebration of the
resourcefulness and resilience of the people of the Po, the book
opens a window onto a stunning, but now neglected, part of Italy.
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