This book considers two of the most potent Christian concepts - Hell and the Eucharist. In the first part of the book, the author argues that fear of Hell was a common preoccupation in the 16th and 17th centuries. Drawing on the sermons of the preachers of the Counter-Reformation, he shows how the image of Hell developed into a grotesque parody of divine judgement which was only arrested by the onset of the Enlightenment. The second part considers the Eucharist, or Host, the embodiment of corporeal salvation. The author describes how it was related to the human body, and the kinds of mystical properties with which it was invested.

What significance did the body have for the obsessively religious, superstitious, yet materially bound minds of the pre-industrial age? The human body was a constant prey to disease, plague, unhealthy living conditions, the evil effects of druggery and nutritional deficiency, yet the saints seemed to testify to the existence of life beyond this, to a tangible Garden of Eden where all suffering was reversed. The right to entry to this haven was also seen in corporeal terms. The practice of abstemiousness, self-inflicted torture, even the courting of humiliation could trigger visions of beatitude, of the longed-for paradise. In this extraordinary and often astounding book, Professor Camporesi traces these experiences back to various documents across the centuries and explores the juxtaposition of medicine and sorcery, cookery and surgery, pharmacy and alchemy. He opens the window on a fascinating and colourful, if at times violent, world: of levitating and gyrating saints, gardens full of candied fruits and crystalline fountains, amazing exorcisms and arcane medical practices.

The Magic Harvest is a rich and wide-ranging account of the history of popular beliefs about food in Europe.  Focusing on Italy, Camporesi examines the social symbolism of food, and its associated rituals. He shows how the act of eating at weddings and seasonal feasts was seen as a metaphor for copulation; how Christmas and Easter were marked by special cakes rich in eggs, symbolizing renewal; how bread was viewed as a magic talisman against the forces of darkness; and how the harvest was regarded as the offspring of a fertile Earth which yielded up its fruits. All this rich and varied symbolism, he suggests, has become an opaque enigma for us today.