num_pages: 160
description: Lionel's love affair with Italy began in 1959 during his visit to Umbria and Tuscany as an architectural student. Other visits followed, during the course of his studies, including to Venice and Rome. His enthusiasm for Italian landscape, art and architecture has been further consummated in later years through working visits, in preparation for exhibitions of his paintings. This book is a celebration of his travels and experiences throughout this hallowed land, where the physical beauty of the landscape is more than matched by the abundance of great works of art. These are evident in the remotest and poorest villages, as well as in the great Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque cities. You are invited to join Lionel and his wife Anne (an artist specializing in cats) on a typical return journey from their home in Crediton, Devon, through France, Liguria, Piedmont,Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, right down to Basilicata and Puglia in the heel of Italy. Lionel draws attention to the similarities between the beautiful farmland of Mid Devon, referred to by Chef Christopher Archambault, as the 'Tuscany of England', and the man-managed landscape of both Umbria and Tuscany, which remain as depicted in Giotto's frescoes. Lionel's interpretations of Puglia, Umbria,Tuscany and Venice are revealed with over 200 paintings and diary sketches. Many of the visits were made during spring, and therefore no apologies are made for the profusion and occasional riot of colour where fresh young greens contrast with vivid carpets of poppies and, later in the year, the vines themselves produce their sensational autumnal blaze.
language: English
title: Lionel Aggett's Italy
titlecomplete: Lionel Aggett's Italy
places: Italy
publisher: Halsgrove