In 1961 a family moved from Indiana to Italy for a year. Their letters home frame the book and provide an intriguing narrative of European travel nearly a half-century ago. After crossing the Atlantic by ship from New York to Naples, they made their way up the Italian peninsula and rented an apartment in Florence. Details of their daily lives are interwoven with descriptions of Florentine attractions, both great and small. The author has returned to Italy many times since. He's added his observations of Florence then and now.