The international symposium organized by the Italian Study Group on Cardiomyopathies (SPIC) and planned by the organiz- ing and scientific committees opened with a review of the history of cardiomyopathy over the last 30 years by Goodwin, London (UK) and continued with presentations on all aspects of hyper- trophic and dilated cardiomyopathy by a wide spectrum of inter- national experts. This book includes mainly the invited contributions, but there are also many original oral presentations. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is well addressed by papers on natural history, ventricular function,...