An Intriguing Travel Narrative

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 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.

John W. Hare received his MD in 1965. After attending medical school in Indianapolis, he trained in internal medicine and metabolism in Boston and Chicago. He spent his career at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, where he still lives. He’s published numerous medical papers and edited two textbooks. In 1961, between college and medical school, he spent a summer in Florence, leading to a life-long interest in Italian art and culture.