An Italian Journey: A Harvest of Revelations in the Olive Groves of Tuscany: A Pretty Girl, Seven Tuscan Farmers, and a Roberto Rossellini Film: Bella Scoperta (Italian Journeys Book 1) Paperback – January 1, 2012

The book is an excellent read and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read about one person's love of Italy and its people. Mr. Shaw comes across as a genuine human being who gives the reader an honest account of his amazing 7 week adventure in Tuscany. Clearly, it took a lot of courage for someone residing in America with his family to prepare for and actually travel through Tuscany alone by bike, with "grace" and his GPS as his only guide. However, the most important aspect of this book is not the factual account of his story or his personal insight as to what he loves about Italy and the Italian people. The most important part, in my opinion, is the fact that Mr. Shaw, in the last part of his book, has even more courage to express his opinion about what he believes lies at the foundation of the spiritual beauty of Italy and the Italian culture. It should come as no surprise to the reader, who has significant experience with the Italian culture, as to the material in which this foundation was made and has been maintained for centuries. Several shortsighted reviewers of Mr. Shaw's book ignore the last part of the book or are put-off by Mr. Shaw's opinions therein. Really? Read the whole book with an open eye and discover the self-evident truth about the Italians. If you don't believe it, that's alright; you're entitled to your own opinion, but don't criticize his book because you simply disagree without any semblance of thoughtful examination or you lack the ability to even consider someone else's opinions. Travel to Italy and really live (not in a hotel room) with its people for an extended period of time. Although Italy has its share of big problems like practically every other place in this world, the Italian people (in general and for the most part), are spiritually remarkable and they live according to that Spirit. That Spirit is reflected in Mr. Shaw's book and is everwhere in Italy if you only have the courage to truly examine what you see there. That Spirit was also evident in the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s when millions of honest, skilled and hard working Italian immigrants came to America and helped build America into a great nation. La dolce vita!

This is the story of the author's search for what makes Italy the attraction that it is. He takes you along on his travels to several farms and the ups and downs of his trip. But most importantly he takes you into the heart of Italy; why are the people almost always warm and hospitable. Why are Italians the way they are, family oriented and willing to help a total stranger. What I liked most about the book was how one can feel that it is written from the heart. A good insight into Italy.

Rather than rock stars and movie stars, the objects of my adoration are public broadcasting’s Rick Steves and Joseph Rosendo and others of their ilk, people who chronicle their worldwide travels for listeners and viewers. Such public information shows are godsends to people like me who, due to restrictions on their health, are unable to travel to far-off places. One of the charms of these short travel documentaries is that they make of their hosts ‘temporary locals,’ to borrow a phrase from Steves, by having them hobnob with local people and indulge in cultural activities distinct not only to the major destinations, but also to cozy villages and other hidden-away corners of the world. This philosophy of becoming a ‘temporary local’ is the chief appeal of author James Ernest Shaw’s delightful book entitled An Italian Journey. Adding to its appeal is that it is a book of non-fiction that reads like an intriguing novel.I didn’t make it to Italy before I developed a chronic illness that up to this point in my life limits me to domestic travels. Immersing myself for a time in Tuscany was one of my fondest dreams…and now I have realized that dream, although vicariously, through James Ernest Shaw and his adventures journaled in his brilliant An Italian Journey. Like a gladiator on two wheels, for seven glorious weeks in Tuscany he bicycled sizzling as well as foggy mountainous hairpins and held his ground against speeding trucks and leisurely foot-peddlers. He climbed trees older than the modern world and picked olives, built stone walls, sat at table and ate pasta and drank wine, talked politics and religion and farming with real people of the area, and through the experience was transformed. And I think he found the key to why Italy and Italians are special among all the people of the world.Shaw had inspired me to find my own way to Italy, somehow, and more importantly, to begin anew a journey I began and abandoned many decades ago, and that is to become a Roman Catholic. Thank you, James Ernest Shaw. –Author and artist Linda Lee Greene

I got this free for my kindle and I always enjoy travel stories. The book is paced as the author paced his farming methods in Italy, slow and deliberate. I read about his biking, exploring places on foot and about the farms that he worked on. A mixture of back-to-the-small-farm movement, sprinkled with faith and surrounded by the breathtaking countryside.The book was enjoyable until I got near the end. In the first 3/4 of the book, the author's faith was sprinkled among the story to add some depth of flavor. But then as he went home, the cap of the saltshaker was unscrewed and the salt was poured out. I am also a person of faith and enjoyed the earlier parts, but it just got too preachy at the end. Maybe a few pages would have been okay, but a few chapters worth was too much for me. He did answer in that ending, the question of what makes Italians the way they are in his own way, but I had to search through my skimming at the end to find it. It was an unsatisfying ending to the journey.