Italian Backgrounds - Ecco Travels Author:Edith Wharton Edith Wharton's Italian Backgrounds, out of print since its original edition published in 1906, is a welcome discovery for lovers of that rich literary genre, the travel diary. Wharton, whose writings are today enjoying a revived interest, excels, as always, in detailing the milieu of her characters, here the Italian people, and that ancient cou... more »ntry itself.« less