TIM JEPSON has been a passionate and lifelong devotee of Italy. Since graduating from Oxford, he has spent long periods of time living and traveling in the country, including a year in a remote Umbrian village - where he learned fluent Italian - and five years as a writer and journalist in Rome. Over the years he has written some 15 books on the country, as well as numerous articles for the Daily Telegraph, Vogue, Cond� Nast Traveller, and other publications. He wrote the following guides in the National Geographic Traveler series: Florence & Tuscany, Naples & Southern Italy, Piedmont & Northwest Italy, and Sicily. Now based in London, Jepson continues to visit Italy regularly, and also… revels in Italy's more sedentary pleasures - the food, wine, art, and culture.