The Story of San Michele

A bestseller in a dozen languages and a favorite of readers for decades The Story of San Michele is one of a remarkable life filled with fabulous experiences and ambitions. Axel Munthe was a fashionable physician in Paris who built one of the best-loved houses in the world San Michele on the Isle of Capri on the site of the villa of the emperor Tiberius. Written with intelligence and verve this autobiography tells tales of buried treasure in Italy legendary creatures in Lapland and the cold countesses and kindly whores of Naples—enough material as one critic put it to furnish writers of short stories with plots for the rest of their lives. A frank and absorbing autobiography…packed with good stories vivid scenes and memorable portraits. -- The Times [London] Written in an imaginative style that is vigorous and impressive. -- New York Times Library Journal Munthe was a true Renaissance man a scientist and doctor as well as a poet who was a friend of Henry James Somerset Maugham and others. In this 1929 volume he offers an account of San Michele a house he built on the site of Roman emperor Tiberiuss villa on the Isle of Capri off Italys southern coast. His weaving of the story of the house with Italian history mythology and culture is reminiscent of 18th- and 19th-century travelogs. This book was a smash in several languages for many years. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information