Ever since island-hopping around the Greek Islands as a student, Duncan Garwood has been fascinated by the Mediterranean and its wonderful mix of history, culture and endless sunshine. Many years later he can actually see the Med from the balcony of his hilltop apartment just outside Rome. Duncan moved to Italy in 1997 and after a few years teaching English – once, memorably, to Italy's Miss World candidate – took to the road as a Lonely Planet writer.
He has since travelled extensively in Italy and contributed to a raft of titres as well as newspapers and magazines. This is the fifth edition of Mediterranean Europe he has worked on and with each one he discovers yet more reasons to love the region he now calls home.