Beginning as a boyhood encounter with two Italian POWs from the Mediterranean put to work on his grandmother's vineyard in the Clare Valley of South Australia and through a career living in a variety of countries as a diplomat, this is the story of how Duncan Campbell's experience with Italy gradually grew into a love affair with its language, people, history, and the beauty of its countryside. This began with his first experience in Verona and grew with his posting as ambassador to Rome and later with the many months spent each year in a Tuscan village.

Duncan Campbell is a retired Australian diplomat who served in Indonesia, Wash. D.C., Pakistan, Malaysia, United Nations NY, and in Hungary, Austria and Italy as ambassador. He also contributed opinion pieces for Australian journals and newspapers. While in Rome the Campbells purchased a property in a small castle village in Tuscany to which they returned annually. He is married, has five children and three grandchildren and lives in Sydney.