The book is worth reading from beginning to end, said The Nation in June 1905, upon the first American publication of this classic work of travel literature. The second of two memorable trips to the Mediterranean. The second was to Calabria and the wild Italian coast south of Naples. From bad food to filthy inns and dangerously watered wine, to a strange malarial-type fever which kept him bedridden for days, Gissing suffered all for the sake of viewing the sites and old ruins of Magna Graecia, and to see for himself the classical cities he called his land of romance. Filled with humor, pathos, and captivating landscapes, By the Ionian Sea continues to inspire the traveler, while re-educating the reader in the glories of this still-forgotten corner of Italy.