This autobiography of the Italian writer, Italo Calvino, is separated into a book of five memories: the first, The Road to San Giovanni, revolves around Calvino's father, the house and town where he grew up; the second explore his childhood experience of film, notably the figure of Clark Gable; the third, his experience of war (he was in the Italian Resistance); the fourth, houses, particularly the role of the kitchen in domestic life; and the fifth, From the opaque - a series of philosophical thoughts about the shape of the world Italo Calvino is the author of Invisible Cities, If On a Winter's Night A Traveller, Marcovaldo, Mr Palomar, Under the Jaguar Sun and Six Memos for the Next Millenium.