What better location for this Grand Tour project than Pompeii? And what better way of re-evocating it if not through the work of great contemporary writers of the calibre of Ethan Canin, Jim Nisbet and Jay Parini, and of an internationally renowned artist-photographer, Mimmo Jodice? Together, they have been invited to assume the role of traveller and create a testimony for our collective memory, revisiting Pompeii through a blend of the classic and contemporary, literature and photography. It is clear, then - albeit unusual - that by combining two different art forms (in an editorial sense, also), we have aimed to reach the very depths of our "historic" memory. I would also like to think that, in this case, the writing and photography are like parallel segments that in all probability are destined to converge, the point of convergence being where they translate into our "historic" memory, forming a bridge that extends back out again to new areas. But above all, I would like to think that this photography book, in its simplicity, might be seen as a little tool to engender a new form of complicity, a new-found love for art, culture and beauty, and that it might lead to a new-found respect for this region.