As David D. Hume sees it, most Americans miss the real Italy, even if they travel there. They make the standard tourist stops in Rome, Florence and maybe Venice but they see little of the rest of the country, where the scenery is gorgeous, the food is usually superb, and the people are charming and hospitable.

Hume should know what he's talking about. Ever since he and his wife Cathy retired to Wilmington in 1990 - after he spent 37 years as headmaster of St. David's School in New York - they've traveled through Italy every summer, usually by rail or rental car.

Between trips, he's shared his experiences with armchair travelers in such volumes as Cities of the Italian Renaissance and About Sicily. This summer, he's adding a new one, About Italy: Puglia to the Po, due in mid-June from PublishingWorks of Exeter, N.H. ($16.95 paperback).

Hume introduces readers to such out-of-the-way gems as Paestum, with Greek temples that were ancient before Rome was built; Piacenza, where Giuseppi Verdi's house is preserved as a shrine; Pisa, which has much more to offer than an off-kilter tower; and Perugia "where the chocolate comes from."

Between travelogues, Hume also dishes up details on ancient Roman road-building, the convoluted family trees of Renaissance popes, and the real scoop on Lucrezia Borgia (who apparently wasn't as bad as she's made out to be) - "the byproducts of a disordered education," Hume said, with a chuckle.

Hume, a Yale graduate, knows his stuff - but he didn't know modern Italian until he and Cathy began traveling there. "Your mind's like a muscle and needs to be exercised," he said, "and one of the best ways to exercise it is to learn an inflected language like Italian. Every time someone speaks, there's this whole collection of inflections that can change the meaning. You have to pay attention."

Fortunately, many Italians speak at least some English today and feel flattered when someone attempts their language, he added. Besides, any tourist can quickly figure out simple phrases like the abbreviation for "double bed."

Not all of the Humes' trips have been smooth. (For hotels rated less than 3 stars, he advised, always check the bed before you agree to move in.) Still, he finds, the overwhelming courtesy and generosity of most Italians quickly smooths over any misadventures.

An avid sailor, Hume is especially proud of his first book, Blueberry: A Boat of the Connecticut Shoreline (1994), an account of his building and sailing a somewhat unorthodox gaff-rigged cutter around New England. By the time you read this, he and his wife will be off for a summer in Salem, Conn. - and at least a couple of weeks in Italy.

'Hermit' honors

Now that the locally produced documentary The Fort Fisher Hermit has aired on UNC-TV public television, author Michael F. Edwards - a co-founder of the Fort Fisher Hermit Society - writes that he's preparing a new edition of his biography of the hermit, Robert E. Harrill.

There ought to be some demand. Copies of Edwards' 2002 biography, The Last Battle for Independence: The Story of the Fort Fisher Hermit, are selling for as much as $99 on Amazon.com.

Book club

Don't forget the next session of the Star-News/WHQR book club at 7 p.m. Monday in the WHQR gallery at 254 N. Front St. Local author Robert Anthony Siegel will talk about his historical (and erotic) novel, All Will Be Revealed. Admission is free.

Ben Steelman: 343-2208