The distinct histories and myths of the Southern Italian regions, which include Sicily, Calabria, Cantania, Basilicata, Apulia, and Campania, are woven into all of these legends. In an excerpt from The Smile of the Unknown, Cyclopes and sea monsters are depicted in Sicily as depicted by Theocritus, Virgil, and Ovid. The island is shown in 1860, when it is on the front lines of Italy's independence fight, by the mariner Vincenzo Consolo. The tales of Leonardo Sciascia, Carlo Levi, and Joseph Conrad are brought to life by the fabled history of brigandage and organised crime in the South. In an excerpt from the best-selling novel, Elena Ferrante draws a stunning vision of a struggling but dynamic Neapolitan neighbourhood. Curzio Malaparte and Norman Lewis immortalise the ruins of Naples and the irrepressible spirit of its inhabitants during World War II.