It is a complete and vivid anatomy of the erotic adventure, which is examined in all its stages and manifestations, along with the participants in it ("exemplary characters"), who are not limited to the Lover and the Beloved, but include a range of satellite figures that revolve around them.

Permeated by passion and from a perspective that befits romantic individuals throughout history, this book seems to be written with fervor, while at the same time it is evident that it is the result of sober, acute reflection and long-term immersion in both world literature and life itself - after all, for the author "literature and life are one and the same".

With precision and accuracy, often with aphoristic language, Umberto crystallizes truths that make reading his study (his thoughts, as he casually calls them) disarmingly resemble a gaze at ourselves in the mirror...