Don Camillo of la Bassa

La Bassa is the home of Don Camillo and Peppone, the lowland plain on the banks of Italy's Po River where their goings-on are set. Their creator was born there and returned to live in 1952. The following years were among the happiest in his life: it was a time when he was wholly in tune with the spirit of the place and when most of the present stories were written.

Many of these stories were published in Italy under the equivocal title, People Like Us. There i...