The study of Italy's formation as a landmass is fascinating, revealing much of our Earth's history and physical processes. Composed of marine limestone, volcanic rock and marble, Italy's distinctive elongated boot shape, kicking a large island Sicily, topped by the rising Alps and cradled by blue sea, is recognisable worldwide. TWEETING DAVINCI sounds irreverent, but the title jauntily joins the past with the present in this likeable book.

Italy lies on not two but four continental plates, from the major African and Eurasian plates whose collisions are raising the Alps, to the Adriatic and Anatolian plates which are pulling or twisting land including the Appennines down the spine of Italy, and sea floor. Earthquakes and volcanic activity are frequent occurrences. Marine fossils found high in the Alps caused scientific study by people like Leonardo daVinci and the first geologist Nicholaus Steno, into whether the world had been changing.

Chapter by chapter we view the history, peoples and stunning landscape. First the Etruscans, who exploited rich mineral deposits and established a prosperous culture before becoming absorbed into the Roman Empire. One of their sacred sites was Lake Bolsena, the second largest volcanic lake in the world, containing two islands. Types of stone suitable for everything from sculpture to aqueducts were quarried. The Etruscan god Sethlans of volcanism, was renamed Vulcan by the Romans. The Seven Hills of Rome result from the city being surrounded by volcanoes. I learned that volcanic conditions, with a plume of ash and fumes in the air, provide perfect highly charged particles to invite lightning.

The photos are splendid, revealing rock formations, volcanic craters or ancient cities, marvels of engineering and beautiful creations. These are sites of the Greek legends, recorded by Latin scholars, wrought into poetry by the Romantics, admired by writers such as Twain, Dumas and Dickens. I was fascinated by the luxurious Roman town Baia which due to subsidence is now underwater, discovered by a pilot who overflew it and was a skilled diver; he investigated and found an archaeologist's dream. I also learnt about gems and pearls. I was fascinated by the comparison of two similar paintings attributed to DaVinci, but with one accurate to nature and the other not. This artist was a scientist and engineer, so the author concludes that he painted one image and not the other. Caverns and islands form the topics of the last chapters.

Ann Pizzorusso is a geologist and Italian Renaissance scholar, who has worked in many fields of geology and created TWEETING DAVINCI to show the beauty and earth science of Italy which inspired DaVinci and so many other people. This is a beautiful and accomplished book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Any armchair traveller, art, geography or geology student or anyone interested in finding out about their Italian origins would get great value from TWEETING DAVINCI. He won't tweet back though, I'm afraid.