本书共收录47篇文化随笔，内容主要涉及音乐和戏剧，但也有影评、书评、体育、绘画、科技、考古、宗教、政治等广泛领域的文章，均为巴里科为意大利《新闻报》和《共和国报》撰写的专栏，向我们展现了意大利这个古老国度的当代文化生活全貌。文章中充满了一个观察家的独特视角和文化品性，深邃优美，富于哲思。因为是发表在报章上的随笔，所以篇幅的要求使得作者在惜字如金的条件下主题铿锵却又不失精巧雅致，巴里科堪称一位《用吉他射击的人》。

France, 1861. When an epidemic threatens to wipe out the silk trade in France, Herv- Joncour, a young silk breeder, has to travel overland to distant Japan, out of bounds to foreigners, to smuggle out healthy silkworms. In the course of his secret negotiations with the local baron, Joncour's attention is arrested by the man's concubine, a girl who does not have oriental eyes. Although they are unable to exchange so much as a word, love blossoms between them, a love that is conveyed in a number of recondite messages. How their secret affair develops is told in this remarkable love story. As haunting as a strain of passionate music, Silk is an enchantment, an exquisite narrative and a stylistic tour de force.