Gabriele D'Annunzio was one of the most flamboyant, brilliant and altogether incalculable personalities of the 19th and 20th centuries. His talents were enough to make the most accomplished Renaissance man flinch: he was a poet, lover, soldier and patriot. He was a well-known poet at the age of 17; thereafter he also wrote plays and novels and became the best-known writer in Europe. He was deservedly the most publicized lover of his time; his affair with Eleonora Duse is legendary. Throughout his life he was a leader in all Italian causes. When the First World War broke out, he was 52, yet embarked upon a spectacular career as an aviator. The climax of D'Annunzio's public career came in 1919 when he led an army and captured Fiume and began a 15 months' rule over the disputed Adriatic port.

Anthony Rhodes spent three years on the research for this book. He interviewed people who knew D'Annunzio, delved into Italian archives which had been closed to scholars since Mussolini's accession to power and visited the scenes of D'Annunzio's triumphs.