Carlo Levi was a painter and writer, but he also had a degree in medicine. Arrested in 1935 by Mussolini's regime for his anti-Fascist activities, he was sent to live in a remote town in southern Italy, in the region of Lucania which is known today as Basilicata. The landscape was beautiful, the peasantry poor and neglected. Since the local doctors were not interested in peasants and not trusted by them, he began to help them.