WILDERNESS TRAVEL

Volcanoes of Southern Italy

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

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Volcanoes, Fire From the Earth

Volcanoes, Fire From the Earth

by Maurice Krafft

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES
  • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE

By the great French volcanologist (who died on the job on Mount Unzen in Japan in 1992), this pocket guide features hundreds of full-color paintings, traces the study of volcanoes from early myth and legend to modern science. (GEO06, $15.95)

Midnight in Sicily, On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra

Midnight in Sicily, On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra

by Peter Robb

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Combining interviews, research and essays on Sicilian history and culture, this vivid report by journalist Peter Robb is a superb introduction to Italy's glorious, corrupt and troubled south. (ITL74, $18.00)

Eyewitness Top 10 Naples & Amalfi Coast

Eyewitness Top 10 Naples & Amalfi Coast

by Jeffrey Kennedy

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

A compact, illustrated guide in the popular series, featuring favorite attractions. With a pull-out map. (ITA178, $14.00)

Eyewitness Guide Sicily

Eyewitness Guide Sicily

by Eyewitness Guides | DK Publishing

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This superb guide to Sicily features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a synopsis of the island's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry. (ITL468, $23.00)

Sicily Map

Sicily Map

by Touring Club Italiano

  • 2011
  • MAP

A detailed map of Sicily (1:200,000), printed on water and tear-resistant paper. (ITL181, $14.95)

 
Campania Basilicata Map

Campania Basilicata Map


by Touring Club Italiano

  • MAP

A colorful, durable map of Campania, including Naples and the Amalfi Coast. (ITL116, $14.95)

Naples Map

Naples Map


by Touring Club Italiano

  • MAP

A good locally published map of Naples. (ITL280, $12.95)

Eyewitness Guide Naples & Amalfi Coast

Eyewitness Guide Naples & Amalfi Coast


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This superb guide features color photography, dozens of excellent neighborhood maps and a district-by-district synopsis of the region's attractions. (ITL107, $25.00)

Between Salt Water and Holy Water, A History of Southern Italy

Between Salt Water and Holy Water, A History of Southern Italy


by Tommaso Astarita

  • HISTORY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

Astarita captures the fanfare, rivalry and changing fortunes of Sicily from antiquity through Norman, Spanish and Bourbon rule to unification and the 20th century. (ITL597, $22.95)

In the Shadow of Vesuvius

In the Shadow of Vesuvius


by Jordan Lancaster

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

A sparkling portrait of Naples from its volcanic origins to its lively present. Lancaster's cultural history explores the city's tumultuous past, its spirited inhabitants and the mythical allure that's drawn so many travelers to its siren song. (ITL969, $16.95)

Italy, A Short History

Italy, A Short History


by Harry Hearder

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 294 PAGES

Elegantly written, generous and informative, this compact book takes in the sweep of Italian history from the Roman Republic through the Renaissance, World War II and up to the present. (ITL56, $29.00)

La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind

La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind


by Beppe Severgnini

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

Italians themselves love this guide to the Italian character, which addresses the apparently never-ending passion for beauty, disorder and high emotion. Severgnini opens the book with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa Airport, then moves on to Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. (ITL718, $14.00)

La Bella Lingua

La Bella Lingua


by Dianne Hales

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES
  • NEW

Inebriated with the sounds of Italian, lovesick for its phrases and enamored of its earthy idioms, Hales, "a sensible woman of sturdy Polish stock," dives into the Italian of the piazza, literature, movies and streets in this charming memoir. (ITA26, $15.00)

Pompeii, Public and Private Life

Pompeii, Public and Private Life


by Paul Zanker | Deborah Schneider

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 250 PAGES

A comprehensive guide to the architecture, people and culture of Pompeii, focusing on both grand public spaces and private villas. With 21 color illustrations and 55 halftones, including site plans, models, mosaics and sculpture. (ITL114, $32.50)

Vesuvius

Vesuvius


by Gillian Darley

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 144 PAGES

Gillian Darley unveils the human responses to Vesuvius, both feared and celebrated, from a cast of characters as far-flung as Pliny the Younger and David Hockney in this entry in Harvard University Press's excellent Wonders of the World series, a perfect introduction for travelers to Pompeii and Herculaneum. (ITA275, $22.95)

Vesuvius A.D. 79

Vesuvius A.D. 79


by Giovanni Patricelli | Ernesto De Carolis

  • HISTORY
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 124 PAGES

An illustrated account of the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius drawing on science, report, literature and folklore. (ITL568, $29.95)

Pompeii, The Day a City Died

Pompeii, The Day a City Died


by Robert Etienne

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 215 PAGES
  • CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
    • >

This indispensable pocket guide illustrates daily life in the city as told by its evocative frescoes, mosaics and treasures. (ITL01, $15.95)

Pompeii, The Living City

Pompeii, The Living City


by Alex Butterworth | Ray Laurence

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 384 PAGES

A meticulous historical and archaeological reconstruction of the city of Pompeii, its people, culture and daily rituals both before and after 79 AD, the year of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. (ITL773, $29.95)

The Fires of Vesuvius, Pompeii Lost and Found

The Fires of Vesuvius, Pompeii Lost and Found


by Mary Beard

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

With the panache of a gifted classicist, Mary Beard (Wonders of the World) conjures daily life in celebrated Pompeii, not only demolishing with particular relish the many myths that have grown up around the place but also emphasizing the limits of our knowledge. Some things we simply shall never know for certain. (ITA46, $17.95)

Italian Days

Italian Days


by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 479 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Grizzuti Harrison writes with warmth and depth of her journey from Milan south to Calabria in this sprightly account of Italy and the Italians. (ITL02, $15.00)

The Ancient Shore

The Ancient Shore


by Shirley Hazzard

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

Hazzard's lyrical collection of essays on the history, beauty, complexities and contradictions of Naples. Includes a celebrated New Yorker essay by husband Francis Steegmuller. (ITL967, $18.00)

Cosi Fan Tutti

Cosi Fan Tutti


by Michael Dibdin

  • MYSTERY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 247 PAGES

Romantic entanglements complicate the investigation of a murder in Naples in this installment of the enjoyable series. (ITL623, $13.95)

Pompeii, A Novel

Pompeii, A Novel


by Robert Harris

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

In this fast-paced historical novel set in Pompeii, a young engineer sets out to repair the Roman aqueducts and discovers the imminent eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Full of suspense and period detail. (ITL560, $7.99)

The Leopard

The Leopard


by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Evoking a lost world of privilege and tradition, Giuseppe Di Lampedusa's memorable tale, set on a rural Sicilian estate during the days of independence, follows the world-weary Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina. A classic, now in a 50th anniversary edition. (ITL11, $16.00)

The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water


by Andrea Camilleri

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

The first of Camilleri's wildly popular Inspector Montalbano mysteries, nicely translated and shot through (pun intended) with not just memorable characters but also with Sicilian lore and politics. If you like the series, it continues in 12 more installments -- and counting. (ITL528, $14.00)

The Volcano Lover, A Romance

The Volcano Lover, A Romance


by Susan Sontag

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 419 PAGES

A steamy and evocative historical novel by social critic Sontag, set in 18th-century Naples. The sweeping story focuses on the British Ambassador to the King in Naples, his passionate and notorious love, and her infatuation with Lord Nelson. (ITL143, $16.00)

Volcanoes, Crucibles of Change

Volcanoes, Crucibles of Change


by Richard Fisher

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 344 PAGES

A complete primer for the volcano lover, this heavily illustrated book covers types of volcanoes and eruptions, worldwide distribution and the physics of their formation. (GEO02, $29.95)

Vulcan's Fury, Man Against the Volcano

Vulcan's Fury, Man Against the Volcano


by Alwyn Scarth

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 299 PAGES

Eyewitness accounts, science, sociology and folklore result in a page-turning account of 15 dramatic volcanic events from Vesuvius to Krakatau, Mt. St. Helens and Pinatubo. (GEO10, $29.00)

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