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

Item EXITL687. Buy these 5 items as a set for $79 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG

Eyewitness Guide Italy

by Eyewitness Guides

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2011
• FLEXI-BOUND
• 720 PAGES

This superb guide features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country's attractions. (ITL32, $30.00)

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)

The Colosseum

by Keith Hopkins | Mary Beard

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2011
• PAPER
• 224 PAGES

This engaging overview of the history of the Colosseum deconstructs Hollywood-perpetrated misconceptions of gladiator-eating lions, Nero fiddling and other myths. (ITL654, $14.95)

Death at La Fenice

by Donna Leon

• MYSTERY
• 2004
• PAPER
• 270 PAGES

The first of the tremendously good Guido Brunetti mysteries, all set in the author's beloved Venice, in which a famous conductor is found dead at the celebrated theater of the title. (ITL555, $13.99)

Italy Map

by Borch Maps

• 2011
• MAP

A handy, laminated map. (ITL19, $11.95)

 

Also Recommended

Florence Map

by Borch Maps

• 2006
• MAP

A detailed, plastic-covered city map of Florence at a scale of 1:7,000. (ITL59, $8.95)

Naples Map

by Touring Club Italiano

• MAP

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

Rome Map

by Borch Maps

• 2007
• MAP

A handy map at a scale of 1:11,000, with a more detailed overview of the city center. (ITL60, $8.95)

Sorrento Peninsula & Amalfi Coast Map

by Litographia Artistica Cartographica

• MAP

A detailed road map of the Sorrento Peninsula and Amalfi Coast, including Pompeii, Nocera and Salerno, with an inset map of Capri at a scale of 1:35,000, showing hiking trails, tracks, historic buildings and attractions. With travel information on the reverse. (ITL432, $13.99)

Venice Map

by Borch Maps

• 2008
• MAP

A colorful, detailed city map of Venice, perfect for finding your way around the famously labyrinthine streets and canals. (ITL26, $8.95)

Blue Guide Concise Italy

by Paul Blanchard

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2009
• PAPER
• 400 PAGES

The first ever guide to all of Italy by the venerable Blue Guides (which publishes individual guides to Northern, Southern, Central, Rome, Tuscany, Sicily et al), this lavishly illustrated, handy and compact guide covers key sights, museums, churches, art, dining and accommodations throughout Italy. (ITL984, $24.95)

Eyewitness Guide Italian Riviera

by Eyewitness Guides

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2011
• PAPER
• 224 PAGES

A handsome, beautifully illustrated and informative compact guide to Liguria. It covers places, recommended excursions, hotels and attractions from the border with France east to La Spezia. (ITL566, $20.00)

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)

Fodor's Florence's 25 Best

by Fodor's

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2011
• PAPER
• 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map and essential information on the city's highlights, including sightseeing, restaurants and shopping. (ITL140, $11.99)

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best

by Fodor's

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2009
• PAPER
• 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes a map of the city and essential information on its highlights. (ITL112, $11.99)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

by Citypack

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2012
• PAPER
• 176 PAGES
• COMING IN MARCH

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information. (ITL106, $12.99)

Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook

by Lonely Planet

• LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
• 2011
• PAPER
• 260 PAGES

A handy palm-size phrasebook for the traveler. (ITL531, $8.99)

Made in Italy, A Shopper's Guide

by Laura Morelli

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2008
• PAPER
• 208 PAGES

The second edition of Morelli's expert survey of handcrafted Italian shops and products from Murano glass to ceramics, jewelry and leather. (ITL473, $24.95)

One-Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in Italy

by Paolo Lazzarin

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2004
• HARD COVER
• 276 PAGES

Each charming town gets an appreciative essay and evocative color photographs in this handsome tribute and excellent guide. (ITL546, $45.00)

Biba's Italy

by Biba Caggiano

• FOOD
• 2006
• HARD COVER
• 320 PAGES

Caggiano focuses on regional, seasonal food in this omnibus cookbook (featuring 100 recipes), menu planner and travel guide to Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan and Venice. Nicely produced, this handsome sepia-toned book includes recommended restaurants, cafes and markets in each city. (ITL777, $29.95)

Italianissimo

by Louise Fili | Lise Apatoff

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2008
• HARD COVER
• 111 PAGES

Divertingly illustrated, this A-to-Z guide profiles 50 very Italian customs and concepts from the notion of beauty (bellisimo) to the Italian disregard for lines (Fare La Coda). (ITL983, $19.95)

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 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)

The City of Falling Angels

by John Berendt

• HISTORY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 414 PAGES

Berendt's masterful mix of damp aspirations, intrigue and eccentric personalities conveys a certain essence of what it's like to live in modern Venice. (ITL644, $16.00)

Tuscan Country, A Photographer's Journey

by Wes Walker

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2007
• HARD COVER
• 160 PAGES

Walker captures the allure of the hill towns, including Siena, Lucca, Pisa and smaller cities and villages in 100 luminous color photographs. (ITL848, $29.95)

Italy, Monuments Past and Present

by R.A. Staccioli

• ARCHAEOLOGY
• 2003
• FLEXI-BOUND
• 78 PAGES

This informative volume shows Italy's most important monuments as they look today and, via overlaid illustrations, as they were once upon a time. The book surveys the history and archeological highlights of Pompeii, Rome and Sicily. (ITL455, $25.00)

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

by Ross King

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2003
• PAPER
• 304 PAGES

Presented with flair and backed by a wealth of research, King's captivating chronicle of Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel tells the story of its conception and creation. (ITL464, $18.00)

The Art of the Renaissance

by Peter Murray

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 1992
• PAPER
• 286 PAGES

A classic, illustrated survey of the world of the Renaissance and its art. With chapters on Florence and its artists, the Netherlands, early illustrated books and many individual artists. (ITL14, $18.95)

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)

On The Road with Francis of Assisi

by Linda Bird Francke

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2006
• PAPER
• 256 PAGES

Assisi wandered for 20 years, affording Newsweek editor Francke and her patient husband plenty to see and do in the piazzas, sanctuaries and chapels of Assisi, Siena, Bologna, Venice, Gubbio, Rome and other choice spots. (ITL647, $15.95)

The World of Venice

by Jan Morris

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 1995
• PAPER
• 315 PAGES
• FAVORITE

Morris displays her talent for research, anecdote and well-wrought prose in this spirited history of a beloved city. (ITL12, $18.95)

Cabal

by Michael Dibdin

• MYSTERY
• 2000
• PAPER
• 241 PAGES

Zen is called to the Vatican to investigate the death of Prince Ludovico Ruspanti, who plunged from the roof of St. Peter's Basilica. (ITL620, $13.95)

Italy in Mind

by Alice Powers

• LITERATURE
• 1997
• PAPER
• 349 PAGES

A terrific collection of some of the best literary writing on Italy, including pieces by Melville, Lawrence, Henry James, Mary McCarthy and many others. (ITL39, $17.95)

Italy, A Traveler's Literary Companion

by Lawrence Venuti

• ANTHOLOGY
• 2003
• PAPER
• 256 PAGES

Not just a literary companion, this anthology is also a who's who of contemporary Italian writers that captures the spirit, history and allure of the country. (ITL466, $14.95)

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)

Ratking

by Michael Dibdin

• MYSTERY
• 1997
• PAPER

Venetian crime investigator Aurelio Zen goes after the kidnappers of a Perugian industrialist in this enjoyable thriller, winner of the Gold Dagger Award (and first book in the series). (ITL622, $13.95)

Sailing to Capri

by Elizabeth Adler

• MYSTERY
• 2007
• PAPER
• 400 PAGES

Bestselling author Adler weaves a suspenseful tale of a cruise, where nothing is what it seems, no one is telling the truth, and murder happens. (ITL965, $14.99)

The House in Amalfi

by Elizabeth Adler

• MYSTERY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 384 PAGES

Master of suspense and romance, Adler deftly intertwines lush descriptions of place with fast-paced intrigue in her 16th novel, set in Amalfi. (ITL966, $6.99)

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)

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