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Biba's Italy

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)

The City of Falling Angels

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)

A House in Sicily

A House in Sicily


by Daphne Phelps

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

An old-fashioned memoir of life at Casa Cuseni, the pensione and garden in Taormina run by the indomitable Daphne Phelps, which has been a sanctuary for Tennessee Williams, Betrand Russell and other guests, famous and infamous, since 1947. (ITL148, $16.95)

Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecture


by John Varriano

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 329 PAGES

A scholarly, illustrated survey of the Baroque and Rococo treasures of Italy. (ITL687, $59.95)

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)

Italian Journey, 1786-1788

Italian Journey, 1786-1788


by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | W.H. Auden | Elizabeth Meyer

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 498 PAGES

"Sicily is the key to everything" is only one of Goethe's many astute observations included in this Penguin Classics edition of his journals and letters from his grand tour of southern Italy. (ITL144, $18.00)

The Italians

The Italians


by Luigi Barzini

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

The definitive portrait of the Italian people, this is a classic, scholarly essay on the Italian character. Though first published in 1964, it's still worth reading for its insight, grace and wit. (ITL05, $16.00)

Made in Italy, A Shopper's Guide

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)

Painting in Renaissance Venice


by Peter Humfrey

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A compact, well illustrated introduction to Bellini, Titian, Tinteretto and other Venetian masters. With 80 fine color plates. Humfrey balances the works themselves and individual painters with information on the social and political background of the period. (ITL492, $28.00)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

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)

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)

Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic

Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic


by Alexander Stille

  • HISTORY
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 467 PAGES

This fast-paced book is a gripping account of corruption in Italy. The author offers an utterly absorbing account of the assassination of two top anti-Mafia prosecutors in 1992. (ITL58, $17.95)

Palermo

Palermo


by Roberto Alajmo

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 193 PAGES

In this charming little book, Alajmo offers a wry, lyrical portrait of his native city, its people, charms and "big problems." (ITA212, $19.95)

Sicilian Carousel

Sicilian Carousel


by Lawrence Durrell

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 291 PAGES

Durrell writes with warmth and grace of his journey around the island in the 1950s. (ITL08, $12.00)

Travelers' Tales Italy

Travelers' Tales Italy


by Ann Calcagno | Jan Morris

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 437 PAGES

A collection of 48 stories on traveling in Italy and Italian life, featuring the writing of Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Frances Mayes, Jonathan Keats, Stanley Crouch and others. (ITL182, $18.95)

Tuscan Country, A Photographer's Journey

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)

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)

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)

Brunelleschi's Dome, How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture


by Ross King

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 194 PAGES

The story of the design and construction of the dome in the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a tale rife with politics, cut-throat competition and mighty inspiration. (ITL410, $15.00)

Archaeology of Ancient Sicily

Archaeology of Ancient Sicily


by R. Ross Holloway

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

A concise, marvelously lucid history of the civilizations and archaeology of Sicily from the Paleolithic to the Romans. With illustrations, site diagrams and maps. (ITL521, $47.95)

The Birth of Venus, A Novel

The Birth of Venus, A Novel


by Sarah Dunant

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 397 PAGES

A rich novel of art, passion and patronage, memorably set in late 15th-century Florence and prominently featuring the famously pious reformer Savonarola. (ITL532, $15.00)

The Agony and the Ecstasy, A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo

The Agony and the Ecstasy, A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo


by Irving Stone

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 776 PAGES

An overheated, page-turning fictionalized account of the life of master painter and sculptor Michelangelo -- and a good introduction to Renaissance Florence and Rome. (ITL150, $17.00)

Cabal

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)

Birds of Europe

Birds of Europe


by Lars Svensson

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Featuring 3,500 glorious paintings by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom, the second revised edition of this exquisite guide has been brought up to date with revised text and maps. (FG47, $29.95)

Malena


by Giuseppe Tornatore

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • DVD

A young boy develops secret feelings for Malena as he watches her quiet courage and poise in the face of adversity in this film, set in a Sicilian fishing village during World War II. (ITA263, $14.99)

The Leopard


by Luchino Visconti

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • DVD

The film version of di Lasmpedusa's highly regarded novel. Starring Burt Lancaster. (ITL906, $49.95)

Divorce, Italian Style


by Pietro Germi

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • DVD

A bored upper-class Sicilian (the brilliant Marcello Mastroianni) has grown tired of his wife and would rather marry his attractive cousin. Unfortunately, divorce is illegal in Italy. Therefore, he decides to find a lover for his wife and murder her out of jealousy. A hilarious farce about love and marriage. Nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Actor. (ITA262, $39.95)

Excellent Cadavers


by Marco Turco

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • DVD

Chronicles the efforts to take down the mafia during the Maxi Trials of the 1980s by Italian prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and their resulting assassinations. Based on Alexander Stille's masterful book. (ITA261, $24.95)

The Sicilian Girl


by Marco Amenta

  • LITERATURE
  • 2010
  • DVD

Based on a true story, after her father and brother are murdered by the Mafia, seventeen-year-old Rita Atria provides evidence of mob activity in her town to an investigative judge, and finds her days are numbered from that moment on. (ITA260, $29.95)

 

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.