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ART TREASURES OF ITALY
More Books
Biba's Italy
• 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) |
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The City of Falling Angels
• John Berendt
HISTORY •
2006 •
PAPER
• 414 PAGES
Berendt here does for Venice what he did for Savannah, Georgia in the phenomenally popular Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. His central hook is the investigation of the devastating fire of January 29, 1996, which destroyed the Venice opera house. What follows is intrigue, political machinations, financial chicanery, and, of course murder. Berendt succeeds in conveying a certain essence of what it is like to live in modern Venice.
(ITL644, $16.00) |
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A House in Sicily
• 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) |
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Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecture
• John Varriano
ART & ARCHITECTURE •
1996 •
PAPER
• 329 PAGES
A scholarly, illustrated survey of the Baroque and Rococo treasures of Italy. Varriano is a professor of art history at Mount Holyoke.
(ITL687, $59.95) |
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Italian Days
• Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •
1998 •
PAPER
• 479 PAGES
• FAVORITE
A literary celebration, portrait and guide to Italy and the Italians. Barbara Grizzuti Harrison writes with warmth and depth of her journey from Milan south to Calabria in this sprightly account. It's one of our favorite books about place.
(ITL02, $15.00) |
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Italian Journey, 1786-1788
• Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
• W.H. Auden
• Elizabeth Meyer
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •
1992 •
PAPER
• 498 PAGES
The journals and letters from Goethe's 'grand tour' of southern Italy as a 37-year-old. There's some serious intellectual sledding here, but in addition to his musing on philosophy and art, Gooethe includes some wonderful writing on the Italian landscape. And it's all made easier by a lovely translation by W.H. Auden and Elizabeth Meyer.
(ITL144, $18.00) |
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The Italians
• Luigi Barzini
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •
1996 •
PAPER
• 352 PAGES
The definitive portrait of the Italian people, noteworthy for its insight, grace and wit. It's a classic, scholarly essay on the Italian character, still worthwhile though first published in 1964. Much historical information is included. Highly recommended.
(ITL05, $16.00) |
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Made in Italy, A Shopper's Guide
• Laura Morelli
GUIDEBOOK •
2008 •
PAPER
• 208 PAGES
A nicely illustrated, informative buyer's guide to local shops and studios in Italy, covering a wide range of handcrafted products from Murano glass to ceramics, jewelry and leather goods. Morelli, who recently returned to Connecticut after a three-year stint near Milan, provides a detailed survey of 800 recommended shops and 75 color illustrations.
(ITL473, $24.95) |
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Painting in Renaissance Venice
• 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) |
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Fodor's Venice's 25 Best
• Citypack
GUIDEBOOK •
2012 •
PAPER
• 176 PAGES
This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information on Venice's highlights, including restaurant recommendations and sightseeing.
(ITL106, $12.99) |
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Eyewitness Guide Sicily
• 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) |
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Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic
• Alexander Stille
HISTORY •
1996 •
PAPER
• 467 PAGES
As you might guess from the title, this fast-paced book is a gripping account of corruption in Italy. The author offers an utterly absorbing -- and impressively researched -- account of the assassination of two top anti-Mafia prosecutors in 1992. Opening in Palermo in 1876, the book is a richly detailed analysis of Italian culture, a portrait of the two brave men who were killed and a penetrating look at the Cosa Nostra and its influence on all levels of Italian society. Masterful.
(ITL58, $17.95) |
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Palermo
• Roberto Alajmo
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •
2010 •
HARD COVER
• 193 PAGES
Alajmo advises in the opening sentence of this wry portrait of his native city, its people, charms and "big problems": "Get yourself a window-seat and arrive on a clear sunny day."
(ITA212, $19.95) |
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Sicilian Carousel
• Lawrence Durrell
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •
2009 •
PAPER
• 291 PAGES
A classic literary travelogue of the great novelist's journey around the island in the 1950s. It's warm, insightful and full of sympathy for the people and place.
(ITL08, $12.00) |
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Travelers' Tales Italy
• Ann Calcagno
• Jan Morris
ANTHOLOGY •
2001 •
PAPER
• 437 PAGES
From a climb up the dome of St. Peter's to a walk through Milano Centrale train station, this collection of 48 stories on traveling in Italy and Italian life is an insightful introduction to the country. Contributors include Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Frances Mayes, Jonathan Keats, and Stanley Crouch, who writes on "Umbria Jazz" in Rome.
(ITL182, $18.95) |
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Tuscan Country, A Photographer's Journey
• Wes Walker
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •
2007 •
HARD COVER
• 160 PAGES
Wes Walker captures the allure of the hill towns, vineyards, fields and villages in 100 luminous color photographs. Literary excerpts from the works of both Italian writers and literary visitors accompany the photographs, including Italo Calvino, Henry James, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Frances Mayes.
(ITL848, $29.95) |
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La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
• Beppe Severgnini
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •
2007 •
PAPER
• 288 PAGES
• BEST SELLER
Hugely popular in Italy, this witty guide to the Italian character addresses the apparently never-ending Italian passion for beauty, disorder and high emotion. An Italian journalist, Severgnini opens with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa Airport, taking the unwary reader firmly by the hand on a journey to Milan,Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. He hilariously points out Italian rituals and quirks from the highway to hotels, bedrooms, restaurants, the office and beach.
(ITL718, $14.00) |
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Between Salt Water and Holy Water, A History of Southern Italy
• Tommaso Astarita
HISTORY •
2005 •
PAPER
• 352 PAGES
A concise, popular history of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from Norman Sicily through Spanish and Bourbon rule to the unification of Italy. Astarita is professor of history at Georgetown University. With 50 illustrations.
(ITL597, $22.95) |
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Brunelleschi's Dome, How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
• Ross King
ART & ARCHITECTURE •
2001 •
PAPER
• 194 PAGES
Designed in 1420 by Filippo Brunelleschi, the dome in Florence's cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is one of the great architectural feats. In this eminently readable book, Ross King tells the story of the design and construction of the dome, a tale rife with politics, cut-throat competition and mighty inspiration.
(ITL410, $15.00) |
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Archaeology of Ancient Sicily
• R. Ross Holloway
ARCHAEOLOGY •
2000 •
PAPER
• 232 PAGES
A marvelously lucid, concise and comprehensive history of ancient civilizations and archaeology of the Mediterranean from the Paleolithic to the Romans. With ample illustrations, site diagrams and maps. Holloway, an archaeologist at Brown University, draws on his own extensive field work in Sicily.
(ITL521, $47.95) |
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The Birth of Venus, A Novel
• Sarah Dunant
LITERATURE •
2004 •
PAPER
• 397 PAGES
This tasty tale of art, passion, politics and danger, memorably set in Renaissance Florence in the days after the death of the powerful Lorenzo de Medici in 1492, comes to us from British novelist, broadcaster and critic Sarah Dunant, who brings her experience as the creator of the private investigator Hannah Wolfe to this new era. The malevolent political reformer (and zealot) Girolamo Savonarola figures prominently -- and even Michelangelo makes an appearance. Not surprisingly, Dunant divides her time between London and Florence, which she so vividly depicts. A runaway bestseller.
(ITL532, $15.00) |
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The Agony and the Ecstasy, A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
• 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) |
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Cabal
• Michael Dibdin
MYSTERY •
2000 •
PAPER
• 241 PAGES
In this beautifully written thriller, detective Aurelio Zen is called to the Vatican to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Prince Ludovico Ruspanti, who plunged from the roof of St. Peter's Basilica. It's hard to say what we like best about Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series: his knowing police detective, the thoroughly enjoyable Italian settings, fast-paced plot or wry commentary on contemporary society and politics.
(ITL620, $13.95) |
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Birds of Europe
• Lars Svensson
FIELD GUIDE •
2010 •
PAPER
• 416 PAGES
• FAVORITE
This Princeton Field Guide features 3,500 illustrations by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom. Color plates depict every species -- and sometimes several different variants -- for 722 birds found from the Urals to the Atlantic, Scandinavia to the Middle East.
(FG47, $29.95) |
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Malena
• Giuseppe Tornatore
LITERATURE •
2005 •
DVD
In a sleepy Sicilian town during World War II, Malena's husband goes off to war, leaving her alone and subject to the advances of lustful village men and the jealousy and resentment of their women. A young boy develops secret feelings for Malena as he watches her quiet courage and poise in the face of adversity and loneliness.
(ITA263, $14.99) |
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The Leopard
• Luchino Visconti
LITERATURE •
2004 •
DVD
The film version of di Lasmpedusa's highly regarded novel. Starring Burt Lancaster.
(ITL906, $49.95) |
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Divorce, Italian Style
• 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) |
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Excellent Cadavers
• 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) |
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The Sicilian Girl
• 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) |
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