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HIKING IN ITALY'S LAKE DISTRICT
More Books

Al Dente, The Adventures of a Gastronome in Italy • William Black FOOD • 2004 • PAPER • 368 PAGES Clearly besotted by food, William Black travels throughout Italy in search of food and experience. (ITL548, $13.95)
Alps Map • Freytag & Berndt 2010 • MAP A detailed travel map of the Alps and surrounding areas, including portions of Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France, at a scale of 1:500,000. This handy regional map extends from Stuttgart and Brno (Czech Republic) to Lyon and Avigon, Florence nad Sienna, Trieste and Zagreb. Two Sides. 35x46 inches. (ALP07, $14.95)
Architecture in Italy 1500-1600 • Wolfgang Lotz • Deborah Howard ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1995 • PAPER • 205 PAGES A classic, comprehensive introduction to 16th-century Italian architecture. In this highly readable book, Lotz discusses the work of Renaissance architects including Bramante, Giulio Roman, Michelangelo and Palladio. Originally published in 1974 as part two of "Architecture in Italy, 1400-1600." With hundreds of color photographs and site plans, the book is an excellent companion for visitors to Venice, Florence or Rome. (ITL247, $40.00)
The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance • Peter Murray ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1997 • PAPER • 256 PAGES A classic, informative guide to Renaissance architecture throughout Italy, with black-and-white photographs and site plans. Beginning with the 14th century, Murray surveys major works and influences through the Italian Renaissance up to the 17th century. Ideal for travelers to Italy with an interest in architecture. (ITL34, $20.40)
Art and Society in the Middle Ages • Georges Duby ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2000 • PAPER • 128 PAGES A study of the relationship between the production of art and the nature of Medieval society. Noted French historian Georges Duby draws on religion, culture, government, geography, and, of course, artistic pursuits in this portrait of the Middle ages. (EUR85, $30.55)
Art in Renaissance Italy • Gary M. Radke • John T. Paoletti ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2001 • HARD COVER • 512 PAGES • COMING IN A complete, scholarly and remarkably readable overview of Italian Renaissance painting, sculpture and architecture, co-authored by two leading art historians. Paoletti and Radke examine the political, social and artistic currents that produced the unprecedented art of the 15th-17th centuries. With 600 illustrations (more than 200 in color). (ITL412, $85.00)
The Art of the Renaissance • Peter Murray ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1992 • PAPER • 286 PAGES A brief, illustrated survey of the world of the Renaissance and its art, complete with illustrations. This fine book puts the flowering of art and culture that began in Florence in 1420 in its historical context. With 251 well-integrated illustrations, 51 in color. Organized geographically and thematically, it includes chapters on Florence and its artists, the Netherlands, early illustrated books and many individual artists. (ITL14, $18.95)
art/shop/eat Milan • Paul Blanchard GUIDEBOOK • 2005 • PAPER • 183 PAGES Blue Guide's compact, illustrated guidebook with excellent local maps. The book includes not only museums, shops and restaurants, but also not-to-be-missed sites and attractions by neighborhood. The perfect addendum to the Blue Guide Northern Italy (ITL48). (ITL764, $13.95)
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)
Bradt Guide Switzerland Without a Car • Anthony Lambert GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 432 PAGES This guide, fully updated to include the latest route information, including the recent opening of the Lotschberg base tunnel, provides everything a traveler needs to negotiate both the famous landmarks and little-known secrets of this compact country. It describes every railway line, reveals what there is to see from each station, and details the connecting journeys by steamer, bus, funicular, cableway, bicycle and on foot. (SWZ27, $22.99)
Casa Rossa • Francesca Marciano LITERATURE • 2003 • PAPER • 340 PAGES This is Italian filmmaker Marciano's second attempt at the pen, her first being a novel of Kenya, titled Rules of the Wild. This second popular novel, set in Southern Italy, Rome and New York City, follows the lives of a mother, daughter, and granddaughter, and their ties to modern Italy. The novel opens as the narrator, Alina Strada, prepares to sell the family farm (Casa Rossa) in Puglia. The author, as you might guess, divides her time between Italy and Kenya. (ITL534, $14.95)
The Charterhouse of Parma • Henri Stendhal • Richard Howard LITERATURE • 1958 • PAPER • 560 PAGES Judged by Balzac to be the most important French novel of his time, this masterpiece is in an English translation that does justice to its speedy, passionate style. Set in Parma, Italy, Stendhal's book transcends the court intrigues and military goings-on of the plot to produce a work of narrative brilliance. (ITL208, $11.95)
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy • Jacob Burckhardt • S. G. C. Middlemore • Peter Gay HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 401 PAGES While focusing on the flowering of art and culture in Renaissance Italy, Burckhardt maintains a keen interest in the nature of civilization itself in this Victorian classic -- originally published in this translation in 1878. He covers state, art, society, religion, morality, philosophy and other topics of universal interest. In a new Modern Library edition. (ITL307, $15.95)
A Concise History of Italy • Christopher Duggan HISTORY • 1994 • PAPER • 320 PAGES A history of Italy covering the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day, with particular emphasis on the difficulties it has faced in forging a modern nation state. The book weaves together political, social, economic, and cultural history. (ITL35, $30.99)
Daisy Miller • Henry James LITERATURE • 2007 • PAPER • 126 PAGES This classic story of a young American woman's innocent flirtation and its misinterpretation by a sophisticated European man is set in Lac Leman and Chillon. This is James' first fictional work to gain mass popularity and one of his great American female portraits. Daisy, the young American tourist, baffles her Continental lovers with her ingenuousness and blatant honesty. Misunderstandings ensue when the formal, prim Winterbourne misconstrues her innocent flirtations. (SWZ09, $7.00)
Edith Wharton's Italian Gardens • Vivian Russell BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1997 • HARD COVER • 192 PAGES Edith Wharton's essays on the magnificent villa gardens of Lombardy, Veneto, Florence, Siena and Rome are as full of interest today as when they were first published in 1904. With commentary and color photographs of the villas and gardens by Vivian Russell, who retraced Wharton's journeys. She includes literary excerpts by Wharton, Charles Dickens, Henry James and other admirers. (ITL716, $45.00)
Eiger Dreams, Ventures Among Men and Mountains • Jon Krakauer EXPLORATION • 2009 • PAPER • 192 PAGES A collection of some of Krakauer's (Into Thin Air) best journalism, these stories and essays focus on the mindset and determination of world-class mountaineers, including Alpine and Himalayan climbers. These are tales of adventure of the highest sort. (ALP10, $14.95)
Eyewitness Guide Italy • Eyewitness Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2012 • PAPER • 720 PAGES Another gem in the Eyewitness series, this superb guide is handsome, convenient and up-to-date; it's the guide to carry. Featuring color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country's attractions. (ITL32, $30.00)
Eyewitness Guide Umbria • Eyewitness Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • FLEXI-BOUND • 192 PAGES A marvelously illustrated, compact guide to the culture, history and attractions of Umbria, organized geographically and especially helpful for its innovative site plans, building diagrams and local maps. With select, annotated listings of where to eat and sleep and what to buy. (ITL512, $20.00)
Fodor's See It Italy • Fodor's GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 496 PAGES An inaugural volume in this new line of guides by Fodor's this book is notable for its especially vibrant presentation of the country. Each page displays full-color photos accompanied by much useful information on how to eat, sleep, shop, and sightsee in Italy. With seven sections choc-full of tips to help make your visit memorable. The "Out and About" section features pre-planned walking and touring routes such as "A Lover's Walk in the Cinque Terre," "A Wine Tour from Alba to Cuneo" and "The Salentine Peninsula." (ITL550, $24.99)
For the Beauty of the Earth: Birding, Opera, and Other Journeys • Thomas Urquhart BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2006 • PAPER • 320 PAGES Urquhart chronicles a lifelong affair with nature, combined with a passion for music, as he travels-- and bird watches-- through pastoral England, Italy, the Camargue in Provence, and the villages of Mali. (BRD35, $15.00)
Foucault's Pendulum • Umberto Eco • William Weaver LITERATURE • 2007 • PAPER • 623 PAGES Eco's stunning sophomore effort is a wild, complex conspiracy novel set in Milan. The narrator (an expert on the Knights Templar) and his co-workers in a vanity publishing house specializing in hermetics invent a stunningly contrived plot to appeal to their readers. It involves Templars, Rosicrucians, Cabalists, occultists, Freemasons, Jesuits, and more. As events progess, the book becomes a study in how fiction can influence reality. A verbose, philosophical, scholarly cross-genre predecessor to the Da Vinci Code, perfect for readers who feel up to an extremely rewarding challenge. (ITL649, $15.95)
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus • Mary Shelley LITERATURE • 1992 • PAPER • 212 PAGES Set around Lake Geneva, this classic gothic novel, was written in 1816 when the author and her husband were neighbors of Byron, who suggested writing ghost stories to while away the damp, summer days during their stay. It memorably explores the dual dilemma of the danger of scientists playing God and the corruption of an innocent creature by an immoral society. (SWZ10, $7.95)
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis • Giorgio Bassini • William Weaver LITERATURE • 1996 • PAPER • 197 PAGES Made into an Academy Award-winning film in 1971, this powerful book deals with unrequited love and classist society in the time of Mussolini, when anti-Semitic laws were beginning to melt down the social hierarchies. A wonderfully written and well-translated tragedy, it takes place in the town of Ferrara, between Venice and Bologna. (ITL205, $13.95)
Giuseppe Garibaldi, A Biography of the Father of Modern Italy • Benedict S. Lipira BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1998 • HARD COVER • 121 PAGES A biography of the 19th-century Italian nationalist, published by the author. (ITL303, $15.95)
Glacier Ice • Austin Post • Edward R. LaChapelle NATURAL HISTORY • 2000 • PAPER • 145 PAGES A classic book of extraordinary black-and-white aerial photographs of mountains and glaciers by two devoted men of ice. The text is by Ed LaChapelle, an avalanche researcher, glaciologist, mountaineer, skier, author and professor, who died in 2007 at 80 of a heart attack while on the slopes in Colorado. Austin Post's stunning aerial photographs of glaciers along the North Pacific Coast of North America and into the interior ranges of Alaska is supplemented with groundbased photographs from the Himalayas, Switzerland, Chile and other parts of the world. (SCI07, $27.95)
The Gothic Enterprise, A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral • Robert A. Scott ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2005 • PAPER • 294 PAGES Scott, whose interest in the history of cathedrals began when he first saw the magnificent Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Salisbury, England, takes his reader on a historical, architectural and sociological tour of the magnificent spires and stained-glass windows that dot the landscape of Europe. It's an accessible, personable overview. (EUR190, $21.95)
Here Is Where We Meet • John Berger LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 256 PAGES This novel weaves a portrait of several European countries through encounters with the dead, from the narrator's mother, whom he discovers on a park bench in Lisbon, to a childhood friend wandering a market in Krakow. "The dead don't stay where they are buried," the protagonist's mother tells him, and this becomes the mantra for this most unusual journey through Europe's history and people. (EUR189, $15.00)
A History of Fascism, 1914-1945 • Stanley G. Payne HISTORY • 1996 • PAPER • 628 PAGES A scholarly, comprehensive history of fascism -- and other forms of ultra-nationalism -- with a focus on Europe between the World Wars, and especially Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. (EUR132, $24.95)
History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture • David G. Wilkins • Frederick Hartt ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2006 • PAPER • 699 PAGES A comprehensive history of Italian art from the 13th through the 16th centuries, long the standard reference on the flowering of art in the Renaissance. David Wilkins thoroughly revised this sixth edition, broadening the scope of the book and adding many new color plates, including details of the Sistine Chapel frescoes. (ITL308, $136.20)
Homestead • Rosini Lippi LITERATURE • 1999 • PAPER • 210 PAGES Set firmly in a small village in the Austrian Alps, these 12 interlinking stories are almost ethnographic in their rich detail of small town life. The stories range from the turn-of-the-century to the present, accurately charting change in the remote region of Andelsbuch, Egg and Grossdorf. The author spent four years among the villages of the Bregenz forest collecting information on the local dialect. Winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award. (ALP11, $13.95)
Hotel du Lac • Anita Brookner LITERATURE • 1995 • PAPER • 184 PAGES This prize-winning novel, which established the author's international reputation, is the story of a romance novelist whose life begins to resemble her plots. Fleeing to Switzerland to the quiet luxury of the Hotel du Lac, she finds not peace and rest, but an assortment of love's wounded and the attention of worldly men. Funny, stylish, and spellbinding, this is a good read. (SWZ05, $13.95)
I'm Not Stiller • Max Frisch LITERATURE • 1994 • PAPER • 384 PAGES Now published for the first time in its entirety, this haunting story of a man in prison who claims not to be himself raises disturbing questions of identity and self-acceptance. A masterpiece of post-World War II fiction, it commands attention from the first sentence and explores many layers of meaning as a Swiss who expatriated himself to America returns home under a pseudonym and denies his Swiss origins in an exercise of self-discovery. (SWZ08, $27.95)
Il Postino • Michael Radford 1995 • DVD The Italian comic actor Massino Troisi stars as a shy Italian postman living in a small fishing village on a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy who learns the ways of poetry and romance while delivering mail to the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. In Italian with subtitles. (ITL541, $19.99)
Insight Guide Switzerland • Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 368 PAGES This handsome guide gives a profusely illustrated overview of Switzerland, featuring concise essays by well-regarded authors on history, politics and culture, hundreds of photos and maps, and some practical information. (SWZ15, $24.99)
Inventing Leonardo • A. Richard Turner BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1994 • PAPER • 268 PAGES Turner, a leading art historian of the Renaissance, offers a lively appraisal of the controversial genius. It's an elegant and stimulating book. (ITL79, $28.95)
Italia, The Art of Living Italian Style • Edmund Howard ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1997 • HARD COVER • 192 PAGES A beautifully illustrated tour of Italy's most characteristic and striking architecture, landscapes and design. Howard includes a range of styles from villas, farmhouses and gardens to Baroque churches, mosaics and statuary. Accompanying essays cover the history, artists and background for each photograph. He concludes with a visitor's guide. (ITL398, $40.00)
Italian English Bilingual Visual Dictionary • DK Publishing LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 2005 • PAPER • 360 PAGES With thousands of neatly arranged color photographs, this compact book is impressively comprehensive, covering everything from the basics of la casa (house) to the vocabulary of le granaglie e i legumi secchi (grains and legumes). With a handy reference section in the back. (ITL626, $14.95)
Italian Food • Julia Child • Elizabeth David FOOD • 1999 • PAPER • 384 PAGES A comprehensive overview of the cuisine of Italy by the great Elizabeth David, originally published as two volumes in 1958 and 1960. David employs a connoisseur's standards for taste and a scholar's meticulousness in her survey of the diverse food and culture of Italy. (ITL298, $17.00)
Italian Hours • Henry James TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1992 • PAPER • 376 PAGES A classic series of travel essays written between 1872 and 1909 on the art, religion and people of Italy. James is an observant guide to Rome, Naples, Florence and other great destinations in the 19th century. (ITL07, $17.00)
The Italian Renaissance Reader • Julia Conway and Peter Bondanella • Mark Musa ANTHOLOGY • 1987 • PAPER Introducing artists and thinkers of the Renaissance, this collection includes selections by Francesca Petrarca, Giovanni Boccacio, Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Benvenuto Cellini. (ITL218, $18.00)
Italy and Its Invaders • Girolamo Arnaldi HISTORY • 2008 • PAPER • 240 PAGES A wide-ranging history of the many empires and world powers that have invaded Italy, with either success or failure, and their lasting influences, both positive and negative, on Italian art, architecture and culture up to the present day. (ITL661, $19.95)
Italy Map • Borch Maps 2011 • MAP A convenient laminated map of Italy at a scale of 1:800,000 with excellent topographic detail, an index, and large individual maps of Sicily and Sardinia. Two Sides. 27x39 inches. (ITL19, $11.95)
Italy, A Traveler's Literary Companion • Lawrence Venuti ANTHOLOGY • 2003 • PAPER • 256 PAGES This collection of tales by diverse Italian writers, organized geographically, captures the spirit, history and allure of the country. Not just a literary companion, this anthology is also a who's who of contemporary Italian writers. Bravo. (ITL466, $14.95)
Karen Brown's Italy B & B, Exceptional Places to Stay & Itineraries • Nicole Franchini GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 455 PAGES A survey of highly recommended bed and breakfasts throughout Italy. (ITL291, $19.95)
Karen Brown's Italy Hotels, Exceptional Places to Stay & Itineraries • Clare Brown GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 482 PAGES A survey of inns, castles and other lodging of character, along with suggested itineraries and highlights of each region. (ITL290, $19.95)
Killing Dragons, The Conquest of the Alps • Fergus Fleming EXPLORATION • 2001 • PAPER • 398 PAGES Fleming spins lively tales of man against nature in this entertaining history of the eccentrics, adventurers and publicity-hounds who sought to conquer the Alps, including Whymper and his first ascent of the Matterhorn (where four of the seven-man team perished). (ALP16, $14.00)
Knopf City Guide Milan • Knopf Guides GUIDEBOOK • 1998 • PAPER • 168 PAGES This is a vibrant, colorful guide to Milan with fine coverage of both cultural sights and the best places to eat and shop. Packed with 600 photographs and illustrations and still small enough to fit in your pocket, this guide features travel facts, maps, a cultural history, and much about where to go and what to see and do. With ten double-page maps. (ITL123, $14.95)
La Dolce Vita • Federico Fellini 1960 • DVD Fellini's celebrated masterpiece which stars Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, a Roman tabloid reporter who fully indulges in the decadence of "la dolce vita"-- sex, money, and alcohol. Anita Ekberg is the American starlet whom Marcello takes up with. In Italian with subtitles. Part of the Criterion Collection. (ITL543, $39.98)
La Nouvelle Heloise • Jean-Jacques Rousseau LITERATURE • 1989 • PAPER • 421 PAGES Rousseau may be best known for his political philosophy, but in this novel we see his softer side. This is the passionate story told through the letters of two lovers in a small town at the foot of the Alps. (SWZ19, $33.95)
La Place de la Concorde Suisse • John McPhee CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1994 • PAPER • 150 PAGES In the company of a Swiss patrol leader on a training mission, McPhee deploys his usual insight and wonderful prose on the phenomenon of the army of Switzerland -- a country twice the size of New Jersey with a much smaller population and an army of 650,000. What unfolds is an irreverent portrait of Switzerland and the Swiss mindset. (SWZ14, $16.00)
Leonardo da Vinci • Kenneth Clark BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1993 • PAPER With 128 well integrated plates and a useful chronology, this authoritative and informative book has become the standard introduction to da Vinci and his work. (ITL78, $21.95)
The Lives of the Artists, Vol 1 • Giorgio Vasari • Julia Conway and Peter Bondanella BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1987 • PAPER • 477 PAGES Vasari offers short biographies of the art and lives of his Renaissance contemporaries in this classic and much-discussed book written in the mid-16th century. He focuses on painters both great and lesser-known, including Giotto, Michelangelo, Titian and others. This edition includes parts one, two and three of the huge original work. (ITL17, $14.00)
Lombardia Regional Map • Touring Club Italiano MAP A colorful regional map of the Lombardy region, with shaded relief and excellent coverage of local towns and landmarks at a scale of 1:200,000. Two Sides. 37x54 inches. (ITL120, $12.95)
Love and War in the Apennines • Eric Newby TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2008 • PAPER • 276 PAGES Eric Newby's powerful account of his days as a young Brit during World War II in German occupied Italy. After leaving a POW camp, he takes flight from advancing German forces and finds allies in some Italian families who take him in and help him hide. Newby has gone on to fall in love with Italy, building a house there and marrying an Italian woman. (ITL171, $14.99)
M, The Man Who Became Caravaggio • Peter Robb BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2000 • PAPER • 592 PAGES A masterful biography of the Renaissance painter by the author of "Midnight in Sicily." (ART47, $24.00)
The Magic Mountain • Thomas Mann LITERATURE • 1996 • PAPER • 755 PAGES In this classic novel of ill health in a sanatorium in the Swiss mountains, the author explores disease as a symbol of the sick, capitalistic society of pre-World War I Europe. The sanatorium as a microcosm of the continent reveals a society exhibiting the first symptoms of its own terminal irrationality. This monumental work pulses with sexual tension, intellectual ferment and life in the midst of death. (SWZ07, $19.00)
Mammals of Europe • Priscilla Barrett • David W. MacDonald FIELD GUIDE • 2002 • PAPER • 320 PAGES Published by Princeton, this is a field guide to land and marine mammals throughout Europe, both endemic and introduced. With more than 600 color illustrations of over 200 mammals, it's a comprehensive handbook, with detailed descriptions, range maps and commentary on behavior. (FG61, $38.50)
Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World • Peter Weir LITERATURE • 2003 • DVD Peter Weir's exciting adaptation of two of Patrick O'Brian's popular novels, "Master and Commander" and "The Far Side of the World," starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. Crowe is Captain Jack Aubrey, whose British ship, the HMS Surprise, is battling a mysterious French ship off the coast of Cape Horn during the Napoleonic Wars of 1805. An extended sequenced filmed on the Galapagos marks one of the first times the islands have been depicted in a feature film. (GPS66, $14.98)
The Measure of Her Powers, An M.F.K. Fisher Reader • M. F. K. Fisher FOOD • 2010 • PAPER • 432 PAGES A fat, judicious selection of M.F.K. Fisher's writings, which spanned a lifetime and chronicled adventures (culinary and otherwise) in France, Switzerland and Italy, on shipboard and in her native California. A supremely wise woman and an unsurpassed prose stylist, M.F.K. is here represented in all her witty, sad and celebratory incarnations. Edited with minimal interference by Dominique Gioia, this volume also includes a brief introductory memoir of Fisher by her acolyte Ruth Reichl, who once went on a pilgrimage to Fisher's Sonoma cottage -- only to find that Fisher herself cooked simply, not extravagantly at all. (CUL01, $21.95)
Michelin Green Guide French Alps • Michelin Travel Publications GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 448 PAGES A compact, practical guide to the region in the classic Michelin style, organized alphabetically by town and featuring brief descriptions of all the major attractions. The dozens of local maps are especially useful. Not just a driving guide, it includes footpaths and suggested hikes from Mount Blanc to the Grand Canyon du Verdon. With a brief section of practical travel information. (FRN197, $21.99)
Michelin Green Guide Italy • Michelin Travel Publications GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 576 PAGES A survey of the cities, villages and sites of Italy in the classic Michelin style, featuring brief descriptions of all the major attractions and excellent full-color city maps. Organized alphabetically for easy reference. (ITL279, $21.99)
The Middle Sea • John Julius Norwich HISTORY • 2007 • PAPER • 720 PAGES A marvelous writer who has already tackled Byzantium, the Normans in Sicily and Venice, Norwich spins his magic in this story of culture, trade and politics, royalty and rulers, wars and religion in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the end of the First World War. (MED98, $21.00)
Milan Map • Streetwise Maps MAP A detailed travel map of Milan, at a scale of 1:19,000. Two Sides. 8.5x32 inches. (ITL65, $8.95)
Milan Map • Touring Club Italiano 2004 • MAP An excellent map of Milan and the metropolitan region at a scale of 1:15,000 by Touring Club Italiano. Two Sides. 36x47 inches. (ITL618, $12.95)
Monte Rosa Map • MapLink 1998 • MAP A Swiss-produced topographic map of the Monte Rosa massif, at a scale of 1:100,000. Two Sides. 22X30.5 inches. (SWZ41, $14.00)
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana • Umberto Eco • Geoffrey Brock LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 480 PAGES Having suffered a complete loss of memory regarding every aspect of his own identity, rare book dealer Yambo withdraws to a family home nested between Milan and Turin, where he sorts through boxes of old records and experiences memories in the form of a graphic novel. (ITL717, $18.00)
The Night Manager • John Le Carre LITERATURE • 1994 • PAPER • 473 PAGES This best-selling, post-Cold War thriller about ruthless arms dealers in Geneva is a gripping read. Carrying on the great Le Carre tradition of espionage, a man who essentially gave up living after a tremendous failure is given a costly shot at redemption. In the new world order, spies have become their own worst enemies. (SWZ06, $7.99)
Northern Italy Map • Touring Club Italiano MAP This beautifully shaded road map of Northern Italy (1:400,000) shows the region including Trieste, Venice, Bologna Milan and Turin. Printed and tear- and water-resistant paper. One Side. 37x59 inches. (ITL38, $14.95)
On The Road with Francis of Assisi • Linda Bird Francke TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2006 • PAPER • 256 PAGES Weaving tales of the 13th-century saint and her own 21st-century travels, Francke follows in the footsteps of Francis on her own pilgrimage. She lingers in Assisi, Venice and Rome, and takes in Siena, Bologna, Gubbio, and many hill towns, sanctuaries and chapels. The book nicely evokes both the spirit of Francis of Asisi, and the history and pleasures of Italy. (ITL647, $15.95)
One-Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in Italy • Paolo Lazzarin GUIDEBOOK • 2004 • HARD COVER • 276 PAGES A handsome book highlighting Italy's charming and scenic villages. Featuring color photographs and an overview of history and attractions, favorite accommodations and restaurants by photographer-journalist Lazzarin. Translated from the Italian (the book was originally published for the Italian market as an introduction to unique and wonderful places throughout the country). (ITL546, $45.00)
The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy • George Holmes HISTORY • 2001 • PAPER • 400 PAGES With contributions by 12 scholars, this generously illustrated volume tackles the full sweep of Italian history from Roman Empire to the development of powerful city states to national identity. With 24 color plates and hundreds of black-and-white illustrations. (ITL306, $31.95)
Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style • Michael Baxandall ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1998 • PAPER • 183 PAGES A slim introduction to Renaissance art and representation with color illustrations throughout. First published in 1972, it's an influential overview of not only how to look at art -- but how the original 15th-century audience may have seen the paintings of the period. Braxandall explores contemporary sermons, dancing manuals, and mathematical treatises, original contracts and other source materials to understand the context in which the paintings were conceived. Among the artists he discusses are Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Masaccio, Luca Signorelli, and Boccaccio. (ITL236, $19.95)
Pimsleur Quick & Simple Italian • Pimsleur Language Method LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 2005 • AUDIO CD Four audio CDs with eight 30-minute lessons in basic Italian, covering elementary vocabulary and phrases used in travel and everyday situations. The Pimsleur method emphasizes the use of listening skills without reading materials (so there isn't a book to follow along). It's advertised as "Totally audio: hear it, learn it, speak it." (ITL630, $19.95)
Portofino, A Novel • Frank Schaeffer LITERATURE • 2004 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A humorous novel of Calvin Becker, a young boy who vacations in Portofino each summer with his Protestant missionary family. Set in the 1960s, the coming-of-age tale follows Calvin's encounters with the sights and locals of the seaside town, while he avoids his parents' constant bickering and their attempts to convert Roman Catholics. The film version starred John Lithgow and Diane Wiest. (ITL164, $15.00)
The Prince • Niccolo Machiavelli • George Bull • Anthony Grafton LITERATURE • 1999 • PAPER • 105 PAGES The classic text of social mobility, written during the peak of the Italian Renaissance. (ITL235, $7.00)
Red Guide Italia, Hotels and Restaurants • Michelin Travel Publications GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • HARD COVER • 1360 PAGES The venerable Michelin Red Guide to dining and lodging in Italy, revised annually. With city maps, telephone numbers, addresses, and a complex series of categories, all in Italian. (ITL275, $29.99)
Renaissance Philosophy of Man, Petrarca, Valla, Ficino, Pico, Pomponazzi, Vives • Ernst Cassirer • Paul Oskar Kristeller • John H. Randall HISTORY • 1956 • PAPER • 405 PAGES This overview covers the three dominant philosophical movements of the early Italian Renaissance: classical humanism, Platonism and Aristotelianism. (ITL237, $22.50)
Rough Guide Switzerland • Matthew Teller GUIDEBOOK • 1010 • PAPER • 552 PAGES This comprehensive guide in the British series includes an excellent historical and cultural overview of Switzerland, detailed travel information, and dozens of sketch maps. It's an excellent choice for the independent traveler. (SWZ24, $22.99)
Scrambles Amongst the Alps: In the Years 1860-69 • Edward Whymper EXPLORATION • 2002 • PAPER • 320 PAGES Edward Wymper's vivid account of Victorian-era mountaineering, a classic, captures the geography, beauty and allure of the Alps. The intrepid Whymper made the first ascents of several important peaks in the Andes and the Alps, including famously the Matterhorn. (ALP02, $16.00)
Short Stories in Italian, Racconti in Italiano • Nick Roberts LITERATURE • 2001 • PAPER • 174 PAGES This bilingual collection, with the English and Italian alongside, features stories by contemporary and established Italian literary figures, including Italo Calvino and Primo Levi, Leonardo Sciascia, Goffredo Parise and Antonio Tabucchi. (ITL730, $14.00)
Solo Faces • James Salter LITERATURE • 1998 • PAPER • 218 PAGES The story of an American climber who, dissatisfied with his everyday life, travels to the Alps of southern France to tackle mountain peaks. The prose is glorious and the mountain-climbing scenes are as vivid as they get. Much of the action takes place in and around Chamonix. (ALP14, $15.00)
Spartacus • Stanley Kubrick 1960 • DVD Stanley Kubrick's riveting epic about the leader of a Roman slave revolt, starring no less than Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis and Peter Ustinov. The screenplay was written by the playwright Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted at the time. Part of the Criterion Collection. (ITL544, $49.95)
Switzerland Map • Michelin Travel Publications MAP A colorful, shaded relief map of Switzerland at a scale of 1:400,000. Also includes Northwest Italy, including Lake Como. One Side. 39X47 inches. (SWZ11, $12.95)
The Talented Mr. Ripley • Anthony Minghella 1999 • DVD A screen adaptation of the first in Patricia Highsmith's popular Mr. Ripley mystery series. Matt Damon stars as the obsessive and murderous Mr. Ripley, whose jealousy of his dashing companion Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) quickly turns sinister. The highlight of this thriller, which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett, is its suspenseful portrayal of an exquisite sundrenched Italian town (the film was shot in, among other places, Venice, Tuscany, the Gulf of Naples and Southern Sicily), where life is carefree but a menacing potential for violence lurks behind every corner. (ITL542, $14.99)
Time Out Milan • Sylvia Tombesi-Walton GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • PAPER • 256 PAGES An up-to-date guide on what to do and where to go by the people who publish Time Out Magazine. (ITL669, $19.95)
Tour of Mont Blanc, Complete Trekking Guide • Kev Reynolds GUIDEBOOK • 2012 • PAPER • 243 PAGES A compact guide to the 11-day, 120-mile classic walk encircling Mont Blanc. With color and black-and-white photos, maps and elevations. The heart of the book is a detailed kilometer-by-kilometer guide to each section of the tour including timings, distances and the author's encouraging, personable remarks on the route. Revised. (ALP24, $24.95)
A Tramp Abroad • Mark Twain • David Eggers • Kerry Driscoll TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2003 • PAPER • 400 PAGES Written 11 years after Innocents Abroad, this is Twain's second foray into European travel. Filled with his characteristic wit and humorous observations, it documents his journeys through Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. This Modern Library Classics edition includes an introduction by Dave Eggers, new explanatory notes and a critical afterword. (EUR78, $14.95)
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)
Trentino Alto-Adige Map • Touring Club Italiano MAP A colorful regional map of the Italian Dolomites at a scale of 1:200,000, with shaded relief and excellent coverage of local towns and landmarks. Two Sides. 37x44 inches. (ITL42, $14.95)
Tuscany in Mind • Alice Powers ANTHOLOGY • 2005 • PAPER • 400 PAGES These selections, including D.H. Lawrence, Robert Browning, Mary McCarthy, to Eric Newby, Erica Jong and David Leavitt, cover a wide range of subjects, from the region's geography to its history and culture and (of course) the food. Another fine literary anthology from the editor of Italy in Mind. Powers provides an appreciative introduction to each 8-10 page selection, focusing on the transforamtion wrought upon American and British writers. (ITL607, $14.95)
Unspeakable Women, Selected Short Stories Written by Italian Women During Facism • Robin Pickering-Iazzi LITERATURE • 1993 • PAPER • 118 PAGES A selection of short stories by 10 women writing in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s. (ITL312, $14.95)
Voice of the Violin • Andrea Camilleri • Stephen Sartarelli MYSTERY • 2004 • PAPER • 256 PAGES In this fourth installment in the popular Inspector Montalbano series. Camilleri delivers a delightful cast of characters and wry commentary on Sicilian ways, headed by the irresistible Inspector Montalbano, a small town police detective with a healthy appetite, roving intellect and wry sense of humor. It opens with a classic conceit of police procedurals: a beautiful blond woman is found dead. That's the least of it. (ITL537, $14.00)
Why Switzerland? • Jonathan Steinberg CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1996 • PAPER • 300 PAGES A sweeping study of the Swiss character and an examination of how Switzerland, alone in western Europe, resisted centralization of its state and economy and membership in the European Union. Its unique institutions, direct democracy, absence of strikes, communal autonomy and four national languages make it unique, but can it last? Through lucid descriptions of history, politics, religion, and culture, this book captures what it means to be Swiss. Illustrated with black-and-white photos and maps. (SWZ04, $37.99)
Wine Country Europe, Touring, Tasting, And Buying At European Regional Wineries • Ornella D'Alessio • Marco Santini FOOD • 2005 • HARD COVER • 324 PAGES Part how-to, part guidebook, part picture book, this charming coffee table treat covers sprawling French vineyards as well as lesser-known hidden treasures in Austria and Hungary. The authors, both Italian journalists and wine connoisseurs, provide helpful tips alongside the hundreds of magnificent color photographs. (EUR191, $35.00)
Worldly Goods, A New History of the Renaissance • Lisa Jardine HISTORY • 1998 • PAPER • 470 PAGES Historian Lisa Jardine presents a new slant on the history of the Renaissance. She views the Renaissance as an age made possible by the economic boom of the time. Her arguments are well founded and compelling, making this nicely illustrated book quite readable. (ITL173, $19.95)

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