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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GALILEO
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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)
The Architectural History of Venice • Deborah Howard GUIDEBOOK • 2004 • PAPER • 368 PAGES This revised edition of Howard's concise, fact-filled guide to Venetian churches, palaces, and guildhalls from the Byzantine era to the present includes 70 black-and-white and 100 color illustrations. (ITL797, $26.00)
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 of the Byzantine Era • David Talbot Rice ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1985 • PAPER • 286 PAGES An indispensable classic and a thoroughly illustrated introduction to Byzantine art, wide-ranging and literate. Though it focuses on the extraordinary early Christian treasures of Constantinople (including site plans and photographs of mosaics, carving and decoration), the book also includes chapters on Sicily, Venice and Slavonic art of the Balkans. With 250 illustrations, many in color, and accompanying text, it is a compact introduction to the art and architecture of the era. (TKY22, $21.95)
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 Venice • Paul Blanchard GUIDEBOOK • 2005 • PAPER • 207 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 Venice (ITL457). (ITL765, $13.95)
Blue Guide Northern Italy, from the Alps to the Adriatic • Paul Blanchard GUIDEBOOK • 2005 • PAPER • 735 PAGES This Blue Guide by a popular tour leader provides a thorough overview of the history, art and architecture of northern Italy from Trieste across to the Valle d'Aosta, Venice, Verona, Milan, Genoa and Bologna. With 36 maps and site plans. 12th edition. (ITL48, $32.95)
Blue Guide Venice • Alta Macadam GUIDEBOOK • 2007 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A comprehensive guide to the art, architecture, museums, history and culture of Venice. With 30 illustrations, maps and site diagrams, recommended restaurants, cafes and hotels. (ITL457, $29.95)
The Book Nobody Read, Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus • Owen Gingerich SCIENCE • 2004 • PAPER • 256 PAGES In part a detective story, Gingerich travels the globe to examine copies of Copernicus' Da revolutionubus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres). Examining 600 copies (and their annotations by contemporary astronomers), the quest took him to libraries from Melbourne to Moscow, Boston to Beijing. Contrary to lore, he shows that the revolutionary book, putting the sun at the center of our universe, had an enormous impact in its time. Gingerich skteches the life and times of astronomers like Galileo and Kepler, examining too the tensions between science and church. (HSC30, $25.00)
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)
Charming Small Hotel Guides, Venice • Fiona Duncan • Leonie Glass GUIDEBOOK • 2005 • PAPER • 224 PAGES A full page with a color photograph is dedicated to each entry in this guide focused on hotels with 20 bedrooms or less. (ITL772, $15.95)
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)
The City of Florence, Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings • R.W.B. Lewis CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1996 • PAPER • 350 PAGES • FAVORITE A personal and vivid tour of the city and its riches which interweaves Florence's history with personal observation by the fine biographer of Edith Wharton and Henry James. Lewis has written what he calls "a partial biography of Florence." (ITL47, $21.99)
City Secrets Florence, Venice • Robert Kahn GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • HARD COVER • 150 PAGES A connoisseur's guide to Italy featuring 200 short recommendations, many by artists, architects and other members of the American Academy in Rome or the organization Save Venice. Each contributor provides a brief profile of a favorite walk, restaurant, garden, market, work of art, building or other attraction. With maps and travel information. (ITL277, $14.95)
Companion Guide Venice • Hugh Honour GUIDEBOOK • 2001 • PAPER • 386 PAGES The classic guide to Venice. Designed to take along on a walking tour, this wonderfully literate and opinionated guide describes the art and architecture of the city in loving detail. With dozens of maps, site plans and black-and-white illustrations. (ITL21, $34.95)
The Dancing Universe, From Creation Myths to the Big Bang • Marcelo Gleiser SCIENCE • 2005 • PAPER • 338 PAGES A popular history of cosmology by an prominent physicist. Gleiser's wide-ranging account embraces traditional creation myths, Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus Newton, Einstein and Hubble. (SCI25, $22.95)
Death and Judgment • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2009 • PAPER • 304 PAGES In the fourth installment in the enormously satisfying Guido Brunetti series, the Commissario investigates suspicious happenings in Santa Lucia, Venice and the Dolomites. (ITL745, $14.00)
Death at La Fenice • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2004 • PAPER • 270 PAGES The first of the tremendously good Guido Brunetti mysteries, all set in the author's beloved Venice. A famous conductor is found dead at the celebrated theater of the title. Donna Leon, as you might guess, is an opera expert. (ITL555, $14.99)
Doctored Evidence • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2010 • PAPER • 272 PAGES Another in Donna Leon's satisfying, wonderfully erudite Guido Brunetti mysteries set in Venice. In this installment, a miserly, unpleasant woman is found murdered and all eyes, at least until our hero arrives, point to her Romanian housekeeper. This is number 13 in the series. Leon seamlesslessly weaves details of Venice and of the family life of her detective (whose kids are now teenagers) into her tale. (ITL613, $14.00)
Dressed for Death • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2008 • PAPER • 352 PAGES Book number three Donna Leon's satisfying, wonderfully erudite Guido Brunetti mysteries set in Venice. In this installment, what looks first like the obvious murder of a tranvestite prostitute gets much more complicated when the body turns out to be that of a bank director. Our poor dective has to cancel his vacation in the mountains to find out what is what. (ITL614, $14.00)
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)
Fatal Remedies • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2009 • PAPER • 336 PAGES Commissario Brunetti returns in the latest installment of Leon's popular mystery series. (ITL856, $14.00)
Fellowship of Fear • Aaron J. Elkins MYSTERY • 2005 • PAPER • 288 PAGES As Gideon Oliver, professor of forensic anthropology, pieces together the history of bone fragments, he also pieces together a murder mystery. The aging, yet horny, Oliver, with the aid of his FBI friend, John Lau, takes another case. Assigned to teach at European military bases, Oliver encounters NATO and the KGB, while defending himself from physical attacks. The very first Gideon Oliver novel by Edgar-winner Aaron Elkins. (EUR233, $7.99)
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)
Fodor's Venice & the Venetian Arc GUIDEBOOK • 2006 • PAPER • 368 PAGES A frequently revised, practical guide in the popular series. (ITL895, $18.95)
The Food of Italy • Waverly Root FOOD • 1992 • PAPER • 750 PAGES Evocative of Italy and its diverse cuisine, this classic book--organized geographically--offers a cook's tour of the country. It's a well-informed and wonderfully literate guide. (ITL75, $22.00)
Frommer's Venice Day by Day • Frommer's GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 180 PAGES A compact shirt pocket guide, ideal for a short visit, featuring remarkably good suggestions for everything from food, hotels and neighborhoods to shopping. With a separate foldout map of the city center. (ITL353, $12.99)
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)
The Girl of His Dreams • Donna Leon LITERATURE • 2009 • PAPER • 320 PAGES The 17th Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery is an absorbing and as imbued with the geography, politics and atmosphere of Venice as ever. Thickly plotted, the book opens with the funeral of Brunetti's mother, and includes going undercover to investigate a secretive religious sect and, as the title hints. the suspicious death of a young gypsy girl. (ITL940, $14.00)
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)
History of My Life (Vols. III & IV) • Giacomo Casanova • Willard R. Trask BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1997 • PAPER • 704 PAGES Casanova's Venice is a city of intrigue and extravagance, a fitting homeland for a multi-faceted, extravagant man. The foremost scoundrel of the 18th century was also a memoirist of formidable talent. In the fourth volume of his autobiography, Casanova -- who was, variously, a spy, a diplomat, a soldier, an astrologer, and a cleric -- tells of his imprisonment in the dungeon of the Ducal Palace in Venice. The tale made him a wanted commodity throughout Europe in 1756, the year of his escape, and indeed it is no less sensational now. (ITL381, $40.00)
A History of Venice • John Julius Norwich HISTORY • 1989 • PAPER • 673 PAGES A vivid 1,000-year history of the Venetian Republic from its ancient settlement to its humiliating defeat by Napoleon in 1797. Norwich, who also wrote a three-volume history of the Byzantine empire, marshals myriad personalities, battles, sieges, and facts into a compelling history of Venice's rise to power under the Doges. He's a terrific writer, and a great admirer of this "most beautiful of cities." (ITL177, $26.00)
The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall • Christopher Hibbert HISTORY • 1982 • PAPER • 364 PAGES This is a great book to read before going to Florence, where the influence of the Medicis and the artists they supported is still very much in evidence. It's a history of the powerful Florentine family by the entertaining and informative Christopher Hibbert. He evokes the Medici and their reign over Florence in the 1500's, and the political intrigue and violence of those times. (ITL135, $16.99)
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 City Guide Venice • Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • PAPER • 313 PAGES In its trademark style, this handsome Insight Guide gives a profusely illustrated overview of Venice. Featuring concise essays by well regarded authors on the art, architecture, and history of the city, it contains hundreds of photos and maps as well as some limited practical information. This handy book is a popular and highly recommended one-volume introduction to Venice. (ITL23, $16.95)
Insight Guide Tuscany • Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 304 PAGES An illustrated guide in this popular series, noteworthy for its maps and illuminating short essays on Tuscan food, history and culture. (ITL156, $18.99)
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)
The Italian Renaissance • J. H. Plumb HISTORY • 2001 • PAPER • 320 PAGES A well-written history of the Renaissance, its artists and thinkers, originally published in 1961, with chapters on Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice, Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Women of the Renaissance. (ITL562, $16.00)
Italian, A Language Map • Kristine K. Kershul LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 1999 • PLASTIC CARD This durable, foldout card, featuring 1,000 words and phrases, works as a quick reference for travelers. (ITL645, $7.95)
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 in Mind • 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. Each piece (they tend to run about 5-7 pages) is introduced thoroughly with a description of its historical, geographical, or literary context. Great reading. (ITL39, $17.95)
Italy, A Short History • Harry Hearder HISTORY • 2001 • PAPER • 294 PAGES Elegantly written, generous and enormously informative, this compact book takes in the fell sweep of Italian history from the Roman Republic up to the present, including the Renaissance and World War II. It has a welcome focus on the essential unity of Italian civilizations, as well as maps and a chronology. This revised second edition of the late Harry Hearder's classic book includes a new chapter by Jonathan Morris on recent history. (ITL56, $29.00)
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)
Knopf Mapguide Venice • Knopf Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 48 PAGES This ingenious full-color guide takes the form of a series of foldout neighborhood maps, each annotated with local sights, hotels, restaurants and attractions. (ITL667, $10.95)
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)
Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook • Lonely Planet LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 2012 • PAPER • 260 PAGES A handy, palm-size guide to pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (ITL531, $8.99)
Lonely Planet Venice Encounter • Alison Bing GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 192 PAGES With a section of not-to-missed highlights and a calendar of annual events, this lively pocket guide organized by neighborhood includes suggested side trips, along what to see and where to shop, eat, drink and play. With a double-sided pullout map. (ITL958, $12.99)
Lucrezia Borgia, Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy • Sarah Bradford BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2005 • PAPER • 421 PAGES Drawing from a trove of contemporary documents and fascinating firsthand accounts, Bradford brings to life the art, the pageantry, and the dangerous politics of the Renaissance world Lucrezia Borgia helped to create. (ITL916, $16.00)
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)
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)
Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World • John Larner EXPLORATION • 2001 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A scholarly, insightful study of Marco Polo's famous travel account -- and its impact on European ideas and politics, particularly its influence on cartographers and explorers. The author looks too at the circumstances of Marco Polo's life and travels, arguing that Marco Polo really did visit China -- and that he must have had a highly talented co-author in Rustichello da Pisa. (EXP22, $21.00)
Michelin Green Guide Venice • Michelin Travel Publications GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A comprehensive, practical guide in the Michelin series, organized alphabetically and featuring detailed neighborhood maps. With suggested tours, site plans of major attractions and a rating system. An excellent planning guide, especially useful for the independent traveler. (ITL818, $19.99)
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)
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)
Othello • William Shakespeare • Roma Gill LITERATURE • 2002 • PAPER • 176 PAGES This Oxford School Shakespeare edition of Othello is nicely footnoted, providing lots of commentary on the immortal text. Set in Venice. (ITL527, $7.95)
The Ottoman Centuries • Lord Kinross HISTORY • 1988 • PAPER • 638 PAGES A richly detailed, engrossing history of the Ottoman Empire from its dawn in 1300 through its zenith under Suleiman the magnificent and up to the foundation of the modern republic in 1923. With maps and black-and-white photographs throughout. (ITL54, $18.99)
Paradise of Cities, Venice in the 19th Century • John Julius Norwich HISTORY • 2004 • PAPER • 336 PAGES Norwich, a lively historian who has written frequently on Italy and the Ottomans, conjures the appeal of Venice for a star-studded group of 19th-century residents and visitors. He devotes a chapter each to Napoleon, Byron, Ruskin, the Browns, Wagner, Henry James, Robert Browning, the Layards, Whistler and Sargent and the Corvo. With archival illustrations. (ITL483, $16.00)
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)
Private Lives In Renaissance Venice, Art, Architecture, and the Family • Patricia Fortini Brown CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2004 • HARD COVER • 312 PAGES An engaging and original perspective on the private lives and material culture of patrician families in sixteenth-century Venice. (ITL917, $60.00)
Quietly in Their Sleep • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2009 • PAPER • 320 PAGES The sixth book in Donna Leon's satisfying series, originally published as Death of Faith in 1997 and now appearing on these shores in a paper edition. (ITL833, $14.00)
Rick Steves' Italian Phrase Book & Dictionary • Rick Steves LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 2008 • PAPER • 281 PAGES A compact phrase book for travelers, organized thematically and with a brief dictionary. This is no dry litany of phrases but is instead peppered with humor and Rick Steves' insider insight into how to break the ice and make friends around the world. (ITL424, $8.95)
Romeo and Juliet • William Shakespeare LITERATURE • 2000 • PAPER • 352 PAGES This edition of the Bard's tragedy is heavily footnoted, providing lots of commentary on the immortal text. (ITL322, $10.95)
Rough Guide Venice & the Veneto • Jonathan Buckley GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 440 PAGES A no-nonsense, comprehensive travel guide with region-by-region descriptions, a good overview of history and culture, and a great bibliography. With color photography. With a section of color maps. (ITL554, $19.99)
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)
Suffer the Little Children • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2010 • PAPER • 288 PAGES Leon's 16th Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery delves into the world of doctors and medicine in a wonderfully realized contemporary Venice. In it A brutal attack on a pediatrician by a Carabiniere captain and two privates, who also take away the doctor's eighteen-month-old son, draws Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague, Inspector Vianello, into a dangerous case involving a ring of baby traffickers and an illegal money-making scheme between pharmacists and doctors. (ITL834, $14.00)
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)
The Taste of Conquest, The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice • Michael Krondl HISTORY • 2008 • PAPER • 320 PAGES A history of the world when pepper, cinnamon and cloves were as valuable as gold, and Venice, Lisbon and Amsterdam all jockeyed for control of the global market. (EUR279, $16.00)
That Fine Italian Hand • Paul Hoffman CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1991 • PAPER • 246 PAGES A former newspaperman in Rome, Hoffman spears the Italians in this affectionate portrait of Italian society with all its quirks, contradictions, and energy. (ITL346, $17.99)
Through a Glass, Darkly • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2010 • PAPER • 272 PAGES Number 15 in the enormously satisfying, wonderfully erudite series memorably set in the author's beloved Venice and starring police commissioner Guido Brunetti. The secrets of the Murano glass factories unfold as Brunetti, with the help of an annotated Dante's "Inferno," discovers a body that may reveal the mystery of the polluted Venetian waters. (ITL714, $14.00)
Time Out Venice: Verona, Treviso, And The Veneto • Time Out GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 335 PAGES An up-to-date guide on what to do and where to go by the people who publish Time Out Magazine. (ITL672, $19.95)
Timeless Cities, An Architect's Reflections on Renaissance Italy • David Mayernik ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2005 • PAPER • 274 PAGES In this thoughtful book, Mayernik shows the philosophical and religious meaning behind the planning and architecture of Rome, Florence, Venice, Siena and Pienza. Not exactly a guide, nor a history, Mayernick's meditation on the buildings and texture of these very different cities is illuminating. (ITL589, $18.95)
The Titian Committee • Iain Pears MYSTERY • 1999 • PAPER • 230 PAGES In this second Jonathan Argyll book, the amiable and incompetent professor Jonathan Argyll and the vivacious Flavia di Stefano of the Italian Art Theft Squad investigate the murder of a prestigious member of the scholarly Titian Committee. Through Titian's paintings, the increasingly-amorous couple follows clues leading to the murderer -- but the subsequent deaths of an art collector and a philosopher mean that they must act quickly before the murderer strikes again. (ITL741, $6.99)
A Traveller in Italy • H.V. Morton • Barbara Grizzuti Harrison TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2002 • PAPER • 640 PAGES The much-beloved, enduring account of Morton's ramblings in Italy. As in all his many travel books, Morton charmingly mixes a deep appreciation of the art, culture and, especially, the history of a place with his own keen observations, in this case the temples, tombs and villas of Tuscany, Lombardy, Emilia and the Veneto. His books are recently returned to print in handsome paper editions, this one with an appreciative introduction by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison. (ITL417, $25.00)
A Traveller's History of Venice • Peter Menzel HISTORY • 2005 • PAPER • 304 PAGES A lively brief history of Venice in the popular series. (ITL625, $14.95)
Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere • Jan Morris TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2002 • PAPER • 208 PAGES A loving celebration of the city and its faded glory. Morris, who first visited the city as a soldier during WWII, is especially good at evoking the varied history and fortunes of Trieste. This brief book, which Morris says is her last, captures the many political and economic transformations of this region at the head of the Adriatic Sea. (ITL347, $15.00)
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)
The Tuscan Year, Tuscan Life and Food in an Italian Valley • Elizabeth Romer FOOD • 1996 • PAPER • 182 PAGES • FAVORITE • COMING IN An intimate portrait of life on a Tuscan farm, as seen primarily through the robust food. Romer captures the goings-on in the countryside, and especially in the Cerotti kitchen, where traditional Tuscan rural food is prepared with loving care. Every chapter includes concisely described recipes. The index makes it easy to look up recipes if you're inspired to use this wonderful account as a cookbook. (ITL131, $15.00)
Twelfth Night • Paul Edmondson LITERATURE • 2005 • PAPER • 192 PAGES This edition provides key historical context along with critical and theatrical reception of the play since Shakespeare's time. (GBR758, $19.95)
Uniform Justice • Donna Leon MYSTERY • 2010 • PAPER • 258 PAGES In this twelfth entry in the satisfying Guido Brunetti series a cadet is found dead. Leon conjures the atmosphere of Venice as evocatively as ever -- and has a few comments to make about the military too. (ITL558, $14.00)
A Venetian Affair, A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century • Andrea Di Robilant LITERATURE • 2005 • PAPER • 320 PAGES The author, a journalist based in Rome, bases his tasty tale of frustrated love, passion and society on a cache of letters discovered in his family's Venetian palazzo. The affair between the Anglo-Italian beauty and her aristocratic lover (in which Casanova has a minor role) plays out in the richly evoked milieu of 18th-century Venice, Paris and London. (ITL604, $15.95)
Veneto Friuli Venezia Giulia Map • Touring Club Italiano 2008 • MAP A detailed, shaded relief map of the Veneto at a scale of 1:200,000. Accurate, colorful, and imported from Italy. Eigth edition. Two Sides. 37x54 inches. (ITL22, $12.95)
Venice and the Slavs, The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment • Larry Wolff HISTORY • 2001 • PAPER • 404 PAGES Professor of history at Boston College, Wolff's expertise is the divide between eastern and western Europe: its intellectual, political and artificial origins. For this volume he focuses on the Venetian empire in the Balkans in the 1700s, finding there much that explains modern Yugoslavia and westerners' attitudes toward the Balkans. (BLK35, $29.95)
Venice from the Ground Up • James H. S. McGregor GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • PAPER • 384 PAGES McGregor describes the history of Venice from its inception. He relates the innovative and remarkable ways its early inhabitants adapted their city to an unforgiving environment, while also examining the art and architecture of the Renaissance to Venice's booming modern day tourism industry. (ITL792, $29.95)
Venice Is a Fish • Tiziano Scarpa TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2009 • PAPER • 160 PAGES The hugely popular Venetian novelist, poet and playwright makes his English-language debut with these marvelously digressive essays on the many moods and pleasures of La Serenissima. He appends a 40-page tribute to Venetian writers. (ITL964, $12.00)
Venice Observed • Mary McCarthy CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1995 • PAPER • 158 PAGES Originally published over 30 years ago, this collection of eight essays is a literate, evocative celebration of the city, its character, and its history. Most of these essays first appeared in the "New Yorker." (ITL27, $13.95)
Venice Triumphant, The Horizons of a Myth • Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan • Lydia Cochrane HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 432 PAGES A scholarly, provocative history of Venice, organized thematically. Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, a professor of medieval history at the Sorbonne, uses the city's geography and architecture as a lens to re-examine the developemnt of the city -- and its identity -- from Roman Empire to the end of the Renaissance. (ITL504, $33.00)
Venice, a Maritime Republic • Frederic C. Lane HISTORY • 1973 • PAPER • 505 PAGES A wonderfully written history of the Venetian empire, engrossing in its scholarly detail. Lane (who has also written a book on Venetian ships) focuses on the history of trade from the origin of the city in the 6th century to modern times. With drawings, maps, and archival photos. (ITL24, $32.00)
Venice, Lion City • Garry Wills HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 448 PAGES A magisterial history of Venice at the height of its power as a maritime republic in the 15th and 16th centuries. Wills shows the power and influence of the city through its magnificent Renaissance art and architecture. With 130 illustrations, 30 in color. An accomplished historian and political commentator, Wills is attuned to the nuances of Venetian religious and political power. (ITL324, $20.00)
Venice, The Anthology Guide • Milton Grundy GUIDEBOOK • 2007 • PAPER • 248 PAGES Famous writers, from Ruskin and Dickens to Michael Levey and James Morris, guide you through the city in this collection of 11 walking tours and excursions, complemented by eight maps and some archival illustrations. (ITL871, $35.00)
Venice, The Grand Canal • Daniele Resini ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2005 • HARD COVER This clever book unfolds accordion-style to reveal a 42-foot panorama of the palaces, churches and museums fronting Venice's glorious Grand Canal. The photographer, Daniele Resini, took the photographs over a period of three years to create one perfectly continuous portrait of the Grand Canal, with the right bank on one side and the left bank on the reverse. Each of the major buildings is given a caption. (ITL663, $50.00)
Venice, the Tourist Maze • Robert C. Davis • Garry R. Marvin CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2004 • PAPER • 368 PAGES A history of the impact and importance of tourism in Venice, a city that both thrives on and suffers from the millions of people who visit it every year. The authors paint a sobering picture of the state of the city today and the prospects for its future. (ITL648, $26.95)
Where Venice Cityguide • Where Magazine GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • HARD COVER • 64 PAGES A sturdy pocket guide to city neighborhoods, hotels, shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, cultural events and other top sights, helpfully keyed to overview maps and featuring a detailed downtown PopOut map. (ITL876, $9.95)
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)

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