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ITALY

Northern Italy

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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We feature a handpicked selection of travel guides, maps, literature, books on art, nature and culture, all designed to help you get more out of your travels to Northern Italy . Order an essential package, and we'll ship any additional items for free.

Item EXITL588. Buy these 5 items as a set for $86 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Blue Guide Northern Italy, from the Alps to the Adriatic

by Paul Blanchard

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2005
• PAPER
• 735 PAGES

This 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. (ITL48, $32.95)

La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind

by Beppe Severgnini

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2007
• PAPER
• 288 PAGES

Italians themselves love this guide to the Italian character, which addresses the apparently never-ending passion for beauty, disorder and high emotion. Severgnini opens the book with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa Airport, then moves on to Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. (ITL718, $14.00)

The Italian Renaissance

by J. H. Plumb

• HISTORY
• 2001
• PAPER
• 320 PAGES

A well-written history of the Renaissance, its artists and thinkers, with chapters on Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice, Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Women of the Renaissance. (ITL562, $16.00)

Italian Neighbors

by Tim Parks

• BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
• 2003
• PAPER
• 272 PAGES

This sparkling memoir by the British novelist captures the travails and delights of life in the Italian countryside. Montecchio, which Parks so indelibly sketches in this favorite book, is outside Verona. (ITL16, $14.95)

Northern Italy Map

by 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. (ITL38, $14.95)

 

Also Recommended

Cadogan Guide Lombardy & the Italian Lakes

by Dana Facaros

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2008
• PAPER
• 345 PAGES

Cadogan brings travelers Lombardy and the Italian Lakes in all their glory, from the powerhouse of Milan to the idyllic beauty and tranquility of Lake Garda and the Renaissance cities of the Lombard Plain. (ITL44, $19.95)

Cadogan Italian Riviera & Piemonte

by Michael Pauls | Dana Facaros

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2008
• PAPER
• 332 PAGES

An authoritative guide to Liguria, including Cinque Terre, Portofino, Genoa and lesser-known destinations. Strong on practical information, it's also a good overview of the history, culture and cuisine of the region. (ITL407, $19.95)

Eyewitness Guide Milan and the Lakes

by Eyewitness Guides

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2011
• PAPER
• 240 PAGES

This superb guide to Milan and the Italian lakes features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the area's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry. (ITL165, $25.00)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

by Citypack

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

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

Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook

by Lonely Planet

• LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
• 2011
• PAPER
• 260 PAGES

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

Made in Italy, A Shopper's Guide

by Laura Morelli

• GUIDEBOOK
• 2008
• PAPER
• 208 PAGES

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

A Ligurian Kitchen, Recipes and Tales from the Italian Riviera

by Laura Giannatempo

• FOOD
• 2006
• HARD COVER
• 234 PAGES

A charming, personal cookbook with an abundance of authentic Ligurian recipes that can easily be replicated in an American kitchen. (ITL862, $29.95)

Autumn in Piemonte

by Simon Griffiths | Manuela Darling-Gansser

• FOOD
• 2009
• PAPER
• 208 PAGES

A lavishly illustrated culinary portrait of Italy's most productive agricultural region, from countryside trattorias to opulent Turin cafes. (ITA50, $35.00)

Biba's Italy

by Biba Caggiano

• FOOD
• 2006
• HARD COVER
• 320 PAGES

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

The Food of Italy

by 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 wonderful culinary guide. (ITL75, $22.00)

A Traveller's History of Italy

by Valerio Lintner

• HISTORY
• 2008
• PAPER
• 287 PAGES

A brief history of Italy through the 1990s -- wide-ranging, accessible and necessarily condensed. With a useful chronology and historical gazetteer, this book marches confidently through the centuries. (ITL86, $14.95)

Italy, A Short History

by Harry Hearder

• HISTORY
• 2001
• PAPER
• 294 PAGES

Elegantly written, generous and informative, this compact book takes in the sweep of Italian history from the Roman Republic through the Renaissance, World War II and up to the present. (ITL56, $29.00)

La Bella Lingua

by Dianne Hales

• CULTURAL PORTRAIT
• 2010
• PAPER
• 336 PAGES
• NEW

Inebriated with the sounds of Italian, lovesick for its phrases and enamored of its earthy idioms, Hales, "a sensible woman of sturdy Polish stock," dives into the Italian of the piazza, literature, movies and streets in this charming memoir. (ITA26, $15.00)

The 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)

The Renaissance, A Short History

by Paul Johnson

• HISTORY
• 2002
• PAPER
• 196 PAGES

The history, background, literature, sculpture, paintings and architecture of the Renaissance in just over 200 lively, thought-provoking pages. (ITL774, $15.00)

Art and Life in Renaissance Venice

by Patricia Brown

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2005
• PAPER
• 176 PAGES

This compact volume evokes the spirit of Renaissance Venice with authoritative essays and 120 full-color illustrations. (ITL57, $40.80)

Venice 697-1797: A City, a Republic, an Empire

by Aluise Zorzi

• ART & ARCHITECTURE
• 2002
• HARD COVER
• 303 PAGES

Zorzi reveals the growth of Venice from a small fishing village to a bustling metropolis whose cultural, political, and economic dominance extended over the entire Mediterranean world with this sumptuous collection of 340 color paintings, photographs and drawings. (MED186, $75.00)

A Traveller in Italy

by H.V. Morton | Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2002
• PAPER
• 640 PAGES

The much-beloved, enduring account of Morton's ramblings in the temples, tombs and villas of Tuscany, Lombardy, Emilia and the Veneto. (ITL417, $25.00)

D.H. Lawrence and Italy

by D.H. Lawrence

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2008
• PAPER
• 495 PAGES

This omnibus Penguin Classics edition includes Lawrence's three travel tales, each very different in tone and all wonderful: Sea and Sardinia is a nostalgic look at traditional ways of life; Twilight in Italy, an evocation of Lawrence's memorable stay on Lake Garda; and Etruscan Places his musings on ancient sites, including the painted tombs of Tarquinia. (ITL62, $18.00)

Extra Virgin, A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera

by Annie Hawes

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2002
• PAPER
• 352 PAGES

A memoir of travels and life in Liguria, where the Hawe sisters ventured and stayed. In this refreshingly candid account, the English sisters end up buying a house and learning the local customs and eccentricities of their neighbors in Diano San Pietro. (ITL539, $14.99)

The Italian Summer: Golf, Food, and Family at Lake Como

by Roland Merullo

• TRAVEL NARRATIVE
• 2011
• PAPER
• 259 PAGES

Merullo shares this congenial account of a summer with his family in Italy and Switzerland, offering delicious descriptions of wonderful meals, colorful characters -- and rounds of golf at some of the most beautiful courses in Europe. He is a golf fanatic. (ITA67, $24.99)

Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere

by 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. (ITL347, $15.00)

A Long Finish, An Aurelio Zen Mystery

by Michael Dibdin

• MYSTERY
• 2000
• PAPER
• 272 PAGES

Another enjoyable "Aurelio Zen Mystery" from Michael Dibdin, this time private investigator Zen is in Rome and Alba, enjoying wonderful wine and food while uncovering a murderous plot that may jeopardize the Piemontese wine industry. (ITL193, $13.95)

Back to Bologna

by Michael Dibdin

• MYSTERY
• 2006
• PAPER
• 240 PAGES

Dibdin shows a lighter touch in this installment in the marvelous Aurelio Zen mysteries. (ITL746, $13.95)

Death at La Fenice

by Donna Leon

• MYSTERY
• 2004
• PAPER
• 270 PAGES

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

Enchanted April

by Elizabeth Von Arnim | Cathleen Schine

• LITERATURE
• 2007
• PAPER
• 361 PAGES

In this delightful book, four Englishwomen are awakened by self-discovery and the power of their friendship on a stay in Italy in the 1920s. (ITL316, $14.95)

Portofino, A Novel

by Frank Schaeffer

• LITERATURE
• 2004
• PAPER
• 288 PAGES

Set in the 1960s, this coming-of-age tale follows a young boy's encounters with the sights and people of the seaside town of Portofino, while he avoids his missionary parents' constant bickering and their attempts to convert the locals. (ITL164, $15.00)

The Betrothed

by Alessandro Manzoni

• LITERATURE
• 1984
• PAPER
• 720 PAGES

By many accounts the first modern Italian novel, Manzoni's 1827 classic concerns star-crossed lovers in 17th-century Lombardy. Promoted during unification, Italy's best-known novel has been made into films and a musical. (ITL414, $18.00)

The Devil in the Hills

by Cesare Pavese

• LITERATURE
• 2002
• PAPER
• 220 PAGES

This book, the most personal of the many stories, poems and novels of Pavese, follows the summer adventures of three young men in the hills, vineyards and villages of the author's native Piedmont. (ITL430, $23.95)

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