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Sicily

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Order an essential package, and we'll ship any additional items for free. We offer a mix of guidebooks, maps, field guides, novels and books on art, architecture, history, nature and culture.

Essential Reading

Item EXITL396. Buy these 5 items as a set for $81 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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On Persephone's Island

On Persephone's Island

by Mary Taylor Simeti

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1986
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

Strong on the delights of rural life, Simeti's portrait of Sicily takes the form of a yearlong journal, capturing the spirit of the people, daily life, traditions and the land. (ITL03, $14.95)

Midnight in Sicily, On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra

Midnight in Sicily, On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra

by Peter Robb

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Combining interviews, research and essays on Sicilian history and culture, this vivid report by journalist Peter Robb is a superb introduction to Italy's glorious, corrupt and troubled south. (ITL74, $18.00)

The Leopard

The Leopard

by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Evoking a lost world of privilege and tradition, Giuseppe Di Lampedusa's memorable tale, set on a rural Sicilian estate during the days of independence, follows the world-weary Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina. A classic, now in a 50th anniversary edition. (ITL11, $16.00)

Eyewitness Guide Sicily

Eyewitness Guide Sicily

by Eyewitness Guides | DK Publishing

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This superb guide to Sicily features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a synopsis of the island's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry. (ITL468, $23.00)

Sicily Map

Sicily Map

by Touring Club Italiano

  • 2011
  • MAP

A detailed map of Sicily (1:200,000), printed on water and tear-resistant paper. (ITL181, $14.95)

 
Blue Guide Sicily

Blue Guide Sicily


by Ellen Grady

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 479 PAGES

This in-depth guide to Sicily's ancient history and archaeology features detailed maps and site plans. (ITL125, $26.95)

Eat Smart in Sicily, How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure

Eat Smart in Sicily, How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure


by Joan Peterson

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Discover the heart of Sicilian culture through its sumptuous cuisine with this pocket guide. (ITL911, $13.95)

Language and Travel Guide to Sicily

Language and Travel Guide to Sicily


by Giovanna Bellia LA Marca

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A practical guide to food, attractions and accommodations, helpfully paired with an extensive section on Italian and two audio CDs of popular Sicilian words and phrases. (ITL872, $29.95)

Sicilian Food

Sicilian Food


by Mary Taylor Simeti

  • FOOD
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 339 PAGES

Mary Taylor Simeti (On Persephone's Island) includes a hundred archival illustrations and quotes freely from Homer, Plato, Apicius, Lampedusa, and Pirandello in this classic guide to the food, traditions and recipes of Sicily. (ITL127, $29.95)

Seeking Sicily, A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean

Seeking Sicily, A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean


by John Keahey

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Taken with Sicily, its culture and its literature, Kehey explores the food, history and pure pleasure of the place, using his heroes Giuseppe di Lampedusa, Leonardo Sciascia and other of Sicily's literary greats as a his guide (ITA274, $27.99)

Sicily, An Illustrated History

Sicily, An Illustrated History


by Joseph Privitera

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 145 PAGES

Privitera covers the scope of Sicily and its diverse civilizations in lively prose and well-chosen illustrations in this succinct history. (ITA158, $12.95)

The Sicilian Vespers, A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century

The Sicilian Vespers, A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century


by Steven Runciman

  • HISTORY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 355 PAGES

A spellbinding history of the 13th-century Kingdom of Sicily. The massacre of the French at Palermo, known as the Sicilian Vespers, is the springboard for the author's sweeping depiction of the Mediterranean in the late 1200s. (ITL295, $25.00)

Ancient Sicily, Monuments Past & Present

Ancient Sicily, Monuments Past & Present


by G. Messineo | E. Borgia

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 72 PAGES

In this illuminating overview, ingenious overlays depict 17 important sites as they appear today and how they may have appeared in the past. (ITL733, $29.95)

Archaeology of Ancient Sicily

Archaeology of Ancient Sicily


by R. Ross Holloway

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

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

Palermo

Palermo


by Roberto Alajmo

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 193 PAGES

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

Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey

Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey


by Robert V. Camuto

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Camuto visits vineyards and vintners from Palermo to Marsala and the rugged slopes of Etna in this year-long celebration of the culture and spirit of Italy's largest and oldest wine region. An American journalist living in France (his previous book Corkscrewed was about the new French winemakers), Camuto is an astute, entertaining guide to the diversity of Sicily itself. (ITA205, $18.95)

Sicilian Carousel

Sicilian Carousel


by Lawrence Durrell

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 291 PAGES

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

That Summer In Sicily, A Love Story

That Summer In Sicily, A Love Story


by Marlena de Blasi

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

De Blasi writes beautifully as she unfolds the true story of a remarkable Sicilian woman, once mistress to a prince. It's both a suspenseful love story and a glimpse of local history. (ITL954, $15.00)

Divorce, Italian Style


by Pietro Germi

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • DVD

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

Sicily, Through Writers' Eyes

Sicily, Through Writers' Eyes


by Claire Horatio

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 306 PAGES

Homer, Herodotus, D.H. Lawrence, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and Elio Vittorini Peter Robb are also represented in this magnificent tour of Sicily, its history, culture and allure. (ITL780, $33.95)

Sometimes the Soul, Two Novellas of Sicily

Sometimes the Soul, Two Novellas of Sicily


by Gioia Timpanelli

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

Timpanelli reworks ancient Sicilian tales into two captivating modern novellas; one, "Ruesna, Not Quite Love" is a lyrical retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," set against the rustic backdrop of rural Sicily. (ITL113, $15.00)

The Day of the Owl

The Day of the Owl


by Leonardo Sciascia | Archibald Colquhoun | Arthur Oliver | George Scialabba

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 136 PAGES

A mesmerizing description of the Mafia at work, Sciascia's beautifully paced novella traces Captain Bellodi's investigation of a man shot dead as he runs to catch a bus in a small Sicilian town. (ITL596, $12.95)

The Ruby in Her Navel, A Novel of Love and Intrigue in the 12th Century

The Ruby in Her Navel, A Novel of Love and Intrigue in the 12th Century


by Barry Unsworth

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

Unsworth transports the reader to the 12th century in this richly imagined novel of love and intrigue set in Norman Sicily, where Christian knights, Anatolian belly dancers, Jews and Arabs mix and mingle. (ITL760, $14.95)

The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water


by Andrea Camilleri

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

The first of Camilleri's wildly popular Inspector Montalbano mysteries, nicely translated and shot through (pun intended) with not just memorable characters but also with Sicilian lore and politics. If you like the series, it continues in 12 more installments -- and counting. (ITL528, $14.00)

The Wine-Dark Sea

The Wine-Dark Sea


by Leonardo Sciascia | Avril Bardoni | Alberto Mobilio

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 201 PAGES

A collection of 13 stories, all set in the celebrated writer's native Sicily and featuring mafiosi, carabinieri and villagers. (ITL408, $12.95)

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