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Venice to Bologna

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXITL772. Buy these 4 items as a set for $67 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Blue Guide Northern Italy, from the Alps to the Adriatic

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

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)

Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook

by Lonely Planet

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 260 PAGES

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

Northern Italy Map

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)

 
Venice Map

Venice Map


by Borch Maps

  • 2008
  • MAP

A colorful, detailed city map of Venice, perfect for finding your way around the famously labyrinthine streets and canals. (ITL26, $8.95)

Eyewitness Guide Venice & the Veneto

Eyewitness Guide Venice & the Veneto


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES
  • COMING IN FEBRUARY

Featuring color photography, dozens of excellent maps and a synopsis of the region's attractions. (ITL200, $20.00)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

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)

Made in Italy, A Shopper's Guide

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)

Biba's Italy

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)

A Traveller's History of Italy

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)

Cycling's Golden Age


by Owen Mulholland

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Over 400 postwar-era photographs of riders, bikes, trophies, jerseys and more from the world's largest collection of cycling memorabilia. (BCY21, $49.95)

Italianissimo

Italianissimo


by Louise Fili | Lise Apatoff

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 111 PAGES

Divertingly illustrated, this A-to-Z guide profiles 50 very Italian customs and concepts from the notion of beauty (bellisimo) to the Italian disregard for lines (Fare La Coda). (ITL983, $19.95)

Italy, A Short History

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

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 World of Venice

The World of Venice


by Jan Morris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 315 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Morris displays her talent for research, anecdote and well-wrought prose in this spirited history of a beloved city. (ITL12, $18.95)

Venice Is a Fish

Venice Is a Fish


by 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. (ITL964, $12.00)

Back to Bologna

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)

Dead Lagoon, An Aurelio Zen Mystery

Dead Lagoon, An Aurelio Zen Mystery


by Michael Dibdin

  • MYSTERY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 297 PAGES

Dibdin -- a master of ambiguous settings, shady dealings and fast-paced prose -- returns to Venice in this sixth book in the thoroughly enjoyable Aurelio Zen series. (ITL577, $14.95)

Death at La Fenice

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)

Italy, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Italy, A Traveler's Literary Companion


by Lawrence Venuti

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

Not just a literary companion, this anthology is also a who's who of contemporary Italian writers that captures the spirit, history and allure of the country. (ITL466, $14.95)

The Betrothed

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 Cyclist's Training Bible

The Cyclist's Training Bible


by Joe Friel

  • SPORT
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

Technical, yet comprehensive, this terrific guide, designed for the serious cyclist, has all the tools to help stay healthy and get in shape. (BCY10, $24.95)

The Noblest Invention, An Illustrated History of the Bicycle


by Bicycling Magazine | Lance Armstrong

  • SPORT
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Not only does this handsomely illustrated book chronicle the history of the bike itself, but it also explores the nature of the deep relationship many a child, and lots of adults too of course, have with their bikes. 250 color photographs, and 50 black-and-white. (BCY15, $27.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.