SMITHSONIAN JOURNEYS
Sicily: Crossroads of the Mediterranean   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Essential Books These 5 items are available for $81, including
U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXITL396)		  
Eyewitness Guide Sicily  •  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)		   Eyewitness Guide Sicily
On Persephone's Island  •  Mary Taylor Simeti
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1986 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES
A richly detailed and personal portrait of Sicily by an American writer who settled on the island with her Sicilian husband in 1962 and stayed for 20 years. Strong on the delights of rural life, her book takes the form of a yearlong journal, capturing the spirit of the people and land. It provides a deep understanding of daily life and traditions -- an excellent antidote to persistent myths of mafiosos and backwards peasants. (ITL03, $14.95)		   On Persephone's Island
Midnight in Sicily, On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra  •  Peter Robb
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES • FAVORITE
A vivid report from Italy's glorious, corrupt and troubled south, this book combines interviews, journalism and essays on Sicilian history and culture. Robb focuses, in part, on the career of Giulio Andreotti, the seven-time prime minister of Italy recently accused of Mafia associations. (ITL74, $18.00)		   Midnight in Sicily, On Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra
The Leopard  •  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. Burt Lancaster starred in Visconti's terrific film version. This 50th anniversary edition includes new material and a forward by Lampedusa's adopted son. (ITL11, $16.00)		   The Leopard
Sicily Map  •  Touring Club Italiano
2011 •  MAP
A traveler's map of Sicily at the very good scale of 1:200,000, ideal for anyone on a driving trip of the island. The detail is great if you don't mind folding it out to its full poster size. (The laminated version ITL20 conveniently gives you the island at a glance). Two Sides. 37x54 inches. (ITL181, $14.95)		   Sicily Map



Also Recommended

Blue Guide Sicily  •  Ellen Grady   • GUIDEBOOK  •  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  •  Joan Peterson   • GUIDEBOOK  •  Discover the heart of Sicilian culture through its sumptuous cuisine with this pocket guide. (ITL911, $13.95)
 		  
Between Salt Water and Holy Water, A History of Southern Italy  •  Tommaso Astarita   • HISTORY  •  Astarita captures the fanfare, rivalry and changing fortunes of Sicily from antiquity through Norman, Spanish and Bourbon rule to unification and the 20th century. (ITL597, $22.95)
 		  
Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic  •  Alexander Stille   • HISTORY  •  This fast-paced book is a gripping account of corruption in Italy. The author offers an utterly absorbing account of the assassination of two top anti-Mafia prosecutors in 1992. (ITL58, $17.95)
 		  
La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind  •  Beppe Severgnini   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  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)
 		  
Sicily, An Illustrated History  •  Joseph Privitera   • HISTORY  •  Privitera covers the scope of Sicily and its diverse civilizations in lively prose and well-chosen illustrations in this succinct history. (ITA158, $12.95)
 		  
Sicily, Three Thousand Years of Human History  •  Sandra Benjamin   • HISTORY  •  With clarity and authority, Benjamin traces the rich legacy of the Greeks and Romans, Vandals and Goths, Arab traders, Normans, Bourbons and others who have contributed to the multi-faceted history of the kingdom of Sicily. (ITL731, $19.95)
 		  
The Sicilian Vespers, A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century  •  Steven Runciman   • HISTORY  •  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  •  G. Messineo  •  E. Borgia   • ARCHAEOLOGY  •  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  •  R. Ross Holloway   • ARCHAEOLOGY  •  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)
 		  
A House in Sicily  •  Daphne Phelps   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  An old-fashioned memoir of life at Casa Cuseni, the pensione and garden in Taormina run by the indomitable Daphne Phelps, which has been a sanctuary for Tennessee Williams, Betrand Russell and other guests, famous and infamous, since 1947. (ITL148, $16.95)
 		  
Sicilian Carousel  •  Lawrence Durrell   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Durrell writes with warmth and grace of his journey around the island in the 1950s. (ITL08, $12.00)
 		  
Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons, Travels in Sicily on a Vespa  •  Matthew Fort   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  A food writer who fell in love with Sicily as a youth, Matthew Fort makes his long-planned return three decades later, eating his way across the island in search of authentic food, natural beauty and history. Recipes included. (ITA20, $24.95)
 		  
That Summer In Sicily, A Love Story  •  Marlena de Blasi   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  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)
 		  
Sicily, Through Writers' Eyes  •  Claire Horatio   • ANTHOLOGY  •  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  •  Gioia Timpanelli   • LITERATURE  •  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 Ruby in Her Navel, A Novel of Love and Intrigue in the 12th Century  •  Barry Unsworth   • LITERATURE  •  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  •  Andrea Camilleri   • MYSTERY  •  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  •  Leonardo Sciascia  •  Avril Bardoni  •  Alberto Mobilio   • LITERATURE  •  A collection of 13 stories, all set in the celebrated writer's native Sicily and featuring mafiosi, carabinieri and villagers. (ITL408, $12.95)
 		  
Birds of Europe  •  Lars Svensson   • FIELD GUIDE • FAVORITE  •  Featuring 3,500 glorious paintings by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom, the second revised edition of this exquisite guide has been brought up to date with revised text and maps. (FG47, $29.95)
 		  
 
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