At the turn of the 16th century, Italy was a turbulent territory made up of independent states, each at war with or intriguing against its neighbor. There were the proud, cultivated, and degenerate Sforzas in Milan, and in Rome, the corrupt Spanish family of the Borgia whose head, Rodrigo, ascended to St Peter's throne as Pope Alexander VI. In Florence, a golden age of culture and sophistication ended with the death of the greatest of the Medici family,...

In this spirited memoir, veteran TV journalist Paul Paolicelli does what many of us can only dream of-he picks up and moves to a foreign country in an attempt to trace his ancestral roots. With the help of Luigi, his guide and companion, he travels through Italy-Rome, Gamberale, Matera, Miglionico, Alessandria, even Mussolini's hometown of Predappio-and discovers the tragic legacy of the Second World War that is still affecting the Old Country. He...

In the hedonistic atmosphere of an eighteenth-century Venice Carnival, gaiety turns deadly when Furian Furiano happens upon a mask of Apollo floating in the murky waters of the canals. The mask hides a sinister art, and Furian finds himself trapped in a bizarre tangle of love, obsession, and evil, stumbling into a macabre society of murderers. The beautiful but elusive Eurydiche holds the key to these murders and leads him further into a labyrinth...

French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. At the convent, she is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens... After Margherita's father steals parsley from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he...

Born in Australia, Shirley Hazzard first moved to Naples as a young woman in the 1950s to take up a job with the United Nations. It was the beginning of a long love affair with the city. The Ancient Shore collects the best of Hazzard's writings on Naples, along with a classic New Yorker essay by her late husband, Francis Steegmuller. For the pair, both insatiable readers, the Naples of Pliny, Gibbon, and Auden is constantly alive to them in the present. With...

“The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome” is the first concise history of the food, gastronomy, and cuisine of Rome spanning from pre-Roman to modern times. It is a social history of the Eternal City seen through the lens of eating and feeding, as it advanced over the centuries in a city that fascinates like no other. The history of food in Rome unfolds as an engaging and enlightening narrative, recounting the human partnership with...

"Long before hygge, lagom, or ikigai took the world by storm, there was la dolce vita-the Italian phrase for "the sweet life." La dolce vita encourages the benefits of practicing Italian traditions on improving your mental health by taking life slow and relishing in the sweet moments. This unique self-help approach offers practical advice on forming habits, love, balance, and simplicity that make daily life in Italy a celebration"--

The director of Italian studies at Bard College, Professor Joseph Luzzi, leads a comprehensive overview of Italian culture. Beginning in the fabled realm of Renaissance art and concluding with the sweeping transformations of present-day Italy, Professor Luzzi examines the Italian mystique and answers several intriguing questions: • Is there a distinctly "Italian" way of looking at the world? • To whom do Italian Renaissance treasures truly belong? •...

"Italy has been the center of the Roman Catholic Church for hundreds of years. Many of the country's traditions and holidays today are based on religious holy days. This interesting book describes national holidays in Italy that mark such events as religious festivals, as well as important historic events such as the country's independence. Other traditional celebrations featured include food festivals and family occasions"--