Italy Books

I travel to Italy a lot on business and I'm taking the whole family for the first time. We've been reading on the internet and other travel books in preparation, but came across this one and thought we would give it a try. It's excellent. In addition to being full of good travel advice and things to look for that are fun for kids of all ages, it is also a good "study guide" of sorts. We homeschool our children and this is the kind of book that is perfect to help teach them about a new country and culture. I highly recommend it.

My kids (and I) think this book rocks. We happen to live in Italy but, even after 18 months here, we still find things in this book that surprise us. The book makes historical sites interesting and fun by pointing out things that kids would find fun and interesting. We have explored "Strange Parks" and located almost all of the license plates and cars listed as we travel around Italy. I'm always surprised as I read it to find more information that I didn't know, more things to try and places to go. We hope to go to Paris soon and I'll be ordering a copy of Pat Byrne's Paris book first.

Pat Bryne provided the personal attention we all hope for when conducting an internet transaction. Her book, Italy Discovery Journal, is both entertaining and informative for a child's natural curiousity. We gave them as gifts which were well received and, reportedly, heavily utilized prior to, during and even following our nephews trip to Italy.

My boys used this journal both times we went to Italy. It gave us a lot of ideas and sparked some that were not in the book. They liked that they didn't have to bring the entire journal around with them; they could just take out the pages that they needed. Even my teens took some ideas, like charting gelato flavors. (Same flavor changed from place to place.) The journal made some of the lesser kid-friendly activities more enjoyable for them, therefore, more enjoyable for us. We are looking out for journals for more countries.

This is a small publishing production, not very sophisticated in terms of formatting or reproduction, but, guess what? The kids loved it. There really isn't any other guide for children out there; I looked! This is for the kids, tells them about things they might be interested in like pasta and fast cars. There's some subtle education going on but mostly just ideas about wierd history, Italian culture and things kids like to eat. Our two children, a boy 13 and a girl 11, carried their little books everywhere and would point out things to us, the parents, that were interesting or surprising. Good little investment for your travels!

Anna Manna!

I have ONE cookbook series in my kitchen. Its Lidia's! Being Italian myself, I enjoy her cooking shows and find her cookbook(s) to be thorough, easy to follow and absolutely delicious! Bravo Lidia!

All her cookbooks are great. They are filled with recipes that I must try and once I try them they become an instant favorite and then I start getting requests for them. You find yourself always cooking Italian, which is unsettling to my Scottish relatives. I've had to hide the fact I watch "The Sopranos" to keep the speculation to a minimum.

This first book by Lidia Bastianich is both cookbook of recipes from the Istrian peninsula and Felidia Ristorante in Manhatten and a memoir of Lidia's life and family in central Europe and in the United States. The recipes occupy by far the larger portion of the book and include all of the expected elements of Italian cuisine. The culinary chapters are:

Appetizers and Soups
Salads and Vegetables
Pastas and Sauces
Fish
Meats
Game
Breads and Desserts
Spirits and Infusions

The most valuable portions of the book deal with the recipes native to Istria, especially those dealing with game and foraged vegetables and mushrooms. As the book makes clear, Istria, located near the top of the Adriatic Sea, is very near the crossroads of Europe's Roman, Slavic, and Germanic ethnic influences. The cuisine is all the more interesting for that fact. There are distinctly Austrian influences throughout the cuisine, including a recipe for an obscure Hungarian sweet crepe, palacinka, my Grandmother from Austria-Hungary would often make. The most vivid picture I get from the book is how food must have acquired the importance it has for many Europeans, since they spent so much of their time acquiring food and working with such inventive ways of making everything edible into something delicious.

The chapters on game cookery are expecially useful, including recipes for quail, Guinea hen, pheasant, squab, duck (with sauerkraut, of course), rabbit, venison, and wild boar. Of special interest is the technique, `Squazet' which is an untranslatable word meaning a braising method used in Istria, suitable primarily to slow cooked meats. A good example of making the most of what you had.

All the recipes are good as well as interesting for being examples of Istrian cuisine. However, I would recommend that for breads and pasteries, one consult a specialist in these fields. These baking recipes will work, but I know there are better techniques to be had. The sections on fresh pasta are short, but they appear to give competant results. The sections on various types of gnocchi and it's techniques are very good. I believe the recipes for mushrooms have much to offer which you may not find elsewhere.

The treatment of photographs in this book leaves something to be desired. All are presented in an old fashioned sepia tint and some, even some photographed specifically for the book by modern equipment seem to loose detail to shadows and haziness. Placing captions for chapter heading photographs strikes at the rear of the book in an appendix strikes me as a case of really poor judgement. I have a hunch the captions were forgotten until it was too late to include them on the same page as the photo. There are some lapses in copy editing. The Italian culinary term `sugo' is used in the memoir and no explanation is given for the term. It does not even appear in the appendix and is arcane enough to be absent from Larousse Gastronomique and a reference on Italian cuisine. I would have been baffled by the reference had I not encountered in the book `Cooking by Hand' by Paul Bertolli.

I give this book the highest rating because it's shortcomings do not detract from it's primary mission of being an engaging and accessible presentation of Istrian cuisine.

This is really two books, largely interleaved with each other. The cookbook is the more obvious one. It's where Lidia - never truly separable from her husband Felice - exposes the secrets of her kitchen. Correction: kitchens, plural. These are the recipes that have kept the lines long outside of her restaurants back to the early 1970s. Struggling against American palates trained on TV dinners, they addressed and quite possibly created a clientele who discovered that there was more to Italian food than tomato sauce.

Lidia has extensive professional education, undertaken while she was a young mother and beginning restauranteur (this is the weaker sex?!?). She and her husband traveled most of Europe, studying the national and even regional specialties of each culinary tradition. Although training and research inform this book, that's not where it really comes from. It comes, through her personal alchemy, from her grandmother's truck garden. That's where the second book within this one binding comes in. That book is Lidia's culinary biography, from her earliest girlhood in Adriatic Italy up to the book's 1990 writing.

The family wasn't rich. Meat was a rarity, and every part of the animal went into the pot: heart, kidney, liver, blood for black sausage, and (in this pre-BSE book) brain. Produce was fresh from the garden, though, and slaughtering the animal was part of cooking with meat. Plain cooking can be exquisite cooking, however. Lidia's close contact with every aspect of the food gave her a bone-deep appreciation for unique character of ever plant and animalin her kitchen. Her secret is really no secret at all: it lies in using the finest and freshest ingredients, and in knowing the preparation that lets each be the best it can.

//wiredweird

I think Lidia has opened her heart and shared memories along with excellent recipes. I love this book and it is one I have out on my coffee table to just pick up and read when I have a few minutes. Her recipes are always so easy to understand and make - this cookbook is my favorite and she is an American treasure! I remember my grandmother making so many of Lidia's dishes, but she was unable to read and write and her recipes went with her when she died. Lidia has some of them in her cookbook and I thank her for that!
This book also makes a wonderful gift to someone who is Italian or just loves Italian food! Thank you Lidia!

Mr.Cederberg brings his experiences to life as you read this book.A very vivid tale as Cederberg shares blood,sweat and tears,in the Italian theatre of World War Two.

The book is a novelization of Mr. Cederberg's experiances in Italy during the second World War. I couldn't put it down, I kept imagining myself there. A fantastic book. I hope this is not Mr. Cerderberg's last.

This book ranks with the other great classic memoirs of World War II: The Forgotten Soldier, If You Survive, The Other Side of Time, The Road to Huertgen, and the greatest, Those Devils in Baggy Pants. Cederberg writes in a manner that vividly describes the force and horror of war, painting images in the mind that are not easily forgotten. An excellent read!

The Long Road Home is the fascinating, if somewhat racy, account of Fred Cederberg's travels from his home in Canada to the war in Italy. Cederberg spares few details of the courage and the horror of war, and shows how love and lust often bloomed among the destroyed buildings and shattered souls. Cederberg's memoir is first-hand and first-rate, a must-read for anyone interested in seeing how our boys fared in the forgotten war in Italy.

This book is not about warfare by the usual rules, of people being nice as seen in "Saving Private Ryan." It may even upset some folks. But, it is like the stories sometimes told by combat veterans in the Legion Halls after they've had a few beers, are feeling relaxed and are with someone they trust.

It is a story about soldiers who were fiercely proud to be Canadians. Americans were fighting for grand ideas such as "saving the world for democracy" and the Four Freedoms of Norman Rockwell. Canadians were there to do a job. They did it, with kindness, compassion and brutality as the occasion required. Sgt. Cederberg never brags about being Canadian; it was tacitly assumed that if one had to ask, they couldn't understand even if it was explained to them.

Read this, and you'll understand why Americans described Canadian soldiers "going about their job like hockey players."

They are like the Australians and Israelis, known for having an incredible espirit de corps. Americans are great for show, such as Patton insisting that all American troops wear ties and show proper respect for officers. One American mucky-muck, appalled by the easy-going attitude, remarked to a Canadian officer, "Your troops don't seem to have much discipline, such as saluting officers." In reply he was told, "Well, when a salute is needed I wave at them, and they generally wave back." So much for formal procedures. But, when it came to fighting, they were unsurpassed.

The US has a formal definition of a country, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, Salute to the Flag, and a national anthem which is played more than Coca Cola commercials. Canadians are less formal, but no less proud of their country. It's called pride.

In another story, Cederberg tells of the Germans firing propaganda leaflets which showed a naked woman sitting on the edge of a bed, while a soldier without his pants is getting ready to take off his shirt. The message was that while British troops were in Italy, others were having fun in England. "That a Canadian?" one of the men asked Cederberg, who replied, "It can't be, the guy's wearing a tie."

Don't ever mistake the Canadians for the British. As Cederberg writes, "I went out that afternoon with Albert and Alex-Joe, drank six pints of mild and bitters and threw up twice (once after punching out a Scottish corporal who had insisted we were a disgrace to British arms).

"He had it coming," said Alex-Joe. "because we aren't even British, we're Canadians."

Time and again, that spirit and typically Canadian humor shows through. So does the grim determination to get the job done. When stationed near an Italian town, they were warned that lone Allied soldiers were sometimes attacked by die-hard fascist youths. Sure enough, a Canadian was knifed in the neck. When his buddies couldn't find his attackers, they went back to camp.

A few minutes later, the Canadians began a mortar barrage on the town. Officers tried to stop it, and were gently restrained. Once they learned the reason for the barrage, they joined the cover-up to protect their men. When the Italian police came to investigate, every weapon was spotless with no sign of recent use. They left, empty handed. The Italians buried their nine (or 34) dead (depending on whose version was accepted). There were no further assaults on Canadians.

Wonderful book, wonderful story. Rest assured, Spielberg will never make a movie of it. It's too good, and too real.

Some people embroider their family trees on samplers, others create momentos and books for the family. Fortunately Di Robilant went further than this, making his great-great-great-great grandmother a research subject and having Knopf publish it for the general market. This ancestor was witness to and active in a critical time in the life of Venice and through her story we get an idea as to how the nobility coped during the Napoleonic years.

We are introduced to Lucia when she is 15 and her father is involved in extended and stressful marriage negotiations. At this time the Venetian elite are leading la dolce vita. Soon, Venetians and their republic will be jolted into new and uncharted territory.

Through the Mommo and Mocenigo families we see how the nobility adapted. Many fled. Others chose to work with the French, the Austrians, the French again and again the Austrians. Marriage and family scenes are just as striking as those of the famous events.

Lucia is resiliant. From an entralled young bride, she becomes realistic about her marriage that will only end when death due them part. There is infidelity, child birth and death, long separations, primitive medicine, fine entertaining, perilous travel and fiscal constraint.

Lucia learns to set up and manage households and farmsteads and to "wait" on a Princess who is half her age. Despite the many problems of her son and his education, she is a successful parent. She gets herself recognized in the Austrian court, educates herself in Paris, becomes a friend of Napoleon's Josephine, manages the family assets and has famous tenents in Venice. This woman is amazing for any age, but for her time, totally impressive.

There are two problems with the book, neither serious enough to take away stars. There are two maps but others are needed, one showing the various estates and others showing the travel routes to Vienna and Paris. The other problem may not be addressable. Lucia, while running what seems to be a large farmstead, refurbishes the main house. Then she raises, for sale, a small number of animals (are there not a lot of other animals on this farm?). Similarly, as a lady in waiting she raised two head of cattle. The economics/practicality of this husbandry does't compute for me.

What is wonderful about this book is that it makes history alive. It shows how larger events effect people's lives. The writer draws portaits of people whom we tend to care about and of the turmoil of Europe at the time.

I just finished reading this sequel to A Venetian Affair. Lucia is quite different from Giustiniana (the main character in the previous book) but this true story leaves you with the same mixture of fascination and melancholy. Unlike Giustiniana, Lucia immediately marries her first love, Alvise, and despite also being the protagonist of a scandal, her life is not as thrilling as Giustiniana's. Like Giustiniana, Lucia lives first hand through the European aristocracy, from Venice to Vienna and to Paris. But while in A Venetian Affair the source of dismay is the missed happy ending for Giustiniana and Memmo (her lover), in Lucia it's another demise that characterizes the book: the fall of her beloved Venice.
Through her detailed correspondence to her sister we learn of Alvise and Lucia's efforts to keep their status once orphans of the Most Serene Republic. This is what I believe defines this book. It's the story of a power couple who in their prime loses their motherland, and that helplessly witness a millennium of history being crushed between the French and Austrian power struggle. Alvise and Lucia, they really try. When Napoleon has the upper hand they get back on their feet and are actively involved in being part of the new world order. But as soon as the Austrians take control they have to start from square one, and we find Lucia mingling with the Viennese aristocracy while living in the Hasburgic capital. But then Napoleon is back, and off to Paris they go. These are not merely social ladder moves. There are estates to save, and the underlying theme is the slow but inevitable decadence due to unfortunate geopolitical circumstances that this otherwise very capable and visionary couple is subject to. Of course the book is packed with affairs and loaded with illegitimate children, but the force of this book is its historical value. It's the first hand account of how a historical European nation was phagocytized and of why its resurgence has been suffocated in the following decades.

Let's start with the lovely cover image: thanks to the research behind Lucia, this previously unknown work by the widely acclaimed Swiss painter, Angelica Kauffmann, came to light. And thanks to the owner's permission, its appearance on the cover allows us all to enjoy it. This is our first meeting with the blossoming young Lucia. Her glowing complexion, full bosom and that chestnut tendril that curls downward along her neck bespeak an innocent yet eager anticipation of life's sweetnesses. But this is not a love story. Lucia's life is much larger than her courtship and marriage with Alvise Mocenigo, and emphatically disproves what we think of as the bounds for a woman then.
From the start, Lucia's story shows her caught in the middle of things, from local power struggles in Venice to empires rising and falling and the devastating wars they brought about. Political events determine one challenge after another for her, as daughter, fiancée, wife, mother, woman on her own.
Accounts of political moves, diplomatic dealings, warfare strategy might not seem the stuff of a woman's life story, and yet they make perfect sense here, are fundamental, illuminating and intriguing. As these combine with finely wrought details of the everyday, the past truly comes to life. Di Robilant's style, as in A Venetian Affair, draws the reader in. When you read Lucia, you feel welcome and respected. And at once you are involved.
Di Robilant works with some very special material, unearthed not only among family papers but also in archives around Europe. In the end, he did not write the story exactly as he had set out to, for his research uncovered unexpected turns in what he knew as his family's history. He never makes an issue of this, but leaves it tacitly to his readers to imagine what it must be like to see a family legacy twisted into a different shape and to discover fundamental family ties you never knew existed. Di Robilant set out to bond with his past, which in the end he did, but not with the past as he knew it when he set out.
I highly recommend this book to readers with a passion for Venice, the Napoleonic years and memoirs about women who rise to unexpected challenges; to readers curious to have an insider view of life at court (Paris, Vienna, Milan) in the nineteenth century or a landlady's perspective on the scandalously libertine Lord Byron; to readers simply fond of books where biography and history elegantly merge with great merit to both genres.

Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon begins where Andrea Di Robilant's A Venetian Affair left off. Lucia Mocenigo was the eldest daughter of Andrea Memmo, and she married at seventeen into one of the best-known patrician families in Venice. When the Republic fell in 1797 to Napoleon, Lucia went to Vienna, where she became friends with Josephine Bonaparte. Later, Lucia moved back to Venice, where she became Byron's landlord. She died in the 1850s, when she was in her 80s.

Lucia is a compelling look into the life of an intriguing woman. She was at the heart of European political change, as her letters to her husband and sister show. What Di Robilant does successfully in this book, as he did in A Venetian Affair, is bring the event s and people to life. Everything Lucia, her husband Alvise, and her son Alvisetto, do is documented here with precision. Sometimes with too much precision: when her son was a teenager, Lucia obsessively worried over his progress in school. But in all, Lucia was an impressive woman who rose to the challenges she faced with courage.

In this book Venice at the end of the eighteenth century comes to life. Lucia was only a young girl when she returned to her native city from Rome, where her father was Venetian Ambassador, to be married to a much older man. She lived in many of the great courts of Europe, travelled extensively, witnessed the fall of the Venetian Republic to Napoleon, and as an impecunious widow was the landlady who rented out her fabulous family palazzo to no other than Lord Byron. It was in the attic of Palazzo Mocenigo on the Grand Canal that her correspondence, recounting every minute detail of her long and fascinating life, was preserved and handed down through the generations until it came into the hands of the author, who is her descendant. A wonderful book. Highly recommended.

This book introduced me to Malaparte the man, the house, the artist, the character and to those whose lives he had an effect upon. Fascinating Malaparte written by Fascinating McDonough!

a beatiful book,so well written a passion to shar

If you go Napoli's gulf you should visit Capri. Don't make the mistake i made by following herds of tourists to Capri. All that you'll be able to see is a kind of disney village and a lot of postcard shops and eat unbelievably expensive ice cream.
And you'll probably miss a landmark of architecture which is Malaparte's house.
The book is not only a great bargain, it is an intelligent tribute to Malaparte. You should also read Malaparte's The Skin.

more like a scrapbook, this art book was most enjoyable, voyering into a fascinating life

The book is amazing. It captures the dialogue of the house and Mr. Malaparte! The play of form, thought, nature, and politics. The graphic collection is presented is a collage of layers and frames.

This book was written by Pier Giorgio's sister and illustrates beautifully this life which though ordinary in many ways, was really truly extraordinary. She shares accounts of their growing up together, and the many activities and acts of charity in which her brother was engaged.

Pope John Paul II in one of his speeches, which are included in the appendix, points out how Pier Giorgio is a saint for our times. His life was touched by suffering, family troubles, and many other things which we struggle with today.

Pier Giorgio is a great example for us of the love we should have for Christ and how that should affect the love we share with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Every now and then there is an exceptional and unique soul, a Gospel artist whose sancity officially gets acknowledged by the Church because of his or her intimate and intense love for the Holy Trinity and our Blessed Mother, and one soul in particular is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young lay Catholic man who took to heart the message of picking up the cross and following Jesus Christ. Pier Giorgio was born into a life that had all the trappings that could make one's head spin and outsiders green with envy: a moneyed and priviledged background combined with athletic prowess, good looks and popularity. These are the ingredients that a majority of guys strive for, and why not, for in their own right, they are all good things. However, they become bad when they are not shelved in their proper places of priority in the short life that we have. All through his life, Pier Giorgio's parents tried to cram an unhealthy life philosophy into their son's head, that his various religious involvements were a waste of time and that he was with people who tried to indoctrinate and mold him into a larger religious collective whereby he was not the fully independent man that they thought he should be. But independence has different interpretations for different people, and his family could not see nor comprehend that. Or maybe they did; they saw it as scary and unsettling, and it was understandable. Yet, there was also a kind of awe that they had for their son, because Pier's love for the Gospel emanated forth so palpably that there was almost an aura that sprang forward and cut through the numerous criticisms and cruel remarks that he received, and there were many.

To be a co-carrier of the cross is quite unpleasant, not fun or pleasurable at all. And by all rights, it should be that way. But fortunately, Grace through the Holy Eucharist is the sustenance that helps to combat and deal with the daily toils and ills of life, and Jesus Christ in the Eucharist was Pier Giorgio's religious and emotional muscle; he suffered in quite privacy, especially in respects to Laura Hidalgo, a young woman whom he developed a private love for. But atop that, he could not follow through with his own will of being a missionary for miners, as his father had him already pre-situated as a paper pusher for La Stamper, the liberal newspaper that he founded. Pier Giorgio humbly submitted to almost all that befell him. The memoir written by his sister Luciana is quite different from the other book-An Ordinary Christian-on Pier Giorgio, as it is written in chapters that offers fragments of memories of who Pier Giorgio was and what he wanted to be and how he viewed things. Yet, it is a lot more penetrating in respects to insight, all the more so because the jottings and remembrances come from a direct family member who bore witness to the Beatitudes actually being lived out. And it makes the Gospel message truly come to life for all of us laity and non-Catholics. As we are all children of God, whatever our religious affiliations and denominations may be, Pier Giorgio Frassati's actions illustrate that in a time of strife, upheaval, turmoil and all the things that make us question the how and why but especially the why of human existance, one just has to try to live out the Beatitudes to the best of their ability, as Pier Giorgio did, in order to fully comprehend that not so complex question, for if God lives out the Beatitudes for our benefit, should we not do it for each other?

Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) may not have seemed like your typical saint. He smoked cigars, liked hanging out with friends, loved the outdoors--especially mountain climbing, he came from a wealthy family, and engaged in political activism. In other words, he was not unlike many university students today.

What made him different? He totally gave himself to Christ. Before he went climbing or skiing, he would go to Mass. Even though he could afford to ride trains first class, he rode third class in order to give the difference to the poor. Although he was an average student, he studied hard to become an engineer so that he would work with and witness to the working class miners. He actively opposed fascism because of its anti-Christian prejudice.

There is so much more to this amazing young man who died at 24 and the best person from whom to hear about it is his sister Luciana. In this book, translated from Italian, Luciana tells her brother's story-- of how he struggled against the world, his own weaknesses, and even the worldly expectations of his parents in order to follow Christ as best he could.

While the translation could have been better, it's not bad enough to disrupt comprehension. And since it's the only biography of the man in print in English, it's well worth reading it. Trust me, you will not regret getting to know Pier Giorgio.

Follow Bl. Pier Giorgio's example! Great book, great man! The reason I gave it only four stars was because this doesn't talk about his process to sainthood.

I don't remember the first time I heard of Bl. Pier Giorgio. I saw the book at the Novalis booth at 2002 World Youth Day in Toronto and I am glad I bought and am reading the book. His life is a reminder that holiness is for everyone, even for young people and (college) students -- like me! Thank you Bl. Pier Giorgio for following God's will like you did!

I love this cook book, Mediterranean: Food of the Sun by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow is simply excellent. This book not only has easy to follow recipes but excellent photography as well. I am almost positive that every recipe is photographed, which makes this book very mouth watering.

This cookbook was given to me as a gift. It is one of the best and most used cookbooks I own. It is very easy to use and best of all we have enjoyed everything I have made. We are giving this cookbook as a gift this year.

I have only had this book for a few months but every recipe I have tried from it is wonderful. I really like some of the desserts. The pictures are great and all of the recipes are really easy to follow. I am very picky about cookbooks, and I really like this one.

I received this book as a Christmas present from my boyfriend and I love it. Within the first couple of weeks of owning the book, we have already made five recipies from it - unlike as with some books I have purchased which looked great but proved daunting. Every recipe we have tried has been simple and elegant. Even better, they and made with ingredients that are not expensive or hard to find. For example, we made the Spanish Garlic Soup with a Parmesean Risotto for a group of 6 people: it took us about one hour total and only cost $10. Plus, each recipe is accompanied by at least one picture.

These two authors write stunning books of delightful, easy-to-follow recipes, with lush, evocative photographs, and great attention to detail on the culinary fundamentals of each recipe. The only problem is that they keep recycling and republishing the same recipes/photos over and over again. I got burned three times. I bought the book "A Taste Of The Mediterranean", which I liked so much that, impetuously, I went online and bought three more titles by the same two authors, Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow. I got "The Mediterranean Cookbook" (the one with the close-up photo of some ripe tomatoes on the cover). It turns out that this is the exact book as "A Taste Of The Mediterranean", but with illustrations in place of the photographs. The third book I received was "Mediterranean Country Kitchen", which while it is a lovely book, is nothing more than a condensed version of the same recipes/photos from "A Taste Of The Mediterranean". Lastly I bought the newer hardback book "Mediterranean : A Taste Of The Sun". This is an outstanding, lengthy book (500+ pages), but about half of it is "A Taste Of The Mediterranean" recycled in its entirety. I would certainly recommend the new one "Mediterranean : A Taste Of The Sun" as the finest and most complete of Clark and Farrow's sumptuous books on subject. But I'm feeling angry and a bit duped at buying the same book over and over again. Buy the new one, skip the earlier, cleverly-disguised retreads.

Award-winning author Stanley presents a stunning picture book biography of true Renaissance man Michelangelo Buonarroti, who came to master the arts of sculpting, painting and architecture in fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy. Stanley blends information about Michelangelo and his life as an artist with historical detail to set the scene, and then introduces a fascinating cast of personalities that include his first master Domenico Ghirlandodaio, the Warrior Pope he offended, and his contemporary Leonardo Da Vinci, who was Michelangelo's envy and rival.
Stanley reproduces and discusses Michelangelo's greatest works (David, the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta) then adds details such as fresco painting techniques and the gruesome necessity of dissecting cadavers to study anatomy. Quotes from Michelangelo's own letters enrich the text; it is a tragedy that he destroyed many of his personal papers before his death.
A full-page illustration to exemplify the narrative compliments each page of text; the text pages are decorated with period coins, coats of arms, stonecutting tools, portraits, sketches and reproductions. The illustrations are an unusual mix of paintings which feature scanned images of Michelangelo's works of art, including drawings and sketches, sculpture and paintings.
Stanley's paintings (which show the housing, dress and goods of the poverty stricken as well as the palace-dwellers) seem flat when paired with Michelangelo's dimensional artwork, and the contrast is a bit awkward. Her paintings imitate the style of the times in color, layout and subject, while still following the narrative. A richly-hued historical map of Italy explains the government of the time as well as the layout of the country, while the author's note opposite gives a defines the Renaissance. Bibliography & permissions are provided; the absence of a timeline and glossary may disappoint teachers.

Born March 6, 1475 in the little stonecutter's village of Caprese, about fifty miles east of Florence, and left in the care of a nurse, Michelangelo "fell asleep to the odd lullaby of chisel striking stone. Years later he remarked that his love of sculpture must have come to him along with his foster mother's milk." From an early age, Michelangelo wanted to become an artist. His father, ashamed that his son wanted to enter such a lowly profession, tried to literally beat the idea out of him, but the headstrong and determined child would not give in, and in 1488 was apprenticed to the famous painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio. After only one year his unrivaled talent was noticed by Lorenzo de'Medici, a great and generous art lover and patron. He brought Michelangelo into his palace and treated him as one of his sons, encouraging his art. But upon Lorenzo's untimely death, Michelangelo was sent back to his father's house, and cast in the role of family breadwinner, "a role he would play for the rest of his life." And so it was that the difficult and disagreeable, perfectionist Michelangelo's greatest masterpieces, The Pieta, David, and the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, were commissioned works by patrons and popes..... Diane Stanley's intriguing biography takes the reader on a compelling and suspenseful journey as she details the life and times of the greatest artist of the Renaissance. Her easy to read and engaging text is rich in history, art, drama, and anecdotes, and complemented by her ingeniously creative and innovative illustrations. Together word and art captures the essence of the arrogant and tormented artist, and brings Michelangelo and the Renaissance to life on the page. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Michelangelo is a well researched and spellbinding introductory biography, and another marvelous addition to Ms Stanley's superb series.

While browsing through a local bookstore I chanced upon Michelangelo by Diane Stanley. What a beautiful book! Not only were the pictures captivating, but the information was excellent. Michelangelo's famous picture of the creation of the moon and stars that graces the Sistene chapel is on the cover. My children were enthralled as I read how Michelangelo spent many hours dissecting human cadavers at a local morgue, becoming so familiar with the human body that he was able to make his works come alive with breathtaking detail. I will look for more books by this same author. Children(and adults)will read this book over and over. A great addition to your home library!

Michelangelo is an interesting look into the life of Renaissance superstar artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti from birth to death. Born in Italy March 6, 1475, Michelangelo was destined to become an artist and knew this is what he wanted from a young age. He was raised in various homes, by a nurse in the village of stonecutters and later in the home of the ruler of Venice, Lorenzo Medici who recognized his talent and brought him to live with him as his own sons. At the age of thirteen he begged his father to become a lowly artist's apprentice working in fresco for the time of three years. His true love was though not painting, but sculpture. Michelangelo eventually created some of the worlds' most famous art artworks including the sculpture of David and the painting inside the Sistine Chapel and worked on countless commissions for several popes and rulers trough out Italy. Many interesting facts that children will be sure to pick up on, including Michelangelo's work with corpses to study the human form and his feud with another Renaissance superstar Leonardo Da Vinci, keep this book interesting and exciting.
Stanley's interesting illustrations are unique. She combines photographs of true artwork (it is hard to copy a master!) with her own paintings to create a visually stimulating illustration. This book would be good for any adult that is wanting a "more than basic" but easy reading book about the life of Michelangelo.

With popular culture grabbing my daughter's attention so powerfully, it was nice to have some high brow material that could compete with the Disney genre. My favorite part was when my girl asked, "Why doesn't God just stretch his finger a little more like this [stretched her finger] to touch Adam?" The whole book is a single bed time reading for a parent to a child. It reads a bit like a cliff hanger with the reader along for the ride through Michaelangelo's challenges and accomplishments.

Caroline Murphy's new book is another "must have" for lovers of remarkable lesser-known royal stories. One is taken into the extraordinarily "ahead-of-her-time" life of Isabella de Medici, a Renaissance princess and daughter of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. A thoroughly gifted, cultured and independent individual with an interesting personality that still resonates after 500 years, Isabella was unique among female royal women of the time in her ability to live her life on her own terms, even as a married woman, which truly defied all convention. From the title, obviously things do not go well in the end, and with recent tomb excavations mentioned in passing at the end, the full extent of murderousness in this generation of the Medici is only nowadays fully coming to light. If you think your family is dysfunctional, you will feel as though you grew up in the very bosom of normality after learning what eventually happened within this once-upon-a-time "big happy family."

I knew very little of this family and this book is easy to read, easy to follow and yet, it was FILLED with history and facst. WONDERFULLY written!

Isabella de' Medici (1542-1576) sparkled among the glittering ruling family of Florence, but she was tragically snuffed out in the prime of her life. In a further injustice, her brother Francesco, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, tried to erase her from memory, an injustice that Caroline Murphy has done an admirable job of rectifying in this fascinating biography of Isabella.

Isabella was the third child of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence (second cousin of Catherine de' Medici, the Queen of France) and Eleonora di Toledo (of Spanish nobility). The Duke and Duchess enjoyed a very happy marriage, and Isabella had a happy childhood and particularly an excellent education. In 1558 it was arranged for her to marry Paolo Giordano Orsini, a degenerate profligate from a prominent Roman family. He was created Duke of Bracciano on account of his Medici connections, but Isabella visited his castle only briefly. She opted instead to stay in her beloved Florence, where she lived a luxurious, celebrated life independent of her husband in Rome. (She had an affair, and he had many.) Her independence was possible because of her husband's indebtedness to her father and her father's influence--he was soon elevated to Grand Duke of Tuscany.

After Cosimo's death, his eldest son Francesco became the new Grand Duke and was much less sympathetic to Isabella. He reneged on Cosimo's promise to provide for Isabella's two children (Paolo was busy spending his children's inheritance in Rome), so Isabella stayed in Florence to negotiate the children's affairs. Paolo started asking her to join him in Rome, but she used the negotiations as well as her health as an excuse to refuse. Eventually matters came to a head when Francesco banished Isabella's lover and Paolo went to Florence ostensibly to take Isabella on a hunting trip. Instead, Isabella was cruelly murdered by her husband and a henchman, apparently with Francesco's approval. Her cousin/sister-in-law was similarly killed at this time for the same reason: the Medici family honor. Murphy points out that Francesco sanctioned these honor killings to punish female adultery even though he let much graver crimes go unpunished in Florence--and even though he humiliated his Habsburg wife by keeping his mistress as practically a rival duchess. This is all in sharp contrast to his father Cosimo's having upheld law and order in the city and allowed loose (but not humiliating) morals at court.

Like other powerful and independent Renaissance women--Veronica Franco and Mary Queen of Scots spring to mind--Isabella was both a product and a victim of her time. She enjoyed a degree of autonomy that was rare until the 20th century, and she perished under a medieval system that subjugated women. ("Honor" was an admitted legal defense in Italy until 1981!)

Murphy tells this compelling story well--her writing is fluid if occasionally choppy, and the main characters come to life in the context of local and European politics. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Medici family or the lives of Renaissance women.

At first, I scoffed at the title, thinking that this might be a work of fiction, and a real potboiler at that. And to be honest, despite my fondness for historical novels, nearly every other novel set in the sixteenth century seemed lately to be centered on either Tudor England or Renaissance Italy -- and both of them done to death.

But in spite of my misgivings, this turned out to be a stunning read. Caroline Murphy, author of a previous book on women and politics, has continued her stories of women who played an influental role in the backgrounds of Italian history. This time, the focus is on the city of Florence and the powerful Medici family.

Begining with the fall of the Medici, the book focuses on a member of the junior branch of the family who brought the glory back to Florence. Cosimo de' Medici was a consummate politican and manipulator, but also a fervid patron of the arts and architecture. With his wife, the beautiful Eleonora di Toledo (who was known as La Fecundissima) they had eleven children, many of them sons, but Cosimo's favourite was his daughter Isabella.

A middle child in a huge brood of offspring, she was closest to her brother, Giovanni, and they could be found together constantly, playing games and partnering each other in dancing lessons. Several paintings survive of the princess, a lovely dark haired child with expressive eyes and nearly a smirk on her lips as she surveys the world before her. Clearly she is her father's darling, and knows it. When it came time for her to marry, her father brokered a deal with the Orsini family, based in Rome, and a wedding to Paolo Giordano d'Orsini, a young man with an itch for power and money, and seemingly in love and adoration with Isabella to judge from his letters.

But Cosimo slipped a small clause into the wedding contract -- Isabella would only accompany her husband to his home in Rome if she wanted to. It was a curious condition to the marriage, especially in a time where women were considered to be not much more than two legged birthing machines and subject to abuse and violence from their spouses. For a time, all went well between the couple -- Paolo was off working for advanage of both the Medici and the Orsini, with Cosimo supplying plenty of money for his spendthrift son, and keeping his daughter by his side. He indulged her as best he could, supplying her with the trappings of the high life in the artistic capital of the world.

Isabella created a world of poets and music, sending a steady supply of letters to her husband, letters that were filled with assurances of her love and devotion. But read between the lines, and something else emerges. There's a sly quality to the letters, something that bothers the reader, and if read carefully enough, it becomes clear that Isabella doesn't care very much for her absent husband, and is determined to live her life as she chooses. Even if that means having a lover or two.

The story takes on a much darker tone as it progresses. Her beloved brother, Giovanni, dies of malaria along with another brother and their mother, word comes of Paolo's affairs with various prostitutes in Rome, and Isabella's own growing irritation of her husband. And when Cosimo dies, Isabella tries to keep her glittering fantasy of a life going, but it might already be too late...

This is a tale that is not for the squeamish, as Murphy doesn't hold back on the lives, and especially the deaths, of various members of the Medici family, and also of more ordinary folks. The book is filled with details about daily living, clothing, food, the art of spectacle, and the role of servants and those unseen. What I found very interesting was that the book shifts the focus to women, who usually get shoved to the background of most history. And the subject of the book, Isabella de' Medici, I had never heard of before.

I happily recommend this book for anyone interested in Renaissance Florence, especially for life after the heyday of Lorenzo di Medici. Caroline Murphy has created a story full of life here, creating a woman that is very vivid and aware. The use of family letters is very effective, giving insights into how their minds works, their hopes and moving them beyond the surviving images that have come down through the centuries.

Along with the story, the book is full of black and white drawings taken from the time, which give little snapshots of the world that the Medici moved in. A map of Florence at the time give a sense of place. A genealogical chart sorts out the many branches of the Medici family, and helps to keep everyone straight. Along with the illustrations in the text, there is a gorgeous collection of colour plates, with several paintings of Isabella along with the other players in the story. An extensive bibliography gives enticing suggestions for further research, along with footnotes and an index.

I suspect that this is a book that is going to hit one of my top-ten book lists for 2008. It is a stunning story that breathes new life into what I had thought was a stale topic, and has renewed my interest in Renaissance life and culture.

Caroline Murphy has also written The Pope's Daughter, which does have a tie-in to this story, as Paolo is the grandson of Felice della Rovere, another woman of the Renaissance who was able to hold her own and more in what was very much a man's world.

Five stars overall.

This is the fascinating true story of Isabella de Medici, the spunky socialite of Renaissance Florence. She seems like the type of girl you'd want as a friend--independent, interested in the arts, and quite a flirt. The writing is very fluid--you cheer as Isabella runs the show and gasp at her husband's bold violence.

For a long time, I have studied Marconi since I am an amateur radio operator. I have visited his two stations on Cape Cod and even wrote a short web article about the first message he sent from Cape Code to England. Yet I found much new information in this book. Some of the comments tied loose ends together for me. If you are interested in early radio or Marconi, I suggest you read this book. It is paperback book size, but has a vast amount of information and pictures written by someone who knew him well.

I was held captive by a book that is a generous tribute of a loving daughter to her Father, Guglielmo Marconi. Degna Marconi allows us an insight into a chapter in her family history, and introduces us to the science behind her Fathers' inventions, his passion, his single-mindedness, his genius.
Marconi grew up in Bologna, at the center of his Mother's world. Without formal schooling, bright and gifted Guglielmo was allowed to develop at his own pace. Inspired by a book on Benjamin Franklin, his imagination was fired up, and he started experimenting with electricity and passing signals across distances. Later as a young adult in Great Britain, Marconi together with a small group of dedicated and passionate men and scientists made his ideas a working reality. The rest is history, and we all are beneficiaries.
Last summer when I stayed at Cape Cod, I took a detour and a walk at South Wellfleet. Marconi Station is no longer there, but the display tells us of messages that were relayed for the first time over great distances, between Great Britain and America. One of the early demonstrations of importance of communicating over long distances was when the signals were received, informing the world of the tragedy of the maiden voyage of Titanic.
While most of us still grapple with understanding the way signals travel, the ideas and inventions of Guglielmo Marconi have become a life transforming reality. As a mother living in Melbourne, Australia, with a daughter in New York, and a daughter in London, I bow to the genius of Marconi. His work made it possible for us to remain close, it made the "tyranny of distance" more bearable.
This book is more interesting than any fiction. Degna Marconi writes with literary skill that is outstanding.
We are closer to understanding Guglielmo Marconi, the man, when we read his own words: "genius is gift of work continuously applied"
Recommended reading!

This book by Mrs Marconi was extremely touching; we know so much about Marconi the inventor, the public figure but what makes this book so original is that it was so clearly written by someone who knew him well and loved him even more. Set side by side are descriptions of his scientific breakthroughs and very intimate glimpses of him as a person, many of them humorous and understanding.

The book is also very well written, interesting but at the same time readable and enjoyable. I have lent my copy of the book to many of my friends.

Review: My father, Marconi

What magnificant reading this is! This book is a must for those who would agree that a good biography is incomparably more valuable than even a great work of fiction. Degna Marconi has succeeded in recording her father's life with both scrutiny and filial affection. She has maintained a very high level in every aspect: what she tells us about scientific evolution in its historical context is witty, precise and fascinating whereas her personal touch never errs on the side of biased family pride. She is as good an author as her father was a man of science!
This portrait of Marconi and his times at the beginning of the era of global communication is all the more interesing right now a hundres years after it all began.
"My father, Marconi" should be on the shelf of anyone who prefers reflection to mere consuption.

Susanne Regehr

If I had to pick the one book (and there are many out there) that best describes Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless communication, this would definitely be it. This book, written by Marconi's eldest daughter, Degna, is one of the best biographies I have ever read, in part because of the enormous charisma of the subject and in equal part because of the obvious respect and affection with which he is treated by Degna Marconi.
With only a vague idea of who Marconi was and fearing a book filled with technical jargon I picked up this book with a little suspicion at first. What a wonderful surprise! Degna Marconi's story was engaging from the first few paragraphs and rivetting up until the end. I quickly became engrossed in this fascinating story of a young man who, instead of going to university, spends his days experimenting with sending radio signals across his parents' garden, using homemade equipment and information gathered from scientific magazines, and then his tireless struggle to improve and promote his inventions which takes him first to London, then Canada, and the U.S. Degna Marconi presents the historical and scientific facts in a clear and concise manner without sacrificing detail. The work is both rewarding for those interested in science as well as those of us after a good read. Indeed, the charm of this book is that it reads like a real page turning novel. Loads of little anecdotes and commentaries colour the story without obscuring it. The reader gets a wonderful insight into a world of wealth and luxury, cut-throat competition and scientific innovation.
The book describes the novelty and excitement of Marconi's first experiments and then moves on to describe Marconi's struggles to patent his inventions, circumvent his ever more numerous competitors and expand the range and use of his technology. In fact, Marconi emerges not only as a brilliant scientist but above all as an energetic and resourceful entrepreneur. This account of Marconi's work to establish radio as a practical and useful alternative to other more established technologies (such as the telephone) is thrilling to read and is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. I especially enjoyed reading about the heroic radio operator who continued sending S.O.S. signals from the sinking Titanic and about Marconi's long, lonely and often frustrating struggle to establish radio contact across the Atlantic.
Marconi's private life was no less exciting and tumultuous. The book's description of Marconi's love of the beautiful Beatrice O'Brien, his efforts to win over the undecided Beatrice and their wedding is entertaining and often humorous. The strain of Marconi's ever increasing work and fame on his family, the tragic divorce that neither he nor Beatrice really wanted and Marconi's complicated relationship with his children, especially his son Giulio, are all described with subtle and touching insight. Degna Marconi is also able to convey Marconi's charm and subtle sense of humour. Highly recommended.