Italy Books

Michelin Rome Mini-Spiral Atlas No. 2038 was my new best friend in Rome. It is a 5X8 spiral-bound book, and it has an alpha list of seemingly all streets. Each page shows a small section of the city in great detail. It doesn't however offer a city-wide view, so that's what the Insight Map or the Streetwise map can do for you.

I bought this in a bookstore in the Rome training station, and it proved a fantastic resource for navigating the streets of Rome on foot. It put the maps in my Let's Go to shame, and made walking Rome's often confusing streets much easier. It was the best street map of Rome I saw, either in Rome, or in the U.S. since. I like to walk when I travel, and I wanted to be able to walk to the Vatican, and then to the stadium for a soccer game. (The latter turned out to be overly ambitious.)

It includes a map of the metro/subway system, a region overview map, and a grid indicator map showing which page to use. The last is helpful, since this book is in the "Thomas Brothers" guidebook style, with 95 pages of detailed maps, and an approximately 150 page street name index. The maps indicate many of the major tourist sites, though not everything, and so it is probably best used in conjunction with a guidebook of some type.

The legend is in both Italian and English, and as a street map, it's pretty easy to use even if you don't speak Italian. At about 5x8", it's easy to put in a pocket or small bag for walking with, and not too obvious if you need to consult it standing on the street (which I did, regularly.)

This book focuses on Florentine fashion c1540-1580 during the period when Eleonora of Toledo was Duchess of the city. Its inspiration is obviously the iconic portrait of her and her son Giovanni painted by Bronzino in 1545.

The book is full of rare gorgeous colour illustrations on high quality art paper. It starts out with a biography of Eleonara and then discusses her style. Then the book discusses individual garments she is known to have owned and surviving examples, including an extraordinary red velvet gown in the Pisa Mueso di Plazzo Reale. The book rounds off with a list of the garments recorded in Elenora's wardrobe accounts.

This book, published in both Italian and English, should be on the shopping list for anyone interested in Renaissance costume. Its one of those books you pick up and go "wow" and it's a visual feast on the eyes that is fully illustrated in colour.

The Cultural World of Eleonora di Toledo: Duchess of Florence and Siena

Bronzino's Chapel of Eleonora in the Palazzo Vecchio (California Studies in the History of Art)

Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women C1560-1620

There is very little written about Florentine fashion from the 16th Century. This book fills that gap admirably. It has gorgeous color pictures, many of which are published here for the first time. With full descriptions and a glossary of terms make this the perfect book for historians and lovers of historical costume alike. The text is in English and Italian (side-by-side on the same page) so it is easy to see the Italian terms and how they translate into English.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I am delighted to see Amazon carries it!

Moon Italy is a necessary companion for the serious traveler in Italy. Alexei Cohen provides fresh and first-hand descriptions of familiar landmarks like looking over his shoulder and adds interesting and useful background information about history, politics, and local customs. His style is easy to read. A thorough index makes it easy to sort through voluminous details to find specific information. Moon Italy is a complete textbook for travelers looking for current and up-to-date information.

Informative, practical and fun to read.
I particularly like the cultural insights his book provided through the films and books selection.

I picked this book up thinking I would laugh at the ridiculous petty advice and "MTV Book" would give. WRONG. So very very wrong. Just flipping through it initially, I knew it would serve me well for my 2 months in Italy. This guidebook isn't your typical, stuffy "tourist book" (geared at senior travelers usually)....it is divided into regions and cities, and offers the usual info re: main sites, train info, general cost etc.....as well as ESSENTIAL bits for students or those trvaeling solo. Internet points (accurate, although some hours of operation were off, but it happens), laundromats, places to rent cell phones, cheap food, snack food, best places to party [if you prefer to party with your fellow Americans,,,,or, like me, if you want to avoid them!] general club rules, clothing style (up to date) etc....I also enjoyed that each section contained its own "occhio!"....which essentially is a word of warning about their own negative points/seedy sections. Each region of Italy is very different from another, and this book illustrates this VERY WELL. I would say this is a MUST WN for anyone who will be spending more than a week or 2 in Italy.

Well I should start with I haven`t used the book in Italy yet so I can`t be sure about the acuracy of the information, but I have been to Italy before so I know what to look for in a good Italy guide.

It lists a lot of the useful info like where to meet people and what clubs to go to depending on what you are looking for. I plan on visiting Museums and Churchs while in Italy but I don`t need a guide book to tell me which ones to go to. I use a book to tell me good places to eat, sleep and party and this one seems to cover the bases.

Overall worth getting

It's a pleasure to read "Shakespeare for kids" to my daughter (8) and son (6). The way Lois Burdett writes makes it easy for them to understand the contest (either commics or tragedy). The drawings are also wondeful.

This is one of those series that is so well done you can't imagaine EVERYONE not knowing about it! Have you always been a bit out of the loop or intimidated about Shakespear? Or are you good with it but don't know how to show/share that love with your family and students. This series will do it!! It's good for ALL ages, my middle school students found it fun and informative yet... really young (4ish) children could learn from it too. Save your self the upgrade and buy it in hardback, this will be one that you keep for generations and get the "WHOLE" series, each one is just as good as the other!

This book is very useful. Mainly I was looking for a book that contained the score of trobadours songs: I found it. Inside I found most of the songs I was looking for.

I liked very much this book because of its scholarly yet plain approach to the troubaudor's music (not trouvères). It deals with every important aspect of troubaudor music; history, biographies, sources, influence of oral tradition, philological problems (notation, rythm, textual variants, etc.), genres, musical analysis, form, theoretical writtings, performance, etc.

There should be more books like this!! Muy recomendable!!

A. James Gregor has written one of the definitive work on the nature and Ideology of Fascism by taking a common sense approach all to rare in academia. He goes directly to Fascist theorists on economics, sociology and philosophy, and forms a coherent image of a coherent doctrine. He shows the evolution of these concepts from the early nationalist economics of Friedrich List, to the Corporativism of Ugo Spirito. He also gives detail to the Actualism of Giovanni Gentile "The Philosopher of Fascism" though not as much as his other works. As a long time student of the History of Fascist Italy, the book was still an eye opener. To those new to it, it should be the conerstone of your learning.

Too often the word "Fascist" is thrown around, I hear it commonly applied to Neo-conservatives, Liberals, Islamic Fundamentalists, Bigots and Right wingers of every stripe. Be warned: You'll think twice about spouting such rubbish after reading this book, when you understand what Fascism actually is, you may loose your favorite political slur.

Whether this book is considered a total failure or a complete success depends upon how the reader understands it. The author's announced purpose is to disprove the public perception of Fascism as a pathologically irrational force, similar in nature to "soccer thugs, the Ku Klux Klan, and sundry sociopaths and terrorists." But no conclusion could be more ridiculous. The horrible people Professor Gregor describes in this book are in fact sociopaths promoting terrorism, pseudo-intellectuals concocting one absurdity after another to justify a totalitarian regime.

But if this book is actually a parody on 21st century American politics, it is a complete success. How many arrogant American politicians do we have who act as if they are "infallibly enlightened by the forces of history"? How many political elitists do we have who think that voters will never understand serious issues, and that they need someone to govern on their behalf? How many "charismatic" leaders do we have who are constantly denouncing "indecisiveness" and "dysfunctional legislative bodies"? Whenever a politician wants us to "Ignore the issues and trust me!", Benito Mussolini is looking proudly over his shoulder.

I think that Professor Gregor has chosen an innovative literary format to say something important about American politics, and it is a message we need to hear.

This book presents an unvarnished look at the invasion of Sicily from American, British, Italian and German protagonists. The result is a compelling narrative, and a very worthy successor to books like "The Longest Day" or "A Bridge Too Far", or the German works of Paul Carrell. If you want the story of the campaign, try Carlo D'Este's "Bitter Victory." But if you want to know what it was like for the individual soldier or civilian, read "Mussolini's Island."

An important story, well told. By telling the story in a narrative style through eight ordinary people (civilian and milltiary and all sides) who were actually there, this brief bit of history is brought alive. Far more readable, and better written, than most fiction best sellers. If you're looking for historical minutia or battle field strategy, this is not the book for you. This is a book for someone intersted in the human story. One of the best historical books I have read in the past year. Highly recommended.

I agree with the previous reviewer. This is decidedly NOT another Under the Tuscan Sun, which seems to have an "I'm used to being spoiled" attitude. I bought this book for my mother-in-law because her father did come from Italy (Sicily). I found it on her bookshelf this weekend and decided to read it myself. I was touched by the relationship between Maria and her father, both of whom are appreciative of the way the townspeople embrace them. Her father might have left the town 64 years ago, but you'd never know it by how he and his Canadian-born daughter/son-in-law/grand daughter are scooped up into the fabric of the life in Supino. I smiled and decided that one sentence kind of summed up the aura of the place when the neighbor, Joe, says to Maria on several occasions: "Maria, why do you worry so much?" The Italian focus on family, helping and respecting each other, and getting together over coffee to discuss the day's events made me want to retire and try it here, but wistful that it probably can't be duplicated.

This is not a glamorous, yuppie-audienced "Bella Tuscany." It is not a me-too account of Italy from an yet-another-New-World Italian's eyes.

It's wonderful account of a relationship between a daughter and father, and Old and New World, and a people with its extended "family." It is written totally from the heart and sings of a place and time so unnoticed it now demands attention. Yes, my roots are from the same village, and Ms. Coletta has found a way to write that speaks for and to many of us descended from those brave immigrants who left Italy with nothing, and built something in the New World. She speaks of this town and its people as if they moved her arm and pen themselves.

It is charmingly brief, a short story more than a novel, yet encapsules a soul that is indeed different. This town has its own dialect, and mannerisms different from surrounding parts of Lazio. There are enough happy and sad moments to take the readers heart and make them feel the change of emotion in one sitting, like an amusement park ride.

Read it, and pass it on. If you've never been to the place where "there's nothing to do but always something to eat," then don't knock it because you're just not able to grasp it all.

Written by Romano Mussolini, the son of infamous Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, My Father: Il Duce: A Memoir of Mussolini's Son contributes to history by shedding new light into aspects of the private life of "Il Duce". A riveting story of a state figure who went to great lengths to keep his private and public lives separate, who openly stated that he chose "Live dangerously" as his life's motto, and of a family that existed in continual danger of assassination, My Father: Il Duce reveals the human and family side of a complex historical figure. Highly recommended.

This unique short memoir, a best seller in Italy, is really about a son's blind and unconditional love for his father, even if this father had been a member of the grotesque family of 20th-century fascist monsters who ultimately were responsible for the slaughter of millions. In a penetrating introduction by the Italian political culture authority Alexander Stille, the fond recollections of Mussolini as an attentive and loving father who encouraged his son to pursue music, who always "performed" his family duty toward his wife, and who frequently entertained the kids with fabulous family stories, are put into perspective with citations of the cold historical facts. One has to read this brilliant introduction to really get those facts, as Romano Mussolini fails to deliver any of them. In fact, his recollections are about a more or less normal family life, if that can be said, and about the unfair treatment his father suffered at the hands of an ungrateful public who forgot all he did for them. The allies also aren't presented with any love or affection. There are anecdotes here that are worth reading as well, but in the end, one wonders how Romano could have steered clear of all the blood and gore, cruelty and absurd bravado that his father brought into the world. To me, this is more of a psychological study of one man's delusions and prejudices than a historical document. Nonetheless, it's provocative and well worth the quick read.