Italy Books

I found this book from a suggestion of an Italy friend.I read it and i thing that it is a good guide, for someone who want to learn something more about Italian kitchen.For me it was very good.

I found this book from a suggestion of an Italy friend.I read it and i thing that it is a good guide, for someone who want to learn something more about Italian kitchen.For me it was very good.

This is a great set of professional Italian recipes. The range is magnificent and utilizes the ingrediants to the fullest. I must warn the home cook these recipes are not designed for the casual cook,Most recipies require a solid knowledge of classical culinary technique . This book is great for expierenced home cooks to create dishes that are elevated above the ordinary italian fair. I ,as a professional Chef, found this a great resource in designing my own menu .

I first got this book in the 1970's and have never seen such a comprehensive guide to the types, cooking and serving of pasta ever. There are descriptions of the many different types and shapes of pasta given. A basic recipe to make your own pasta dough is included. This book became one of my favorites and the recipes given are easy to follow, authentic, and turn out delicious. My copy has yellowed with age and usage, and friends will ask for recipes but I will never part with this book! There are too many good memories of wonderful meals prepared that fetched oohs and aahs from my guests. Definately a treasure to own!

This is one of my most beloved cookbooks. The lasagne recipe was on of the first I ever made back in college (20 years ago.) It is still one of my favorite recipes!! I desperately need a new copy as this one is held together with paperclips and pasta starch.

I got this book with my first pasta machine over 20 years ago. Making your own fresh pasta is certainly rewarding, but since the book was published decent "fresh" pasta is easily available in most stores. Whether you make your own or let others create the pasta, this book contains hundreds of great basic, as well as exotic Italian Recipes from basic tomato sauce to stewed coot with linguine (duck may be substituted). I went on line to look for this book because I need to replace my 1968 softcover edition which is well-yellowed and on its last legs. The publisher should consider reissuing this classic.

actually I'm looking for this book, very important, if anyone would like to sell me theres. Please respond e-mail. thank you

Italy's involvement in World War 2 has often been practically omitted from works by serious historians who based their research only on the accounts of American, British Empire and German combatants. From the scant information available about the Italian air force, the Regia Aeronautica, readers might assume it was irrelevant to the conflict. The accounts of those who faced its pilots in combat show this view to be mistaken.

The previous absence of material published on the Italian Regia Aeronautica is redressed by this book. It features large numbers of outstanding rare photographs, and is thoughtfully illustrated with maps. An exhaustive list of the aircraft types operated by the Italians is also included.

As well as covering the Mediterranean and North African fronts, it includes lesser known Italian deployments to the Russian Front, East Africa, and in Belgium during the Battle of Britain. This fascinating book is excellent value for money and sets a new standard for reference texts on the subject.

This is one of the best of the few books available on the Italian Airforce as well as a great companion to the Italian Airforce 44-45 by Ferdinando DiAmico. I was able to use it to provide background data on a web based profile on Loris Baldi who flew with the Regia Aeronautica and ANR.... If anyone needs some research material I would be happy to check my copies for data. The text and order of battle charts, in Chris Dunnings book are very well done. Outstanding photos as well. It was one of the first published by Hikoki Publishing which seems to specialize in these rare subjects.

Like another reviewer, I spent a few weeks this past summer in Italy. In a small town near Rome I had one of the most memorable meals of my life. In Naples I had a plate of spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce and basil so good if I'd dropped dead right then and there, I would have died a contented man. When I got home, I wanted to recreate the food I had in Italy. This book, and all the others La Place has written, showed me how. I have other Italian cookbooks and I love them all. What distinguishes LaPlace's books is that she makes cooking a simple, quick undertaking so you don't feel like every meal's the final exam at Cordon Bleu. Along with speed and simplicity, she captures the improvisational, unpretentious essence of the best Italian cooking. Flavors are allowed to speak for themselves, they get amplified, not sauced over or cooked out of existence. The results of her recipes are dishes so fresh, easy, and authentic if I sit back afterwards over a cup of authentic Italian coffee (made according to La Place's directions in the excellent La Bella Cucina), I can almost hear Vesuvius rumble, almost hear the waves in the Bay of Naples. No one who buys any of La Place's books will regret it.

Given to me as a gift a few years ago, this cookbook has become my most used. Recipes are simple to follow and raves at the table are guarenteed. Recommended recipes: Goat Cheese with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Light Minestrone, Shrimp with Rosemary... and so many more. I have since given this book as a gift to many, MANY friends!

Having just spent a month in Italy, Cucina Rustica takes me back every time I use it. The recipes are simple to make and delicious. Especially wonderful is the Ribollita, zuppa di ceci and all the fagioli. The Spaghetti al Pomodoro Arrostito is the easiest to make and best tasting sauce ever. It's the only one my teenage son will eat (and he "hates" tomatoes)! Be sure to use fresh ingredients and shop at an Italian grocery store if possible.

This is a detailed history of an Italian New Age Community that sounds like they have achieved utopia. The people have combined creativity, self-fulfillment, simple living, art and spirituality in an atmosphere of peace. There is hope for our world and this community reveals a path to a posssible, brighter furture. I am buying several copies of this book for my friends, many of whom have expressed a longing to create a group such as the Damanhurians.

This first edition of this book is great, but it is now out of print and out of date with the publication of a brand new edition of Jeff Merrifield's book, entitled: Damanhur: The Story of the Extraordinary Italian Artisitic and Spiritual Community (2006). Much has been updated and added to the new edition, including more than 150 black and white photos. The Federation of Damanhur is essentially about research and change, and the new book reflects many innovations in a number of areas of this remarkable community.

This is an introduction into one of the most unusual alternative communities in the world. Originally a small group of like-minded spiritual seekers, over the past twenty-five years Damanhur has grown to over 600 people. The book speaks eloquently of the community's most noteworthy feat, the construction, carried out in secret for over fifteen years, of a magnificent temple complex deep inside a mountain. The discovery of this temple by a deeply embarrassed Italian bureaucracy in 1992 brought Damanhur a great deal of attention, especially in Italy. As the breadth of this achievement was realized, due primarily to the investigation by Italian authorities who initially wanted to fill the temple with sand, Damanhur became recognized as a national treasure. The book also gives insight into how a community can grow and prosper while maintaining it's integrity and vision. Although located in the remote Valchiusella valley in northern Italy, the individuals of the community have created more than 40 individually owned businesses, most of which have sprung from the community's artistic talent and it's successful experiments in becoming self-sustaining. The most important section of the book discusses Damanhur's unique structure, decentralized, with a constitution that is always evolving in order to reflect the challenges of community life. This unusual flexibility and lack of a rigid hierarchy have enabled Damanhur to escape the bitter politics and endless conflicts that have doomed many other new age communities.

Love may not kill, but it can certainly give you a smart shove down that road. Walsh's vivid, neatly researched book gives us a new look at the one whose name was writ on water and his curious agonies over the girl he would have married. Keats, impassioned, gifted, doomed, is even so not gilded here; from the surviving materials he is revealed as intense, a bit obsessive, and never more so than concerning Fanny Brawne. This is one of the most famed loves in history, freshly examined with the fairest look to date at Fanny's equally complicated character. Whether they take place in British rooms or Roman, the dramas within are drawn with lively and poignant detail. Special care is taken, too, to give Joseph Severn the full credit due for his constant vigil at Keats' long dying. To me, Severn's character was by far the most appealing, and Walsh's story left me certain that a steady, loving heart is genius of its own kind.

It is so amazing that in a career lasting only four years, John Keats established himself as English poet who best embodied the sense and ideas of Romantic poetry. That his short life was cut off at such a young age was a tragedy in the sense of all the unwritten works that could have flowed from his pen, but even so, he achieved his life ambition of being "one of the English poets".
Darkling I Listen is an incredibly moving account of the last days of this most tragic (and most romantic) of poets. From his passionate letters to Fanny Brawne to his last moments under the care of his truest friend Joseph Severn, this story will wring your heart.

This book really is a little jewel -beautifully researched and written and incredibly moving. Keats is vividly portrayed, and , as the previous reviewer noted, Joseph Severn is given his due as the best person Keats could have had with him in his dying days. Severn was a devout Christian, according to Walsh, and his life after Keats' death exemplified the Christian belief that if you give selflessly, you will receive... Just have a box of tissues handy while reading this book...

I thoroughly enjoyed this passionate tribute to the author's Italian heritage. The authentic recipes from Basilicata are magnificient. The author shares family photos and recollections of growing up Italian-American. A great gift for fellow Italian-Americans.

I thoroughly enjoyed this heartfelt tribute to the author's Italian immigrant grandmother. The recipes are delightful and unusual. A must-have for any gourmet kitchen.

"Discovering Basilicata" is much more than a cook book. This book is written from the heart and describes this yet-to-be discovered region of Italy, Basilicata, from someone who has been there and whose roots are from there. Fascinating vignettes of life in Basilicata are interspersed with historical and modern receipes from the region in English and Italian! Soups and Pastas, main courses of game and fish, side dishes and pizza, and deserts. It's all there written in a delightfully personal style. This book would make an excellent gift for anyone, whether they have been to Italy or fondly wish they could go. Basilicata still preserves the essence of old Italy. It lies waiting to be discovered. "Discovering Basilicata" opens the door to this discovery.

Benzion Netanyahu's brilliant scholarly study of Don Isaac Abravanel will be of interest to any serious student of medieval life during the period of the Spanish Inquisition. This biography of the statesman, philosopher, mystic, writer, and royal financier is painstakingly researched, using an abundance of primary source material. It is an indepth, masterfully written examination which meticulously scrutinizes and illuminates the life of Abravanel in the royal court and, later, as a Jewish exile in Naples and Vienna, where he solidifies his political and religious world view. Highly recommended as a serious, contemplative work. This is an interesting and enlightening read, particularly for the historian and scholar.

Don Isaac Abravenel lived at the juncture of the Medieval and the Renaissance, and through the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. His writings help preserve the Jews through this troubled time, but also delayed the resettlement of the Land of Israel.

Ben-Zion Netanyahu (father of the hero of Entebbe, and of the recent Israeli PM) first tells of the life of Abravenel, and then discusses his outlook and religion. This unusual treatment works very well. Netanyahu first introduces us to the attitudes and assumptions of the people who lived at the time, which are so often very different than our own, and then discusses how Abravenel fit into, or differed from, that zeitgeist. By building step by step -- World Outlook, View of History, Political Concepts, and finally Messianism, the author educates us about Abravenel's world, as well as his beliefs. I was surpred at Abravenel's prediction that the coming of the Messiah would be immediately preceded by a war between Christians and Moslems.

The endnotes, bibliography, and index are all very helpful.

[This review is based on the original 1953 edition.]

Don Isaac Abravenel lived at the juncture of the Medieval and the Renaissance, and through the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. His writings help preserve the Jews through this troubled time, but also delayed the resettlement of the Land of Israel.

Ben-Zion Netanyahu (father of the hero of Entebbe, and of the recent Israeli PM) first tells of the life of Abravenel, and then discusses his outlook and religion. This unusual treatment works very well. Netanyahu first introduces us to the attitudes and assumptions of the people who lived at the time, which are so often very different than our own, and then discusses how Abravenel fit into, or differed from, that zeitgeist. By building step by step -- World Outlook, View of History, Political Concepts, and finally Messianism, the author educates us about Abravenel's world, as well as his beliefs. I was surprised at Abravenel's prediction that the coming of the Messiah would be immediately preceded by a war between Christians and Moslems.

The endnotes, bibliography, and index are all very helpful.

[This review is based on the original 1953 edition.]

I actually haven't read this book yet but it is written by my Greek and Roman Mythology professeur. He's an amazing man. He knows so much about the subject that I'm sure this is a great book.

Dr. Hall was one of my professors as well, and he definitely knows what he's talking about. This book was extremely helpful in all of my classics courses, especially Roman History and translating Livy's Ab Urbe Condita. I'd recommend it to anyone.

This is an excellent book! I used it in one of my classes in college. It really gives insight into daily details of the lives of the Etruscans, which also helps you to understand the Romans better. Very well written, by good scholars.

I've just finished Book I of Cellini's two book autobiography. I have Symonds' translation in a single volume published by the Book League of America in 1937. Having been to Florence, Rome and Milan recently, Cellini's stories about himself and his adventures become truly vivid. At first, I could not imagine anyone being so self-agrandizing and so unabashedly boastful about his intentions, his artistic abilities and his view of his world. The man becomes so endearing through his writing, however, that I was not put off; rather, I found myself chuckling at his gall and style. His relationships and adventures with Popes Clement VII and Paul III, the Medici families, other artists, cardinals, dukes and jailors make for hilarious reading. His genius comes through and lingers as the reader ponders the historic figures and politics of Renaissance Italy. I'm beginning Book 2 today with great anticipation. What an ego! Symonds translation in 1937 is fine. He offers footnotes that aid the reader's following of the chronology. Further, Symonds often gives the phrase as Cellini wrote it, should there be different nuances in translation.

One of the first and yet one of the greatest autobiographies of all time. Any celebrity or would be celebrity thinking of dashing off a quick "life" or apologia pro vita sua could do worse than start by reading or re-reading this fantastically intense and life-enhancing book

This piece is an excellent portrayal of life during the Italian Renaissance, but more importantly, the book is purely entertaining. Benvenuto Cellini tells the story of his life in a vivid tale of kings and prostitutes, artists and dukes, soldiers and necromancers, all the while proclaiming himself the absolute protagonist of his world. Cellini's autobiography is filled to capacity with egotism, but this only makes the story more interesting. In a good piece of literature of this type, a person wants to see a main character with absolute confidence in himself; a superhero if you will. Benvenuto may not be a superhero, but he tells his life story as if he was the greatest of all such legendary folk heroes. If children read this book or were read this book during their childhood, perhaps on the playground at recess, kindergartners would say: "Hey let's play superheroes, I get to be Superman, I get to be Benvenuto Cellini." With the master goldsmith's stories about fending off six armed men with a single dagger, without a thought of fear in his mind, who wouldn't be solidly entertained?