Italy Books

Great for every traveler... a unique combination of guided walking tour, maps and foreign language instruction, that could only be offered on audio.

I highly recommend these audio tours! When we received the CDs, we loaded the files onto our iPod and printed out the map and directions. (Use the printed directions-- SO much easier to navigate the streets than the map.) We also had bought an earphone/audio-out splitter so we could listen to the iPod at the same time. We romantically walked through the streets arm-in-arm, listening to our walking tours.

My husband and I opted to use these walking tours instead of a guided tour, and I'm glad we did. We were able to walk the tours at our own pace-- stopping to shop or eat lunch, or even skip by a few things we weren't interested in. So many times landmarks, museums, etc., were pointed out to us on the audio tour that we would have walked right on by. The narrator also encouraged us several times to go into museums and churches we might have been un-eager to enter, but were very glad we did! Each tour is about 1.5 - 2 hours, while the individual segments within each tour were 2-5 minutes long. You won't be disappointed!

There isn't much available on this beautiful town. I was glad to find this tour and thought the tour covered everything very well.It helped us make the most of our only day there. The information on the Cathedral was very interesting.I like all his tours of Italy, especially Venice

Even if I'm Italian and I know Siena very well I think that this cassette tape is the best for someone who has four hours free and want to visit the best of Siena. Greatings at the writer. He must be have Italian citizenship. I hope that this audioguide is produced in Italian language soon, so that I can buy it myself.

I always get these tours when I travel. They are inexpensive and thorough. Venice is the best yet. The voice is so clear that I can hear everything, even above street noise.

Glad to see this new tour with The Cicerone. We like his tours and use them whenever we go to Italy. I think the maps are fabulous because they are so large I can see them without my spectacles.

As far as picture books go, "What Life Was Like at the Birth of Genius" was as informative as it was entertaining, and a surprisingly quick read. It describes a large cast of people who populated the scene of the Italian Renaissance.

The stories are fascinating: Scions and businessmen, ordinary people and aristocrats; artists, artisans, rulers, priests, popes and scoundrels--not all neatly categorized in the places you would think they belong. Read "What Life Was Like at the Rebirth of Genius" for a picture of a dynamic turning point for culture, thought, and creative enterprise.

I ordered this book for the students of AP European History class at the school. The pictures are vivid, original and very illustrative of the time and place. There is significant variety with maps, sculture, paintings from the time period and photographs of the land today.
The text is well-written, informative, and extensive covering personalities and culture. Original sources, such as letters and books, are used to create the content. However, this is not a book to use as a resource for a scholarly paper. It does include a bibliography, glossary, and picture credits at the end.
It reminded me of the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness series only written for adults. It has a similar style of picture, boxes of related text, and information.

Don't let the title turn you away. This is a very readable and enjoyable account of a drafted young college man's experiences during WWII. The book brings an understanding of the grueling and horrific experiences that our soldiers confronted during the war, mixed with humor and humility.

There are lots of blood-n-guts combat books out there. Rare are those that offer a personal insight into the horror, noise, terror, wonder and randomness of war. This book offers both. It follows the remarkable events- many that are seemingly insignificant- that take a freshly college-graduated young man from his environs in Queens, NY to deadly invasion beaches, dilapidated and starvation-plagued Italian cities and more, during the middle of WWII.

Though the actual combat stories and invasion descriptions are vivid and riveting, it is the personal reactions recorded by the author that intrigued me. It describes the very real "smell" of fear and poverty, the stench of war and the observations made by an othwerwise ordinary young man, as war raged around him.

Excellent on all accounts. It's a must-read for any follower of war history, any WWII buff or anyone who enjoys reading about human triumph during extreme adversity. The writing is light and narrative, the pacing fast and interesting and the entire book is fresh and intriguing. Far from being a self-congratulatory tome, it instead celebrates the heroism of others, the incredible power of human adaptation and the good fortune and richness of a life well-lived after the war.

Thank you to the author, Paul W. Brown for reminding us that there was more to WWII than just blood, hardware and generals.

This is an exceptional good book. I love Iris Johansen Mystery Novels and thought I would try this one. It is a must read.

Please be aware that this book is a reissue from Iris Johansen's original works which appeared in 1990/1991. That being said, these two novels are of my favorite Johansen writings! The Wind Dancer trilogy was the beginning of Iris Johansen's long career in first romance novels, and recently, stories of mystery. These first two books of the trilogy focus on a statue called the Wind Dancer and it's effects on the lives of those who choose to possess it. The characters are real and the plot development superb. I could not stop turning the pages when I read these books when first released. If you are a fan of Johansen I encourage you to try these two wonderful representatives of her earlier work. I promise the next purchase you make will be Reap the Wind...

This lovely cookbook is also a valuable reference guide for anyone interested in learning more about wine and the art of wine-pairing with food. Italy grows a vast variety of wine grapes and produces many different types of wine, a fact which can be incredibly intimidating and confusing to those unfamiliar with the country's wines beyond the now ubiquitous Chianti and Pinot Grigio. This book takes a look at each of the regions of Italy, the primary wines produced in each, and typical dishes from the region that pair well with these wines.

The writing is easy to follow and the history behind some of these wines quite fascinating. I wish I'd had this book before a recent trip to Florence, as it would have helped me tremendously with deciphering wine lists and making good choices of wine pairings. The recipies range from simple salads to more complex roasts, but should not be too intimidating to most people with some cooking experience.

The only thing that might have been nice to include would have been a breakdown of wine labelling as used on Italian wines, to help the reader understand how to find all the information on what can sometimes be complicated labels--especially for those who do not speak or read Italian.

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. However, I feel that this book is a nice addition to any cookbook library.

The book is subdivided as follows:
Introduction
.....Italian Wine: The New Renaissance
.....Matching Italian Wine and Food
.....About this Book
.....Glossary of Italian Wine Terms

Italian Wine and Food
.....Northwest: Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Lombardy
.....Northeast: Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
.....Central: Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio
.....Adriatic: Emilia-Romagna, Marches, Abruzzo, Molise
.....South: Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania
.....Islands: Sicily, Sardinia, Lipari, Pantelleria
.....Desserts

Foundations
.....Building Blocks
.....Olive Oil
.....Italian Cheese

If you love Italian wine and good food this is a nice book to add to your library. The information on Italian wine alone is worth the price of the book. I thought that I was very familiar with Italian wine and I learned quite a bit from this book. The book covers all the major Italian wines in reasonable detail. Many of the minor Italian wines are also covered, a few I had not yet discovered.

For each major wine the author spells out the following information:
1. Narrative regarding a history of the wine
2. Typical aromas and Flavors of the wine
3. Tips to Successful Matches for that particular wine.

For each recipe that is included in the book the author offers two wine selections. The recipes are solid, mostly classics but some with a spin. Many of the recipes are simple Italian fare, but some of them have more of a gourmet twist. There are dishes in this book for carnivores and vegetarians a like. There are even a few vegan dishes in the book. The recipe for Polenta, Pesto and Red Pepper Terrine was excellent even without the goat cheese, which I omitted to make the dish vegan. Most of the recipes have a corresponding full color photograph of the finished dish. The recipe directions are clearly written and easy to follow.

If you love Italian wine and good food I think you will enjoy this book, I know I do.

I loved this book, not only for it's inside view into pre-French Revoltionary France and Naples but also for its rich portrait of friendship between a man, a woman and literally two kingdoms, France and Italy. Ample biographical information is inserted between the letters helping us understand the characters and their lives. In particular we follow Madame D'Epinay and her role as a female in the Enlightenment. She had a brilliant mind and a sensitive spirit, only held back by her frail body and the era in which she wrote. The letters end with D'Epinay's death. Galiani states that we do not out survive our true friendships, something of us dies also. During this twenty-five year correspondance we meet other important figures such as Catherine The Great and the young Mozart and Voltaire. If you appreciate the power of letters and their ability to reveal a life and you are interested in the Enlightenment, this book is not to be missed.

This books transports you back to the 50-year span preceding the French Revolution. It reproduces and describes the letters passed between Mme. D'Epinay, a French aristocrat and the Abbe Galiani, a Neapolitan priest diplomat during a twelve year period. But before launching into these letters we are provided with a rich background of the times and lives of these two protagonists. Through it one has the opportunity to experience life as it was lived by the European upper classes of that time. It is startling to be directly exposed to the mindset of such peoples. How natural it was to promote cultural gatherings at one's estate for the sake of diversion and fun. The unmasked and unaffected vanity common and widely accepted within that society. The book provides the reader with the ability to relive relevant and marking events and thoughts that made enormous impact in world history side-by-side with mundane and trivial daily occurrences to one's life. Here and there one is presented with "unpublished" thoughts from Voltaire, Diderot, Grimm, the Neapolitan Prime Minister Tanucci, Rousseau and many other personalities. The absolute brilliance of Mozart, Galiani himself, the greatness of Catherine, Empress of Russia is constantly shared with the reader via anecdotes and dialogues established among these figures. The book is so powerful, so skillfully presented and sequenced to the point of making the reader forget that someone did extensive research, collected thoughts, inserted views and actually wrote it. Francis Steegmuller offers us a delightful reading.

Wow, was this audio guide easy to use. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the informative content. By using the audio guide we really understood everything about this world famous piazza. The background music was an added plus that we had not expected. By following the audio guide in conjunction with the provided map we were able to see and understand everything about st. Mark's Square in the time we had available. We will be looking for WhiteHot Productions audio guides every where we go in the future. Kudos to the narrator for making this so enjoyable.

I have toured Venice many times but never with the excellent audio guide provided by WhiteHot Productions. It clearly and logically explains what one sees and allows plenty of time to situate yourself before each stop. The narration is excellent and the musical interludes charming. This audio guide is a must for any thoughtful understanding of the Piazza San Marco.

Today was my great-niece's tenth birthday. One of the things she wanted to do on her birthday was cook supper for the family. I have all four of the cookbooks in the "I'm the Chef" series: Italian, French, Chinese, and Mexican. The choices of likely-to-be-eaten dishes for her, her brother and sister came from the Italian book and one from the French book.

So-o-o-o, we sat down, selected the dishes, listed the ingredients to buy, and off we went to the grocery store. The cooking event was going to be a sibling thing, but the nine-year-old brother chose to ride his bike instead of shop. Go figure. We took the three-year-old. She was happy as a lark, singing and riding in the grocery cart. BD girl selected all produce, meat, and drinks (with guidance).

At home we lined out everything and began. We had work stations for all three children. Sometimes they switched out, going from the pounding cutlet station to dicing tomatoes to swishing cutlets in egg wash and rolling them in bread crumbs. I did all the hot grease work. I didn't figure they were ready for that yet.

The little one rubbed garlic on sliced French bread, then picked up the garlic chips to place on the bread. She also sprinkled bread crumbs on the cutlets. When the adults were seated, both the older ones poured wine, lay out silverware, and served plates.

The dinner was a smashing success. All three were so proud of themselves and a new tradition was born. Oh, the menu? Here it is in its simplicity and probability factor to be eaten. The two older ones loved everything!

Bruschetta (the adults LOVED this, no child ate it)

Cotolette alla milanese (We couldn't find veal, so substituted beef
cutlets) It may come as a surprise (it did to me) that Wierner Schnitzel is not Austrian in origin but Italian!

Fried potatoes (cheated and heated frozen ones).

Gratin de macaroni (from the French cookbook) These children mostly eat
yellow and brown foods. I'm just the aunt. My goal is to please.

Torta al cioccolato (chocolate torte with buds of whipped cream around the perimeter). It wasn't made because the aunt was too tired by this time. So we sprayed whipped cream from a can into our mouths. That was really fun. All the other adults left the table.

Extra note: I cannot honestly recommend this cookbook for completely inexperienced young cooks. However, under watchful supervision and in the method described above, this is a great way to start. Still highly recommended.

This book was so COOL!!! I could actually do the recipes by myself! I am the daughter of Meher Darakshan and the recipes turned out to be deeeeeee-licious!!! When my father indulged in that first bite of the tiramisu he said I have a REAL cooking talent!!! But I have to give some of the credit to the book, too because I tried to make an omelette once and it turned out sloppy and that wasn't with the great help of the book.The recipes are not even that basic. I totally recommend this book to anyone under 14 years of age!!! If you like this book you will like the other ones, too. There's chinese, italian, and french. In each book there are appetizers, soup, main meal, and dessert. Enough for a four course DINNER!!! This is another great reason I love this book. It gives a substitute for alcohol and they have GREAT pictures and not like the model-photos and closeups of Giada de Laurentiis in her italian book. Gotta LOVE this book!!!