Italy Books

From a review by Anthony Grafton in The New York Review of Books, March 4, 1999 (Vol. XLVI, No. 4), pp. 34-38. "Like Burckhardt, Ingrid Rowland sees the Renaissance as the birth of a new culture and society. Like Burckhardt, too, she brings this lost world back to three-dimensional life and vivid color, for, like him, she too is a splendid writer whose words evoke unforgettable images of Renaissance society. Rowland deftly describes the young artists and warriors we know from Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography, every ready to fight or fornicate. . . . More remarkably, Rowland does as much for the city's old scholars." "Though Rowland peoples her story with memorable characters, she also re-creates the institutions in which they had to make their way." "Especially effective-and particularly fascinating-are Rowland's recreations of particular Roman circles and their ways of making scholarship into art." "Rowland's remarkable enterprise in cultural history synthesizes earlier scholarship of many kinds: that of urban historian like David Coffin, Christopher Frömmel, and Charles Burroughs; of intellectual historians like John D'Amico and Charles Stinger; of historians of the classical revival in art and architecture like Otto Kurz, Elisabeth MacDougall, and Phyllis Pray Bober; of passionate delvers into Vatican manuscripts like Vittorio Fanelli and Massimo Miglio. But this book really rests more on primary than on secondary sources. . . . Her view of Roman intellectual life, her sense of personal interactions and intellectual collisions, derive directly form the cornucopia of documents she has discovered, evaluated, and edited." "Painters and writers, life as art, style as mediations, banquet years: Ingrid Rowland, like a contemporary Burckhardt, brings a lost world to life. She has given us a genuinely metropolitan High Renaissance, not only passionate and learned, but also sexy, urbane, and fascinating."

It is nearly impossible to overpraise Ingrid Rowland's book. Strikingly original, _The Culture of the High Renaissance_ is a dazzling display of scholarship and one of the finest examples of historical writing in recent memory. There is exceptional erudition here--her work is a feast of information, rare insight, and compelling interpretation--and it is presented by Rowland from beginning to end with enthusiasm and considerable grace. Refreshingly, she always gives the sense of inviting the reader along to share in the discovery of a world she knows so well, and so clearly loves. The writing itself is something extraordinary. Here the fascinating world of sixteenth century Rome is presented with passion, affection, and humor--a more than welcome antidote to the bloodless prose of much current academic writing. This should come as no surprise to readers familiar with Rowland's pieces in _The New York Review of Books_ (her current article, "Titian: The Sacred and Profane" is characteristically dazzling and not to be missed). It is easy to see why Rowland was recently recognized for her outstanding teaching at the University of Chicago. Lucky students...lucky readers. Prof. George Lechner, Italian Renaissance (Honors), University of Hartford

Michelangelo's David has never been seen with such detail and in so many fresh and haunting imagas! BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!

The public was outraged when a few years back an angry thoughtless marauder attacked the magnificent sculpture, Michelangelo's David, destroying one on the great toes. Now there is a well written book that discusses the near tragedy and the manner in which the officials dealt with the damage. It is an important document, especially in an age of terrorism!

Author Antonio Paolucci discusses and illustrates (with quite impressive photographs) the status of the sculpture before the cruel attack, the results of the damage, and then the painstaking restoration of the work that not only repaired the damage, but also brought important cosmetic healing to the ravages of time. The results as depicted in the fine photographs are not only beautiful but reassuring to see.

Paolucci then turns his attention to a brief but well-written and illustrated biography of Michelangelo and his contemporaries, showing his growth into the finest observer of the human body the world has ever known. This is a beautiful art book, a very interesting read on how creative people can restore works of art, and a concise commentary on the life of the redoubtable Michelangelo. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, November 05

This is one of those rare history books that should never go out of print. It tells you so many of the details of Roman life. Did you ever wonder what Romans wore under those togas? They wore a tunic, which is a thing like a night shirt. Upper classes were allowed (encouraged, actually) to wear a purple stripe down their tunic (wide ones for Senators, narrow ones for Equites), and that's how people knew if you were or were not upper class (I mean besides all those slaves running after you). It's a very complete picture, describing houses, tenements, public eating houses, the public baths, schools,what a Roman banquet was like, the pots and pans in the kitchen, and even sandals. Did you know the proper number present at a Roman banquet was 9? Why? The couches held three people and there were three couches, ergo 9 people. That was tradition. Just about everything you'd want to know about day-to-day Roman life is in this one small book. It's great. You'll love it. I've got to have "A Day in Old Athens," now. By same author.

I first encountered this book while researching a term paper on the public games of the Roman Empire, and I liked it enough that eventually I acquired my own copy through Amazon. Davis herein did not formally cite his references or include a bibliography, so the book's value is more that of supplying a mental roadmap of and feel for the setting rather than as a formal scholarly work. (Davis covers himself on that score in his preface, however, by outlining generally the sources drawn upon, emphasizing the major Roman writers of the period.) Davis wrote at least 2 other books in this vein: A DAY IN OLD ATHENS and LIFE IN ELIZABETHAN DAYS. I can say definitely that while the latter has a similar structure, A DAY IN OLD ROME scores over its Elizabethan sibling in that herein Davis has confined himself to a real city and real historical characters rather than creating a composite setting to better illustrate his points.

As the author says in the preface, the book describes Imperial Rome on a spring day in 134 A.D./C.E., as seen if the reader were magically transported there and provided with a competent tour guide. That date was picked because the Empire was architecturally near completion, the Empire was prosperous but not yet decadent. Davis deliberately avoids unusual events; he's tried to construct a run-of-the-mill day; the emperor Hadrian isn't in the city until he formally arrives in the last (13th) chapter.

Chapter 1, "The General Aspect of the City", gradually shifts from speaking *about* the city and the surrounding countryside to a viewpoint from a height near the Campus Martius, to obtain an overview before descending into the city. (Nice touch: English translations of place names are provided parenthetically when the names are introduced, providing a flavor of how a contemporary would have heard them, e.g. Ostia, "River Mouth".) Davis' details are interesting; readers may not have realized how advanced Roman architecture really was, wherein impressive buildings were mostly concrete with marble facades, and cheaper buildings were of brick or building stone - not wood, with its increased risk of fire.

As our tour guide, Davis doesn't jump straight to the famous "sights" that would crown a tourist's visit, but works his way inward and upward to the heart and heights of the city, beginning with chapter 2, "Streets and Street Life", a good example of the kind of detail provided. Davis not only mentions that most streets were too narrow for two vehicles at once, and that traffic laws banned most wheeled vehicles between dawn and 'the tenth hour'. (Note the time given in Roman style, only parenthetically translated to 4 pm.) From a pedestrian's point of view, most streets were worn slick, only main roads being kept clean, with special stepping-stones inset against the rainy season. We even get samples of Roman flyers posted on walls (actual text, noted as found in Pompeii, from 'to rent' notices to announcements of upcoming gladiatorial combats) and graffiti, as well as descriptions of typical street processions and crowds' behaviour in public.

Chapters 3 through 6 come in off the street, dealing with "Roman homes", "Roman women and marriages", "Costume and personal adornment", and "Food and drink". Housing covers the gamut from insulae (tenements that ought to be "islands" with space around them to prevent the spread of fire) to great houses of the wealthy, including on the low end the expected rental price in sesterces (with a parenthetic conversion into U.S. dollars where each money amount is mentioned, a convention followed throughout the text). Example of nice touches of detail: the Calends (July first) was the regular moving day, when deadbeat tenants were evicted. Furnishings being skimpy in the slums of Rome, details about higher-class housing treat Roman furniture in more depth, although expected furnishings are covered for the low-end insulae as well.

"Roman women and marriages" focuses on betrothal customs, marriage ceremonies (when there were any), and divorce, which was easier in Empire days than it would be for many centuries after the Empire's fall. A couple of stereotypes are drawn: that of a frivolous woman who might collect gladiators and suchlike, contrasted with the tomb enscription of an archetypal 'good woman' by her mourning husband.

A bit of trivia about costume: the word 'candidate' comes from 'candidati', "extra-white" - office-seekers used to specially bleach their togas so as to stand out in a crowd. Basic things in life never really change.

Chapters 7 and 8 cover the social orders (slaves receiving an entire chapter). Davis then moves on to professions, education, and commerce before finally arriving at the fora, the Palatine and the centers of government, and the imperial war machine. The courts, baths, and public games are covered before Roman religion is addressed. A separate chapter on "pagan cults" ends with the most disreputable cult of all, from a Roman point of view: Christianity, including Roman popular beliefs about how debased Christian practices were. (For a more detailed view, set a couple of decades earlier, see Barbara Hambly's well-researched mystery novel SEARCH THE SEVEN HILLS.) After digressing to "the Roman villa" and the grand finale of the Emperor's return to Rome, a final note on where people are in the Roman night ends in the catacombs, with a brief flash of the Christians through their own eyes, holding services while keeping a lookout for watchmen.

NOTE: The paperback edition before me reproduced the colour plates in black-and-white, unfortunately, but otherwise the book is unchanged. The old hardcover edition illustrations consisted of 1) black-and-white line drawings, 2) occasional photographs, and 3) colour plates of illustrations painted by Von Folke, reconstructing various landmarks in their heyday and showing (for example) a scene from a chariot race. (Incidentally, Davis in a footnote commends Lew Wallace's novel BEN-HUR on its accuracy, adding the caveat that Messala, being of high rank, would have considered driving his own team beneath his dignity.)

This collection of large photographs of the people and places in Italy is absolutely stunning. The photos include not only the popular landmarks but also the people, their families, and is able to portray more than just the "touristy" part of Italy.

It is a shame that it is out of print! It is the perfect "coffee table" book!

This collection of large photographs of the people and places in Italy is absolutely stunning. The photos include not only the popular landmarks but also the people, their families, and is able to portray more than just the "touristy" part of Italy.

It is a shame that it is out of print! It is the perfect "coffee table" book!

'Death of the Duchess' is the first novel by Elizabeth Eyre, which is the pen name of two London-based authors, Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey, who also write under the pseudonym of Susannah Stacey for another mystery series.

This novel is the first of a series, and it introduces the main detective character, Sigismondo, a shadowy, moral character of the early Renaissance in Italy. Sigismondo has an unknown background, high in mystery, travel, education, and experience. Equally at home among the street urchins and the courtiers, the politicos and the clerics, he seems to move with ease to find the information he's seeking, and acts with skill (both physical and intellectual) to avoid or, when avoidance doesn't work, escape problematic situations.

Sigismondo is joined by Benno, a character reminiscent of Sancho in Don Quixote. Benno provides support, a 'talking point' (much like Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes), and a bit of comic relief.

The story begins with a kidnapping. There is a long-standing feud between the di Torres family and the Bandini family, both noble families whose continuing feud threatens to destabilise the region. The handmaiden of the kidnapped daughter is discovered dead. As the story progresses, the duchess herself is discovered stabbed to death during a wedding feast, and accusations fly back and forth between di Torres and Bandini family members.

Sigismondo, not one to take anything presented at face value, searches neighbouring villages, monastic centres, and noble houses to search for the truth behind the kidnapping (which seems odd, given the state of preparedness of the house, which seemed set up to be ripe for a kidnapping) and the murder of the duchess, a bold act to take place in the midst of a crowded house during a banquet by a member of the Bandini clan who was bound to be recognised and caught.

During the course of his investigation, in which Sigismondo shows himself witty, skillful, a master of disguise and of discerning subtrefuge and double-dealing, he discovers cracks in the supposedly loyal internal family structures, which serves to heighten the mystery and intrigue. Is the kidnapper also a murderer? To what end was the daughter really kidnapped? Was the marriage between the duke and duchess of Rocca as faithful and happy as had been publicly presented?

In the end, Sigismondo puts together a strange alliance of enemies who had been set against each other to uphold an unlikely ruler and thus solve the mystery, which impacts on the larger ambitions of foreign princes--but, I get ahead of myself here. I mustn't give everything away.

One of the things that makes Eyre's story so appealling is the attention to detail, both in physical description and in political and psychological motivation. Great care has been taken to thoroughly immerse the reader in Renaissance Italy, and Eyre's research has been very good to discover details of menu, house operation, church and monastic life, city life, and minor family political nuances. (The book is dedicated to Niccolo Machiavelli, of fond memory.)

Complete with a down-to-the-wire, suspenseful conclusion, this is a great story, and a perfect introduction of characters who continue in other alliterative mysteries such as 'Poison for the Prince' and 'Curtains for the Cardinal'.

Historical mysteries have seemed to appear with a leap and a bound over the past several years, due to the amazing fascination that readers have with this genre. And Elizabeth Eyre's contribution in 1991 with "Death of the Duchess" is a welcomed--and respected--inclusion. The first of the series, "Duchess" introduces us to Sigismondo, an independent solver of crimes. Set during the Italian Renaissance, the book quickly captivates the reader as the daring Sigismondo is commissioned to find out where an abducted daughter of a local aristocrat. The daughter is from one of the leading families of duchy (a di Torre) and it is suspected she is the victim of a plot by the other leading family, the Bandini, due to an ages-old hatred. Earlier, the daughter, Lady Cosima, had been betrothed to young Leandro Bandini, as per the Duke's command so that the feud could be ended once and for all.

Not that it is so easy, however, for the Duke's own wife is found murdered in her chamber. Young Leandro is found unconscious in her chamber and it appears that he is guilty of the crime. Thus, the plot unravels at an alarming rate from this point on. The authors introduces us to all kinds of people, and red herrings and other points of confusion abound. It is left up to Sigismondo to solve the mystery and to restore peace once more to the duchy.

A man of mystery himself, the muscular (and handsome) Sigismondo is also quite intelligent, witty, and capable of taking care of himself in the martial arts (a true 'Renaissance Man'). He early on picks up Benno, a slow-witted ragamuffin, as his assistant and servant. Benno proves to be more than his appearance allows, however. The two, and Benno's dog Biondello, will appear in the next Eyre novels.

This book, while taking on some very recognizable traits from another Renaissance mystery of "two houses divided," is a delight to read, no matter how familiar the plot. The author (actually a pseudonym of Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey) seems well versed in the period and there is no problem of verisimilitude!

The storyline moves quickly and the characters are convincing. There is enough action, romance, and, yes, even murder to propel the book to its exciting finish, naturally with a surprise or two in its conclusion. It's worth one's time!

I have both of Tudy's books; she also wrote The Secret Gardens of
Venice. In October, I had the honor of meeting Tudy (what a colorful and dramatic character!) in Venice and accompanying her on a private garden tour of this magical city. She truly knows the aesthetic history of Venice and it shows in her books.

This is a terrific buy. If you never wanted to go to Venice before - you will now! The photographs are outstanding and the text not too boring. An invaluable reference for artists. Thank heaven someone thought to study these ancient floors before they are lost! Supposedly "there is nothing new under the sun", well, I would consider having one of these designs in a new home, if I could find anyone with the patience to complete one!

COOKS' BOOKS
'Deliciously Italian' serves recipes just like home

By Lisa Messinger


`DELICIOUSLY ITALIAN' - Frederico Moramarco and Stephen Moramarco offer 101 Italian recipes to share and enjoy.

"Deliciously Italian" by Federico Moramarco and Stephen Moramarco (Citadel Press, $14.95).

Being an English professor and the editor of San Diego State University's journal "Poetry International," Federico Moramarco is rarely at a loss for words.

When that unusual situation does occur, however, food is usually at the root of it. Specifically, it's the treasured recipes of his Italian ancestors, which Moramarco has been perfecting in his kitchen for decades, that make his jaw drop.

That's the attitude that led to Moramarco and son Stephen's compilation of recipes for "Deliciously Italian" (Citadel Press, $14.95). It's the best kind of cookbook, one that collects and reflects upon family favorites that cover everything from hearty Sunday suppers to special occasions. That's refreshing, because so many books only concentrate upon one or the other.

The Moramarcos have added other welcome touches in the inclusion of favorite recipes from Italian restaurants around the country, many of which are undiscovered gems, as well as staples from the families of their friends.

You will sample Moramarco cousin Cesita's Orecchiette with Potatoes and Arugula, a specialty in southern Italy in Apulia, where the family originated, as well as a wonderful zucchini stuffed with red onion, carrot, bell pepper, basil, cream and parmesan cheese from Monica's Trattoria in Boston's North End. Next, you might have friend Dan Venzoni's grandmother's famous four-cheese (ricotta, parmesan, Romano or asiago and mozzarella) ravioli, followed by Federico Moramarco's father's signature braciole (braised herbed beef rolls).

Like most outstanding food in Italy, many of these recipes are extremely simple, straightforward and rely on the freshest of seasonal ingredients. The Moramarcos, in fact, suggest doing what they and many of their friends do: growing some key vegetables and herbs.

What "Deliciously Italian" emulates so well is a heightened, edited version of most of our real cooking lives, where we pass around our most-treasured family and restaurant recipes to our favorite people with chatty phone calls in between about how wonderful the dishes taste.

COUSIN CESITA'S ORECCHIETTE WITH POTATOES AND ARUGULA

1 large bunch arugula

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/4-inch slices

Salt, to taste

1 pound orecchiette

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 dry hot red pepper, chopped (see note)

Yields 4 servings.

Wash arugula and boil with potatoes in salted water. After 5 minutes, add orecchiette and cook until al dente (follow package directions). Drain.

Heat oil in large skillet and saute garlic and red pepper (or red pepper flakes) for about 2 minutes. Add cooked pasta, potatoes and arugula to skillet. Salt to taste. Toss all ingredients and serve.

Note: Experts recommend wearing rubber gloves when handling peppers and not touching your eyes during or afterward. If you want to make this dish less spicy, leave out this ingredient and add a few pinches of red pepper flakes.

MONICA'S TRATTORIA STUFFED ZUCCHINI

2 medium-size zucchini

1 egg

1/2 cup cream

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 carrot, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

3 basil leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Pinch of chopped parsley

Yields 4 servings.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut zucchini in 1/2 lengthwise. Scoop out inside of zucchini and dice it, setting aside shell for baking.

In medium bowl, whisk egg and cream. Add vegetables, basil, salt and pepper, to taste, and stir until well combined.

Place vegetable mixture inside zucchini shells and sprinkle with parmesan and parsley. Place stuffed zucchini on a baking sheet lightly coated with oil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm.

- - -

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Copley News Service "After Work Gourmet" column.

© Copley News Service

I cooked two of the dishes from this book for a couple of tasting party at the author's house. I was really proud of the dishes I made and thought everyone there would be in awe of my mad culinary skills. Boy, was I wrong! Every single dish that everyone made equally delicious. So, while I didn't get to stand out as an Iron Chef, I did get to eat a boatload of great food!

I have given a five-star rating, but I have to be honest... I haven't yet seen this particular work of Professor Armi's. I have just ordered the book today. Dr. Armi was one of my art history professors in the graduate program at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is an excellent scholar with a keen insight into Medieval architecture. His critical methodology opened my eyes to the way that the architecture of this period should be viewed. I have read other writing by him on the first Romanesque styles and the merging of Northern and Southern First Romanesque to create Burgundian Romanesque. I look forward to receiving this book. I have no doubt that it will live up to (and surpass) the five-star rating. My best wishes and sincere thanks to Dr. Armi.

I have not only used the book, but experienced Dr. Armi in his element at the University of California Santa Barbara. His enthusiasm, knowledge, and insight to the history, design, and construction of Romanesque buildings is truly special. This book reveals the significance and depth of the First Romanesque period in a comprehensive physical, religious, and cultural context.

Not many of the bigwigs of the `30s and `40s left diaries, but Count Galeazzo Ciano did. Historians have long used it for glimpses into the Nazis behavior, but as a loser in a losing country, Ciano's diaries have not been read for insight into Ciano. At least, not in English.

A full and reasonably accurate, though only skimpily annotated, edition, this one, was not issued even in Italy until 1980, and not translated into English until 2002.

Although Ciano wrote only a political diary, and even then asserted that it was only notes jotted during busy days as foreign minister, what he left is nevertheless revealing of more than names and dates .

The one word historians use most often about Mussolini, Ciano's father-in-law, and the other leading Fascists is probably strutting. They are well justified in doing so.

Strutting, posing, hollow men all.

There was a great deal of blather in the `20s and `30s about Fascism as an ideology, its "corporatist" way supposedly offering a better system than parliamentary democracy, which was, in truth, in disrepute for excellent reasons. Ciano makes it clear, partly by omission, that nobody believed less in Fascism than the leading Fascists.

They were nothing but gangsters, a sort of super Mafia who had come into control of a state. Not unlike Baathists in Iraq and Syria.

Mussolini, who occasionally advised Ciano to insert one or other of his remarks into the diary, often told Ciano that at some point in the future he would put this or that aspect of Fascism into practice: deposing the monarchy, exterminating the weak (meaning, usually, the southern Italians) etc. Obviously, if Fascism was meant to be a superior form of political organization, its policies should have been imposed from the start.

Renzo De Felice, an Italian historian who wrote a preface to this edition, comments that Ciano himself was never a convinced Fascist, but he misses the point. Nobody was.

There is almost nothing attractive about Ciano's personality, as it comes through in the diary. Unlike almost all the other Fascists, when it came to war, Ciano at least went to the front. There he apparently actually faced real danger, but unfortunately his position, bomber leader, was despicable. Unlike Mussolini's son Vittorio, who exulted in dropping bombs on pitiful Abyssinian peasants, Ciano didn't brag, but he was a terror bomber, admitted it and advocated more of it.

"Fisking" the diaries would be an amusing task for someone with time on his hands. Ciano was not embarrassed to write an entry contradicting what he had entered a few weeks or months before. Perhaps he was so much of an opportunist that he didn't realize what a weathercock he was.

At any rate, there may have been politicians who had less moral sense, but there have been few who were so upfront about it. More than once, Ciano excoriates the Germans (especially Ribbentrop) for their warlike foolishness, and then in the same entry starts calculating how Italy can avoid being left "uncompensated" after the latest German adventure plays out.


As the Allied armies closed in on Sicily -- something not mentioned in the diary -- Ciano lost his job, which he said did not bother him. That was in early 1943. Later, he was arrested, and late in the year, he was shot.

In an envoi just before his trial, which he knew would be a sham, he wrote several unapologetic pages hoping that his children would read his diary. They almost didn't. Only bravery on the part of his widow saved these pages. From almost anybody else, the last pages to his children and his countrymen, written without flinching in the face of a shameful death, might have attained a degree of pathos, even nobility.

It's not clear, though, that Ciano ever attained any degree of self-consciousness that would allow us to grant him that much.

(A book like this does not lend itself to Amazon's star rating system. I would have preferred to have left it "unrated," but the computer won't allow it.)

It is difficult to overstate the significance of Ciano's diary for the serious student of the period. Here are the musings of a man that started out as a willing and able Fascist, one who perpetrated crimes against humanity. His instigation of the Albanian affair, his strong push for the invasion of Greece, and support for Franco are well known examples of his dark and sinister machinations. Particularly throughout 1939 and early 1940, however, the diary reveals that his world view was slowly altered. Ciano's comments and observations about Hitler, Goering, von Ribbentrop and other key Nazi leaders are penetrating in their clarity. Ciano did everything he could to keep Italy out of the war. The fact that Mussolini allowed himself to be persuaded to do so until the collapse of France are telling indications that Ciano was effective. The diary entries reveal a man who was not particularly analytical, but relied on a penetrating intuition and a sharp intelligence. He was a keen judge of character. It is probable that Ciano had very little time to sanitize the diary given the time between his downfall and his execution. The diaries were smuggled out of Italy by his wife (Mussolini's daughter Edda)for the express purpose of getting them to the Allies for publication to damage the Nazi leadership. This is no carefully crafted tale written by the author for the exoneration of past sins. Rather these are the writings of a man in the heat of the moment who was at a crucial place in history. Anyone who reads this diary will be impressed by the lack of moral judgement, by the cynicism, and by the sheer monstrosity of the leaders who made the decisions that resulted in upwards of 60-million deaths. Ciano was a key player in this group and his thoughts reflect his environment. They reflect men (Ciano included) who were self-serving, always looking for the main chance, power hungry, and totally unconcerned with the consequences to others. Here is a glimpse of the quintessential Axis politician. The one thing the diary is not is an outpouring of the true inner feelings of the author. Instead this diary is a straight-forward, running political analysis of the issues and impressions of the most able diplomat functioning within the Axis hierarchy during the years 1937-1942. To be sure it is self-serving, but for all that Ciano's diary is generally authentic and remarkably candid. Ciano's accounting quite simply rings true. One aspect of this diary that is most interesting is that Ciano disclosed to Mussolini that he was keeping it, and Mussolini condoned his doing so. By all accounts when Hitler learned of it, he wanted Ciano's diary found and destroyed. Hitler's henchmen went to great lengths in their attempts to carry out his wishes. Anything that Hitler felt as strongly about as Ciano's diary is worthy of investigation. This book is highly recommended.

I am glad that I had read and re-read Titus Livy before reading this book. Doing so is not an absolute necessity, but I think it helps.

This fantastic book reveals how the governments of ancient Rome, renaissance Florence, and, if you will, modern America are confronted with nearly identical problems, and it is also made clear that nobody has worked out solutionw much superior to those embrassed by the leaders of Republican Rome. We would all be better off if our leaders could be required to read this book.

In THE PRINCE the author provides a renaissance monarch a survival kit for coping with the problems he would likely face. In the DISCOURSES we are treated to a much broader analysis of a better and more viable system of government which is amazingly similar to what the Founding Fathers of the United States tried to achieve. Alas, as with the Roman Republic, ours has, because of its current massiveness and complexity, appeared to have lost sight of what once made it great.

Niccolo Machiavelli, (1469-1527), writes the greatest treatise on keeping a republic vibrant by comparing Rome to republican Venice. Machiavelli has gained an unwarranted notorious reputation for his "evil" treatise on political thinking and acting through his authorship of "The Prince". "The Prince" received more notoriety than his politically erudite work "Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy" in which Machiavelli espouses his belief that the Roman Republic was the best and most virtuous form of government to emulate. His breadth and understanding of Roman history is remarkable. Machiavelli's love of his country Florence, and the proud political work as a minor government administrator and ambassador Machiavelli performed during its years as a republic show through in this work. It was on his many ambassadorial trips to the French, Papal, and Italian courts that he learned to observe political leaders and their governmental institutions which formed the basis of his political theories in his many writings. My favorite quote from Machiavelli is; "It's better to act and repent then not to act and regret".

Modern philosophers starting with Machiavelli reject the classical view of politics as undemocratic and elitist. Only wealthy men of leisure would have time to develop the virtues and character necessary to rule. Machiavelli believed that man by nature was selfish and driven by ambition. Machiavelli is not interested in character formation and moral appeal but in building the right kind of institutions to govern society. Laws and justice would protect men from power hungry rulers. Modern philosophy is an out growth of the revolution that takes place in the natural sciences during the Enlightenment. The purpose of science is the conquest of nature man is in control of human life. Philosophers from Machiavelli on become sectarian. "Everything good is due to man's labor rather than to nature's gift."

As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy, I found this to be an indispensable book to continue one's journey into political philosophy and history of Europe.