A native of Lucca and the chef-owner of Beppe, Cesare Casella is the real thing when it comes to Tuscan food. In True Tuscan, Casella offers authentic recipes and Beppe favorites, as well as history and legends, culinary and otherwise, of Italy's most adored region. Tuscany has one of the richest cu[...]

The brilliance of the Renaissance laid the foundation of the modern world. Textbooks tell us that it came about as a result of a rediscovery of the ideas and ideals of classical Greece and Rome. But now bestselling historian Gavin Menzies makes the startling argument that in the year 1434, China--th[...]

Richard Paul Roe spent more than twenty years traveling the length and breadth of Italy to seek out and document the exact locations in which Shakespeare set his ten Italian Plays. Using as his compass only the exact lines spoken by characters in each play, Roe succeeded in pinpointing the location [...]

This book was written after Claudia Roden spent a year in Italy researching the subject of food. It covers: regional recipes; country cooking; the bravura of grand dishes; pastas; seafood; rice dishes; and authentic Italian desserts.[...]

In this long-awaited book (already a major bestseller in Italy) Ginsborg has created a fascinating, sophisticated and definitive account of how Italy has coped, or failed to cope, with the past two decades. Contemporary Italy strongly mirrors Britain - the countries have roughly the same extent, pop[...]

Books VI-X of Livy's monumental work trace Rome's fortunes from its near collapse after defeat by the Gauls in 386 bc to its emergence, in a matter of decades, as the premier power in Italy, having conquered the city-state of Samnium in 293 bc. In this fascinating history, events are described not s[...]

For almost all nations, the First World War was an unparalleled disaster, but the Italian experience especially was to have catastrophic consequences. Weakened and embittered, trying and failing to come to terms with 600,000 dead and with an entire generation of men militarized by fighting, Italy ga[...]

The "Pursuit of Italy" traces the whole history of the Italian peninsula in a wonderfully readable style, full of well-chosen stories and observations from personal experience, and peopled by many of the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero and Virgil to Dante and the Medici, from Cavour a[...]

A sympathetic portrait of the infamous Renaissance woman discusses her origins as the illegitimate child of Pope Alexander VI, forced first marriage at the age of thirteen, increasing power over the course of two subsequent marriages, and shrewd choices in the face of the era's political struggles. [...]

An evaluation of Italy's notorious Fascist period under dictator Benito Mussolini considers its violence and demands for obedience, noting how it served as a model for other twentieth-century dictatorships while arguing that the nation's largely undeveloped country and tribal family structures helpe[...]

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from l[...]

An introduction to Italian painting in the 15th century, and the social history behind it. The book covers the structure of the picture trade and its economic basis through contracts, letters and accounts. The author also illustrates how art history can be used to give insights into social history, [...]

The discovery of the fascinating and richly documented story of Sister Benedetta Carlini, Abbess of the Convent of the Mother of God, by Judith C. Brown was an event of major historical importance. Not only is the story revealed in Immodest Acts that of the rise and fall of a powerful woman in a ch[...]