La Dolce Vita
La Bella Figura - Beppe Severgnini
'First of all, let's get one thing straight. Your Italy and out Italia are not the same thing. Italy is a soft drug peddled in predictable packages such as hills in the sunset, olive groves, white wine and raven haired girls. Italia, on the other hand, is a maze. It's alluring but complicated. In Italia you can go round and round in circles for years. Which of course, is great fun.' Beppe Severgnini was The Economist's Italian correspondent for ten years. A huge Anglophile as well as an astute observer of his countrymen, he's the perfect companion for this hilarious tour of modern Italy that takes you behind the seductive face it puts on for visitors - la bella figura - and uncovers the far more complex, paradoxical true self.
Hemingway in Italy - Richard Owen
Ernest Hemingway is most often associated with Spain, Cuba and Florida, but Italy was equally important in his life and work. This book, the first full-length study on the subject, explores Hemingway’s visits throughout his life to such places as Sicily, Genoa, Rapallo, Cortina and Venice. Richard Owen describes how Hemingway first visited Italy during the First World War, an experience that set the scene for A Farewell to Arms. The writer then returned after the Second World War, and found inspiration for Across the River and into the Trees. Owen highlights the significance of Italy in the writer’s life. Showing how the Italian landscape, from the Venetian lagoon to the Dolomites and beyond, deeply affected one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.
The Sweetness of Doing Nothing - Elizabeth Minchilli
How often do you focus on being in the moment, doing nothing? Whether it’s sitting outside at a cafe watching the world go by, whiling away the hours with your loved ones sipping a glass of wine or being immersed in nature at the beach taking in the sun, these seemingly ordinary moments are the ones that bring happiness in the long run and highlight the joy in living. The Italians know the importance of enjoying good food and good company and the pleasures of being idle. The Sweetness of Doing Nothing will share this philosophy, with recipes, suggestions and advice to help you to let go of anxiety and savour life’s precious moments.
The Italians - Luigi Barzini
The 'fatal charm of Italy' has held Lord Byron – and millions of tourists ever since – in its spell. Yet, beneath 'the brilliant and vivacious surface', what are the realities of Italian life? Few writers have ever painted a portrait of their compatriots as crisp, frank and fearless as Luigi Barzini's. Cutting through the familiar clichés, he instructs us with a cascade of anecdotes and provides a marvellous guided tour through centuries of history.
The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim
Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, cowed and neglected by their husbands, make a daring plan: they will have a holiday. Leaving a drab and rainy London one April and arriving on the shores of the Mediterranean, they discover a flower-filled paradise of beauty, warmth and leisure. Joined by the beautiful Lady Caroline and domineering Mrs Fisher, also in flight from the burdens of their daily lives, the four women proceed to transform themselves and their prospects.