Reading for Italy, Adventures Abroad
Jul 28th, 2017, 02:46 AM
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Reading for Italy, Adventures Abroad
We are planning to travel to Rome, Venice and Florence with Adventures Abroad in November.
Has anyone taken this trip? Please let us know your thoughts.
Does anyone have any book suggestions to put us in the mood for Italy?
Has anyone taken this trip? Please let us know your thoughts.
Does anyone have any book suggestions to put us in the mood for Italy?
Jul 28th, 2017, 05:08 AM
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Can't recommend any books but I have traveled with Adventures Abroad many times in the early to mid 2000's and they are a great company. I went to Northern Italy with them. Be prepared for lots of walking.
Jul 28th, 2017, 10:36 AM
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The Kidnapping of Edgardo Montara!
Wait, that'll kill the mood.
The Monster of Florence?
Again, not so much.
The Day of the Owl?
Hmm. Again, Italy in a poor light.
Pinocchio - the actual novella by Collodi? It's set in Tuscany.
Charterhouse of Parma?
The Leopard (Lampedusa's, not Nesbo's)?
Timothy Williams' or Magdalen Nabb's mysteries?
The Count of Monte Cristo (for the Rome detour)?
The Foreign Correspondent (Furst)?
The House of Niccolo series by Dunnett?
Wait, that'll kill the mood.
The Monster of Florence?
Again, not so much.
The Day of the Owl?
Hmm. Again, Italy in a poor light.
Pinocchio - the actual novella by Collodi? It's set in Tuscany.
Charterhouse of Parma?
The Leopard (Lampedusa's, not Nesbo's)?
Timothy Williams' or Magdalen Nabb's mysteries?
The Count of Monte Cristo (for the Rome detour)?
The Foreign Correspondent (Furst)?
The House of Niccolo series by Dunnett?
Jul 28th, 2017, 11:11 AM
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I can recommend lots of books about Italy. Most of those by Italian authors I've read in Italian only, and thus can't say how good the English translation is. All of those I mention have been translated to English.
There are some good translations of works by ancient Roman authors.
Suetonius, <i>The Twelve Caesars</i>.
Historical works by Tacitus.
The letters of Pliny the Younger.
<i>I, Claudius</i> and <i>Claudius the God</i>, by Robert Graves. Excellent novels narrated by the Emperor Claudius.
Colleen McCullough, author of <i>The Thorn Birds</i>, has written a series of novels about ancient Rome. The first, I believe, was <i>The First Man in Rome</i>. As an author, she doesn't hold a candle to Robert Graves, but the books are well researched and pretty much historically accurate.
<i>The Name of the Rose</i>, by Umberto Eco. Probably everyone knows, from the film, what this is about. I've read this both in English and Italian, and I think the translation is quite good, although it's been years since I read it.
<i>Galileo's Daughter</i>, by Dava Sobel. About one of the daughters of Galileo, who was a cloistered nun, and her correspondence over the years with her father. His letters to her haven't survived, but he kept all her letters to him.
<i>Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy</i>, by Sarah Bradford. The fascinating story of the life of Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI.
<i>The Leopard</i> (in Italian <i>Il Gattopardo</i
by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, about the intrigues of an Italian noble family during the wars of independence. I've only read it in Italian.
Anything by Luigi Pirandello. <i>The Late Mattia Pascal / Il Fu Mattia Pascal </i>, a novel, is maybe my favorite, but he has some great short stories, and plays. I haven't read anything by him in English.
<i>Family Sayings / Lessico Familiare </i> by Natalia Ginzburg. The life of a secular Jewish family before, during, and after the Fascist period. (I've only read it in Italian.)
<i>If This is a Man</i>, <i>The Truce</i> (memoirs) and <i> If not Now, When? </i> (a novel) by Primo Levi. (I haven't read the English translations of these.)
<i> Love and War in the Apennines </i> by Eric Newby, about his time on the run after escaping from an Italian prison camp during World War II, after the Italians overthrew Mussolini and declared an armistice. Almost anything by Eric Newby is worth reading. His later book, <i> A Small Place in Italy </i> is about a house he and his Slovenian/Italian wife bought in the Apuan Alps in northern Tuscany.
<i>Italian Neighbors </i> and <i> an Italian Education </i> by Tim Parks. A humorous account of the author's life in Italy after marrying an Italian woman and moving with her to Italy. Parks writes for English-language newspapers and magazines, and is also a frequent guest on Italian TV. He teaches at an Italian university.
There are some good translations of works by ancient Roman authors.
Suetonius, <i>The Twelve Caesars</i>.
Historical works by Tacitus.
The letters of Pliny the Younger.
<i>I, Claudius</i> and <i>Claudius the God</i>, by Robert Graves. Excellent novels narrated by the Emperor Claudius.
Colleen McCullough, author of <i>The Thorn Birds</i>, has written a series of novels about ancient Rome. The first, I believe, was <i>The First Man in Rome</i>. As an author, she doesn't hold a candle to Robert Graves, but the books are well researched and pretty much historically accurate.
<i>The Name of the Rose</i>, by Umberto Eco. Probably everyone knows, from the film, what this is about. I've read this both in English and Italian, and I think the translation is quite good, although it's been years since I read it.
<i>Galileo's Daughter</i>, by Dava Sobel. About one of the daughters of Galileo, who was a cloistered nun, and her correspondence over the years with her father. His letters to her haven't survived, but he kept all her letters to him.
<i>Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy</i>, by Sarah Bradford. The fascinating story of the life of Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI.
<i>The Leopard</i> (in Italian <i>Il Gattopardo</i
by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, about the intrigues of an Italian noble family during the wars of independence. I've only read it in Italian.Anything by Luigi Pirandello. <i>The Late Mattia Pascal / Il Fu Mattia Pascal </i>, a novel, is maybe my favorite, but he has some great short stories, and plays. I haven't read anything by him in English.
<i>Family Sayings / Lessico Familiare </i> by Natalia Ginzburg. The life of a secular Jewish family before, during, and after the Fascist period. (I've only read it in Italian.)
<i>If This is a Man</i>, <i>The Truce</i> (memoirs) and <i> If not Now, When? </i> (a novel) by Primo Levi. (I haven't read the English translations of these.)
<i> Love and War in the Apennines </i> by Eric Newby, about his time on the run after escaping from an Italian prison camp during World War II, after the Italians overthrew Mussolini and declared an armistice. Almost anything by Eric Newby is worth reading. His later book, <i> A Small Place in Italy </i> is about a house he and his Slovenian/Italian wife bought in the Apuan Alps in northern Tuscany.
<i>Italian Neighbors </i> and <i> an Italian Education </i> by Tim Parks. A humorous account of the author's life in Italy after marrying an Italian woman and moving with her to Italy. Parks writes for English-language newspapers and magazines, and is also a frequent guest on Italian TV. He teaches at an Italian university.
Jul 28th, 2017, 11:57 AM
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Ugh. Tim Parks.
You really can learn a lot about Italy reading good cookbooks. Plus, when you get there, you know what to order. And when you get back home, you can cook what you enjoyed most on your trip
https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Roman.../dp/0060188928
https://www.amazon.com/Florentine-cu.../dp/1743790031
You really can learn a lot about Italy reading good cookbooks. Plus, when you get there, you know what to order. And when you get back home, you can cook what you enjoyed most on your trip
https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Roman.../dp/0060188928
https://www.amazon.com/Florentine-cu.../dp/1743790031
Jul 29th, 2017, 04:08 AM
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Waverley Root, The Food of Italy. Not a cookbook. Surveys each region of Italy, links the cuisine to the people, the land, the history.
A little visual preparation: Tosca, an overload of sublime Italian schmaltz; here's a video of the production in the Arena of Verona:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLGkXg3j49s
A little visual preparation: Tosca, an overload of sublime Italian schmaltz; here's a video of the production in the Arena of Verona:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLGkXg3j49s
Jul 29th, 2017, 05:14 AM
#10
To cast a perspective that is sometimes forgotten in Italy
Omar Al-Mukhtar: The Italian Reconquest of Libya
Amedeo: The True Story Of An Italian's War In Abyssinia
But I admit I like bvlenci's list most of which I've read and you might also like,
The Little world of Don Camillo. Just to get a feel for some of the onging undercurrents.
Omar Al-Mukhtar: The Italian Reconquest of Libya
Amedeo: The True Story Of An Italian's War In Abyssinia
But I admit I like bvlenci's list most of which I've read and you might also like,
The Little world of Don Camillo. Just to get a feel for some of the onging undercurrents.
Jul 29th, 2017, 05:58 AM
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Two anthologies on Italy:
Italy in Mind: An Anthology (Alice Leccese Powers) Writers from two centuries
Desiring Italy (Susan Cahill) Female writers
History:
The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance (Paul Stathern)
War in Val D'Orcia (Iris Origo) World War II memoir; particularly interesting if you will be in Southern Tuscany
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy (1943-1944) (Rick Atkinson) Although it focuses mainly on the liberators, interesting to learn about the Italy that Allies found upon landing.
I also enjoy reading some older classics because you will find references to places that are still there in Italy for you to enjoy.
A Room with a View (E.M. Forster)
The Divine Comedy (Dante)
The Decameron (Boccaccio)
Any of the ancient authors (Pliny, Marcus Aurelius)
Two books more about the south and its poverty/harshness that are a bit grimmer:
Bread and Wine (Ignazio Silone) - Abruzzo
Christ Stopped at Eboli (Carlo Levi)
I confess to having read a number of "I bought a ruin in Italy and here is my charming story of fixing it up" books and enjoying them. But if you want to get deeper into history or culture, the books mentioned upthread might be more satisfying.
Italy in Mind: An Anthology (Alice Leccese Powers) Writers from two centuries
Desiring Italy (Susan Cahill) Female writers
History:
The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance (Paul Stathern)
War in Val D'Orcia (Iris Origo) World War II memoir; particularly interesting if you will be in Southern Tuscany
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy (1943-1944) (Rick Atkinson) Although it focuses mainly on the liberators, interesting to learn about the Italy that Allies found upon landing.
I also enjoy reading some older classics because you will find references to places that are still there in Italy for you to enjoy.
A Room with a View (E.M. Forster)
The Divine Comedy (Dante)
The Decameron (Boccaccio)
Any of the ancient authors (Pliny, Marcus Aurelius)
Two books more about the south and its poverty/harshness that are a bit grimmer:
Bread and Wine (Ignazio Silone) - Abruzzo
Christ Stopped at Eboli (Carlo Levi)
I confess to having read a number of "I bought a ruin in Italy and here is my charming story of fixing it up" books and enjoying them. But if you want to get deeper into history or culture, the books mentioned upthread might be more satisfying.
Aug 4th, 2017, 10:43 AM
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Lots of good suggestions here. For an amusing and perceptive view of Italian culture and his fellow Italians, Beppo Severgnini's "La Bella Figura: A Fiekd Guide to the Italian Mind" is well worth reading.
Aug 5th, 2017, 12:31 AM
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I also loved the Bascilica The splendour and the scandal building St Peters by R.A Scott. Another vote for Brunelleschi's Dome even though I'm not a fan of Florence. I have read most of bvlenci's recommended books but did really struggle with i Claudius.
