No comments about History & Mystery: London (History & Mystery).

5 comments about Italian: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. This little book is magic, is clear, easy to understand. It going to help us a lot in our trip.



2. I thought this would be a great way for my 10 year old and me to learn a few phrases before our trip to Italy. This would have been fine if I was 20 years younger and traveling with a bunch of free loving hippies. Using this book, I can use pick up someone up at a bar, ask for a condom, let everyone know I brought my own needle and call people derogatory names. Sure, I can learn to order spaghetti for dinner, but this is definitely not what I was expecting. In the future, I will have to read over a phrase book in person before purchasing.



3. I travelled alone in Italy for one week, and this little book was so helpful...referenced it again and again during my visit. It came in handy for practical situations travelers always encounter...directions, menu verbiage, and basic conversation with locals.
   It also helped in more specific situations...for women traveling, this will help you formulate quick responses to the "ciao bellas" you'll receive. Bene!



4. I purchased this book to help me with my family trip. It was quite helpful when I don't know how to say certain
   things. I was able to learn how to ask for directions during our driving trips to Tuscany town. I was able to purchase fresh grocery, order food.
   
   I also learn some Italian from the CDs I purchased from Amazon.
   
   I highly recommend this book. My children picked up some Italian, too.



5. WHAT CAN I SAY IT'S LONELY PLANET!, GREAT BOOK!, IT'S GOT EVERYTHING YOU NEED, VERY UP TO DATE.

No comments about The Treasures of Florence and Tuscany: Art, Architecture and Landscape (Italian Regions).

2 comments about Pictures from Italy (Penguin Classics).

1. I don't think I'd like to have Charles Dickens as my travelling companion. He's always on the go, seemingly preferring an enclosed carriage careening down the road to mixing it with the natives (he makes one exception for Genoa, where he spends twelve months). And he makes virtually no mention of his wife, to whom refers at one point as accompanying him, but who therupon disappears as surely as if she had fallen down a well. Finally, as a Roman Catholic, I would spend my trip grimacing at his observations of my faith.

   The people appearing in PICTURES are almost entirely people encountered enroute, including postilions, innkeepers, guides, soldiers, and the like. He does not appear to have entertained any intention of interviewing writers, political leaders, prelates, or others. It is as if I took a trip through the U.S. and wrote only about bus drivers, service station attendants, traffic cops, and ticket takers.

   And yet, and yet, it is obviously the great Charles Dickens writing this book. The writing is superb even if the subject matter is strangely limited. I was entertained, dismayed, and befuddled all at the same time. Comparing it to something like Mark Twain's INNOCENTS ABROAD or ROUGHING IT, however, I feel it is Twain who comes out ahead. Dickens, it seems, forgot to create any memorable characters.




2. He left the London fog for the canals of Venice, the museums and statues of Florence, the churches and ruins of Rome and the glory of the Italian Mediterranean sun! He was Charles Dickens the greatest British novelist of the Victorian era. In 1846 Dickens and his family decided to spend several months in Italy where the great author could write and explore the wonders of the Italian boot.
   Dickens was not the first or the last British author to love Italy. Just think of such literary luminaries as Frances Trollope, D.H. Lawrence
   and EM Forster to name a few. Dickens gives us pictures in words of all the major cities and sights. After reading this short (just over 200 pages long) travel book the reviewer learns from Dickens that:
   1. The cities and towns were usually run-down and the people encountered were poor. Dickens says little about Italian cuisine.
   2. Rebellion against the monarchy was already in evidence in 1846. Several years later Garibaldi would lead a major Italian revolution.
   Dickens was a committed democrat who favored constitutional monarchy such as was the practice in his native England.
   3. Dickens disliked many aspects of the Roman Catholic Church as he witnessed it in Italy.
   4. He includes many anecdotes regarding the mule and cart travel in upland Italy. Travel was often dangerous and slow.
   5. Dickens was an early riser and walker enjoying touring on foot the major attractions.
   This work is shorter and not as interesting as his "American Notes for General Circulation" but it is a window into the mind of a creative genius who relished new sights, sounds and smells. Viva Italia! Viva Dickens!

2 comments about Italian Villas.

1. This is a very informative and interesting book. The pictures though well executed are not as vivid as I expected, I don't know if it's because of the paper used or the exposer, they just don't pop vividly off the page like you often see in books of this price but they are well done and are clear. Having said that the villas covered are great and the picture ARE well executed, all the major areas of Italy are covered and the villas chosen are the best. I really did like this book, it's just that I have owned such fine books, I expect alot, but I do highly recomment the book to anyone interested the subject, it is a fine book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.



2. If you like Italian architecture, then you will surely enjoy this book.
   The book contains many illustrations with complete descriptions. Honestly, if you like italian villas, this book is certainly a must for your private library.

No comments about Michelin Guide Italia 2009 (Michelin Guides).

1 comments about Italy: Antique and Modern Genius (Exploring Countries of the Wor).

1. This makes a very nice coffee table book. Great pictures with a little blurb about each one.

1 comments about Capri, Gold Guide.

1. The Capri Gold Guide is appropriate for those who want to curl up by the fireplace and dream of their upcoming Italian vacation. It includes comprehensive coverage of the major and some minor tourist sites and the geography of the island. The many color photographs are excellent and are the book's best feature. The text is obviously and quaintly translated from Italian to English. Unlike many serious guidebooks, there is very little in the way of restaurant and hotel recommendations or descriptions; just a listing of restaurants in the back. The large fold-out map is very nice, but lacks a scale. Just how far will that hike up the scala fenicia be? The size, 10" by 5" is just about right for sliding into one's shoulder bag.

No comments about 30 Days in Italy: True Stories of Escape to the Good Life (30 Days).

3 comments about The Heart of Sicily: Recipes and Reminiscences of Regaleali A Country Estate.

1. Anna Lanza heartfelt look at Italian culture and cruisine was splendid because of her personal view of Sicily. The photos contained in the book were so beautiful (and there were so many)! I have made several of the recipes and they were easy to follow and turned out exceptional.



2. Anna Tasca immerses you in the daily life of her noble, progressive, very close knit family whose life revolves around enjoying food, wine and each other's company and love. You feel like you're by their sides through all the seasons in the kitchen and on the land on their Regaleali estate. As you drool over the recipes of each season, from simple to exotic to complicated, from traditional to more modern, you feel Anna is chatting away with you. On things like how she and a team made tomato extract from 4000 pounds of tomatoes over 10 days, how her family expanded their wine business (her mum went from restaurant to restaurant selling 130,000 bottles one year), how important citrus is in Sicilian cooking (some wonderful recipes like Citrus Risotto!), how their shepherds make cheese, how they all celebrate the end of the harvest and new wine (same menu every year, her parents start the dancing). I'm an average cook so I stick to the easier recipes and dream of going to Sicily again to taste the others! A delightful book!....



3. By Bill Marsano. 1993 was a landmark year for cookbooks: That was the year Contessa Anna Tasca Lanza published "The Heart of Sicily." Long out of print, it is now restored to us at last. Cause for rejoicing! The Contessa seldom uses her title; in fact, she prefers to be known for her cooking and her cooking school. And so she is--internationally. The importance of her title is only this: It ties her to Regaleali, the great estate that has been at the heart of Sicily for centuries--since the time, in fact, of the Arab conquest, when the place was known as Rahal-Ali or Village of Ali. Sicilian cooking isn't "Italian cooking"--it's one of the 20 or so related cuisines to be found in Italy, and it is at the same time the most and least original. Most because it is so little akin to any of the others; least because it's really a composite, developed from so many other source cuisines: Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, French, Spanish. Still, it's not exactly a mystery because so many of the 19th-Century immigrants to America were Sicilians, and their food was, for many of us, the first "Italian food" we tasted. The book naturally follows a seasonal menu--Regaleali, though mostly a winery, remains enough of a farm to grow most of its own food. Also, since the sea in Sicily is never far away, there is much to be made of anchovies and swordfish and tuna. Finally, since we are in Sicily, the sweets and pastries are breath-taking. The Contessa is a non-nonsense cook, I was relieved to find. For all her fame and stature she is perfectly content with boullion cubes, noting only that pepper and especially salt must be added with great care at the end of cooking to avoid over-seasoning. Likewise she's not one of those who claim that olive oil cannot be kept for more than a year--keep it cool and in the dark, she says, and it will keep far longer. You will find here recipes familiar and recipes startlingly new to you, and there is overall a conversational approach: You feel as if you and she are cooking on the same side of the stove. Most important you will find that the Contessa's beauty and dignity infuse her prose style as well. To take but one example: "The winter sunshine in Sicily is one of the most beautiful things you can experience. I remember one magical day, one of those days I call a gift from God. The sky was blue, blue, blue, and the countryside green everywhere. From where I stood, I could see the Madonie Mountains, covered with snow, and Etna, also snowcapped, in the distance. All around me was silence, except for a few birds here and there talking to one another." The recipes are clearly laid out and easy enough to follow. You will want to take care to purchase Regaleali wines, which bear the label of the Counts Tasca d-Almerita, to serve with them (look them up at www.winebow.com). The many, many photographs are spectacular.--Bill Marsano is a James Beard award-winning writer on wine, food and travel.