No comments about Roman Mornings.

No comments about Italy: Cities of Art: Italy from Above.

1 comments about Splendor of Malta.

1. I bought the Splendor of Malta thinking it was going to have lots of photos of the country and buildings from the outside etc. It's absolutely packed full of pictures of insides of different buildings and has tons of history and information. It's a very good book, just not what I thought I was getting.

1 comments about Venice and the Grand Tour.

1. What I like about this book is that it touches on all of the most interesting parts of the Grand Tour and things connected with the tour without belaboring any of them. It covers anxieties about the tour; the influence of the tour on art and architecture; the differences in the tour in Venice and Rome as reflected in portraiture; and the development of the tour over time as reflected in poetry and prose. It is an even-handed and fair explication of the vast body of literature, poetry, art and architecture connected with the tour. Instead of trying to force a narrow thesis on this wonderful diversity, it leaves the reader to draw many conclusions for herself. It is written in Bruce Redford's inimitable and impressive style. Every time I read a book by Bruce Redford, my vocabulary increases by at least 100 words, and my appreciation for the english language and english heritage increases 100 fold. This book contains beautiful paintings-- especially the magnificent Cannalettos. I highly recommend reading and owning it to anyone interested in the Grand Tour, scholar and layperson alike. This book would be especially interesting to a young person embarking on their own grand tour to study abroad in Europe.

No comments about Art/Shop/Eat Venice.

1 comments about Authentic Italian Riviera: Genoa - The Cinque Terre - Riviera del Fiori - Riviera delle Palme - Portofino - Sanremo (Authentic Italy).

1. I had purchased this text to prepare for a trip to the Italian Riviera. However, the itineraries and descriptions of cities were not very helpful to me. I would recommend other kinds of travel books when traveling to Italy.

5 comments about iVideo Italian: Video Learning for the Igeneration (Ilearn Anywhere).

1. Don't buy this video expecting to learn Italian. You will learn some very basic phrases that will help you navigate, but you won't be able to carry on much conversation. Nevertheless, it's always useful to know how to ask for the bathroom or say that you need a doctor!
   
   When I first began studying Italian, I took a basic course in "traveller's Italian", and I'm afraid I made a bit of a pest of myself by asking a lot of grammar-related questions. So I was pleased that this program made some effort to provide basic grammar, distinguishing, for instance, between the formal and informal forms of "you".
   
   However, I found the visual interplay between the speakers really annoying. They did this weird thing where one would say the word or phrase, and then they'd look at each other and give this odd smile before repeating it. Goofy.
   
   As I don't own an iPod, I am unable to review that aspect of the product.



2. The iVideo collection is a very useful learning tool when learning a language. For those who have already experienced previous videos, the Italian version is just as simply to approach as well. It is user friendly and fun to learn.
   
   This video contains the similar sequence of lessons as other iVideos. The narrator guides the learn through each lesson along with three speakers, RoseMarie, Anna, and Fabrizio who show learners how to pronounce words and phrases that involve greetings and directions; and with the other videos, this is also geared toward travelers.
   
   Overall, this is an interesting way to slowly experience a new language. With as little as an hour, one can easily learn Italian on the go and anytime of the day.



3. Like the IVideo French disc I also reviewed this disc helps you learn
   Italian words and phrases quite easily. The disc plays in your computer
   your DVD player, and the lessons can be downloaded to an I Pod or another
   Digital player. The lessons are done in such a way as to help the viewer
   feel comfortable with them, you never feel rushed, because you are always
   in control of the lessons. Will you become fluent in the language? Perhaps
   not, but you will learn enough to help you in your travels to Italy.



4. My computer didn't play this very well, it had a bumpy sound, so that didn't help, but the product itself wasn't all that smooth either.
   
   The information was a bit disorganized and while the individual words made sense, it's not how I would teach someone a language, or even the few vital phrases that you need to get by in a country (and for all it's 1500 words, this isn't going to teach you to speak Italian) And it didn't use the menu aspect of the DVD at all well, there wasn't a comprehensive menu so you could jump to what you needed. The two people who spoke were clear and easily comprehensible (which was good) but very wooden, and the production values were really low. Then again, it's a very reasonable price (esp with Amazon's discount)
   
   I guess this is better than a phrase book, but I expected better. If you had never heard a single word of Italian, this might be a good place to start, but I would look around for a better one...



5. This seems like quite an effective tool for learning to speak basic, conversational Italian. With repeated viewings, it will stick in your mind. It's very easy to navigate and you can go back and forth between the lessons, so that you can refresh whatever you need to or take a little more time with areas that you find more difficult or challenging than others.
   
   There are reasons I dropped it down to three stars, however. This has to be one of the cheesiest DVDs I have ever watched! I understand that they are trying to make it interesting, but wow...the backdrops, which are Italian scenes (the Colosseum, etc.) are fairly corny, but not nearly as bad as the people speaking. They are pleasant enough, but there are two of them to teach you each of the phrases you are learning. They say the phrase once to you, the viewer, and then they turn to the other person and say it to the other person. This is unbelievably goofy, and it's hard not to laugh at it, especially when the person who isn't talking is trying to seem so interested in the small phrase (sometimes something such as "Where is the bathroom, please?"). They probably could have done a better job on this.
   
   Overall, though, this would be a great tool to use if you'd like to learn some basic Italian that would get you through a short trip. The flaws are fairly easily overlooked.

2 comments about The Marche (Heritage Guides).

1. There are very few books available that specifically address the Marche area but this is one super book that has it all. It contains a logical flow, had detailed maps, an excellent index, provides history and current information and, offers specifics on Where to Stay, Where to Eat and What is a Must to see. Well worth the money. This is a book for the backpack when in the Marche region



2. since le Marche is the region of Italy from which my family emigrated to America two generations ago, and since it does not get written about very much (which is why it isn't overrun with tourists), my heart skipped a beat when i read this book's description.
   
   as it turns out, this isn't really a book, in the sense of a work that has been vetted by a publisher at arm's length from its authors. rather, it's a "student project", by four students who haven't yet mastered elementary matters such as grammar and correct spelling of place names.
   
   the photos, which appear to have been taken with a pocket-sized digital camera, are as small as the viewing screen on the back of such a camera, and they have the look of having been printed out on a home-office computer. fine for a class project, but a rip-off for a slim volume costing $30.
   
   if you're interested in the giddy gushings of four self-absorbed college girls (there might also be a college boy somewhere in the mix), this is the "book" for you.
   
   but, if you're interested in learning anything about le Marche (aside from the fact that, like almost everywhere else in the world, it has beaches along its shores and restaurants in its interior), your wait for an informative book on this subject is not yet over.

No comments about Salt Water (Ff Poetry).

No comments about Return to Naples: My Italian Bar Mitzvah and Other Discoveries.