Europe Italy

Unleash the full potential of your trip to Italy with this ultimate guide, showcasing the most exquisite and unforgettable experiences the country has to offer. From stunning landscapes to mouth-watering cuisine, and from luxurious resorts to charming boutique hotels, this book has got you covered.

This valuable deal contains multiple titles in one book. The topics are the following: Florence, once a major center of Middle Ages European trade and banking, and one of the most affluent cities in the world; Naples, one of the world's oldest constantly occupied cities; St. Catherine of Siena, a Dominican laywoman, mystic, activist, and writer who impacted Italian literature and the Catholic Church significantly; the Vatican, a landlocked, independent city-state and enclave in Rome, Italy; and the Venetian Empire.

Filled with colorful characters and history, Double Entry takes us from the ancient origins of accounting in Mesopotamia to the frontiers of modern finance. At the heart of the story is double-entry bookkeeping: the first system that allowed merchants to actually measure the worth of their businesses. Luca Pacioli - monk, mathematician, alchemist, and friend of Leonardo da Vinci - incorporated Arabic mathematics to formulate a system that could work across all trades and nations.

Did you know that the Balkan Peninsula is often referred to as the “powder keg of Europe?” It was a term devised in the early 20th century to describe the unstable political situation in the region just before it exploded into a conflict known as the First World War. The Balkan Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro) and its allies and the Ottoman Empire. But, these wars didn’t involve any of the great European powers such as Germany, France, or the United Kingdom.

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of "Italian Hours" by Henry James. This audiobook transports you to the picturesque landscapes and vibrant cities of Italy. With James' evocative prose and keen observations, you'll embark on a sensory journey through the art, culture, and history of this captivating country. The narrative offers a rich exploration of the intersection between travel, literature, and personal reflection.

Book three of Mommsen's history covers the 118 years from 264 to 146 BC, the period in which Rome became the undisputed master of the Mediterranean Basin. How did this happen, and why? Carthage was instrumental in this transformation. With the defeat and expulsion of Pyrrhus in 275 BC, Rome had moved to consolidate its hold over the Italian peninsula, a position it had acquired in a century of almost continuous warfare with Italian tribes.

In 1494, there were five sovereign regional powers in Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. In 1536, only one remained: Venice. These decades of conflict precipitated great anxiety among Western thinkers, and Italians responded to the fragmentation of Latin Christendom, the end of self-governance for Italians, and the beginning of the early modern era in various ways. They were always heavily influenced by the lived experience of warfare between large Christian armies on the peninsula.

Richly painted maiolica ceramics from Tuscany. Supple Florentine leather. The cameos of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Made in Italy takes you on a complete tour of the dazzling artisanal legacy of Italy, uncovering off-the-beaten-path destinations and one-of-a-kind, hidden workshops where everything from leather bags to gilded frames are turned out completely by hand, piece by piece. This book includes instructions for getting a free copy of the companion guide, Artisans of Italy, with complete, continually updated listings of Laura's personally recommended shops.

Vilipendiado por la Iglesia, tergiversado por estadistas y líderes sociales, reconocido como fuente primigenia de la política moderna, Nicolás Maquiavelo goza de ese raro privilegio de no sucumbir a la usura del tiempo. La vida—y sobre todo la obra del florentino—muestra una vigencia creciente. Autor necesario para cualquier curso de teoría política, su obra en conjunto muestra los ángulos clave del precioso arte de la vida en común, por lo que acercarse a él se vuelve una fuente obligada de conocimiento y reflexión creativa.

Alle due del mattino del 24 ottobre 1917, i cannoni austro-tedeschi cominciarono a colpire le linee italiane. All'alba le Sturmtruppen, protette dalla nebbia, andarono all'assalto. In poche ore, le difese vennero travolte e la sconfitta si trasformò in tragedia nazionale. Oggi sappiamo che quel giorno i nostri soldati hanno combattuto, eccome, finché hanno potuto. Ma perché l'esercito italiano si è rivelato così fragile, fino al punto di crollare?

At its peak, the Etruscan society of age-old Italy covered circa what's now Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio, and areas of what's now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, Southeastern Lombardy, Southern Veneto, and small parts of Campania. The first proof of an Etruscan society might be traced back to around 900 BC. This is the Iron Age Villanovan culture, which emerged from the former late Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan civilization in the exact same area and is considered the first stage of Etruscan civilization.

The ‘Ndrangheta (pronounced an-drang-et-ah) is a close neighbor of the Cosa Nostra and currently considered the most powerful (and difficult to spell) criminal organization in Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta is centered around Calabria, the most southwestern region of Italy, almost touching the Sicilian city of Messina. Though it began as far back as the late 19th century, it was not until the 1950s that the ‘Ndrangheta started to spread its tentacles throughout Italy and then across the entire globe, forming an empire that now ranges from Australia and Turkey, to Chile to Canada.

If you want to discover the captivating history of the Renaissance, then pay attention.

Anna Del Conte brought Italian cooking to Britain at a time when the nearest most of us came to pasta was a Heinz spaghetti hoop. Sharply observant, evocative, full of tastes and talk of food, hers is a delicious, poignant memoir of an unusual life and the food she loves to cook, which launched a culinary revolution.She arrived in England in 1949 when much of Britain was a culinary wasteland, married an Englishman, and stayed on.

The Republic of Genoa: The History of the Italian City that Became Influential across the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages examines the highs and lows of Genoa La Superba (“The Proud”), including its humble origins in the first century CE, its felicitous rise after the fall of the Roman Empire, its golden age as a mercantile power during the “Genoese Century,” and its demise at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797.

Like Michelangelo, Galileo is another Renaissance great known just by his first name - a name that is synonymous with scientific achievement. Born in Pisa, Italy, in the 16th century, Galileo contributed to the era's great rebirth of knowledge. He invented a telescope to observe the heavens. From there, not even the sky was the limit! He turned long-held notions about the universe topsy turvy with his support of a sun-centric solar system.

Il 20 settembre 1870 è appena passato. Roma è stata eletta capitale del Regno d’Italia, lo Stato Pontificio non esiste più, il potere temporale dei papi è un ricordo, anche se molto vivo. La città eterna si appresta a scrivere un nuovo, rocambolesco capitolo della sua storia. È un periodo di cambiamento che suscita speranze e illusioni, ma anche paure e rifiuti. Cavour, Azeglio e altri grandi attori del Risorgimento sono già scomparsi, seguiti, nel giro di pochi anni, da Mazzini, Vittorio Emanuele II, Pio IX. Garibaldi è l’ultimo ad andarsene.

Il termine "Vaticano" evoca immediatamente l'immagine dell'immensa piazza antistante la basilica di San Pietro e il monumentale colonnato che l'abbraccia. Tra i fedeli cattolici evoca anche la finestra da cui il papa benedice la folla festante. Ma il Vaticano è molto di più. Stato di diritto tra i più piccoli al mondo, minuscola città dentro la vasta città di Roma, di cui ha condiviso le vicissitudini e di cui costituisce "l'altra faccia", ha una lunghissima storia, ricca di chiaroscuri e di personaggi più o meno limpidi.

One Sunday morning in 1993 a 16-year-old girl named Eliza Claps goes missing from a church in the centre of Potenza, Italy. Shortly before her disappearance, Elisa had met Danilo Restivo, a strange local boy with a fetish for cutting women's hair on the back of buses. Elisa's family are convinced that Resitvo is responsible for their daughter's disappearance, but he is protected by local bigwigs: by his Sicilian father, by a doctor with links to organised crime, by a priest who had vices of his own. Years go by, and Elisa's family can find only false leads.

Galileo Galilei’s contributions to modern science were so fundamental to a variety of fields that even though he died almost 400 years ago, his name retains international acclaim. This 17th-century natural philosopher is often credited with the invention of the telescope, thanks to his many discoveries using that specific instrument, and though he was not, in fact, its inventor, the myth still persists.