Italy Memoirs

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.

Bologna, 1858: A police posse, acting on the orders of a Catholic inquisitor, invades the home of a Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, wrenches his crying six-year-old son from his arms, and rushes him off in a carriage bound for Rome. His mother is so distraught that she collapses and has to be taken to a neighbor's house, but her weeping can be heard across the city. With this terrifying scene - one that would haunt this family forever - David I. Kertzer begins his fascinating investigation of the dramatic kidnapping.

On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III. Under his guidance the Carolingian Renaissance flourished, with his capital of Aachen becoming a center of learning and artistic genius. The legacy of Charlemagne on European history and culture is monumental. Yet, within 30 years of his death, his empire had fragmented. Who was this legendary ruler? How had he managed to rule these vast domains? And why has his legacy continued to influence Europeans to this day?

Award-winning writer Daniel Storey brilliantly shines a light on an unexamined moment in Gazza’s career that encapsulates everything that we have come to associate with this most mercurial of talents: childish joy, public gaffes, wondrous skill and saddening self-destruction. Funny and harrowing in equal measure, this book allows us a better, more rounded understanding of one of our greatest sporting idols and of a tragically misunderstood human being.

Since childhood Helene Stapinski heard lurid tales about her great-great-grandmother, Vita. In Southern Italy she was a loose woman who had murdered someone. Immigrating to America with three children, she lost one along the way. Helene's youthful obsession with Vita deepened as she grew up, eventually propelling the journalist to Italy, where, with her own children in tow, she pursued the story, determined to set the record straight.

Kate Langbroek’s deliciously funny, irreverent, and inspiring memoir about moving to Bologna with her family to seek la dolce vita is a glorious reminder of what we can learn from the Italians about living life to the fullest - and what really matters when the world goes to hell in a handbasket.

In 1787, Lucia, the beautiful 16-year-old daughter of a prominent Venetian statesman, is married off to Alvise Mocenigo, scion of one of the most powerful Venetian families. But their life as a golden couple will be suddenly transformed when Venice falls to Bonaparte.

This is the story of freedom fighters who defied Italy’s despot by opposing the rising tide of populism and xenophobia. Chief among them: poet and aviator Lauro de Bosis, firstborn of an Italian aristocrat and a New Englander, who transformed himself into a modern Icarus and amazed the world as he risked his life in the skies to bring Il Duce down. Taras Grescoe’s inspiring story of resistance, risk, and sacrifice paints a portrait of heroes in the fight against authoritarianism. This is an essential biography for our time.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was recognized in his lifetime as the greatest living artist, creator of a succession of masterpieces in sculpture, fresco painting, and architecture. In all his work, Michelangelo impressed his contemporaries as a forceful personality, a divine genius endowed with terribilita, or intense emotional power.

Fourteenth-century Italy was chaotic: mercenaries swarmed across the land as competing city-states attempted to vie with each other for power, while pestilence and famine decimated populations. Into this cauldron was born Giangalezzo Visconti, a man who perfectly exemplified all the contradictions of his age. E. R. Chamberlin's The Count of Virtue is a remarkable study of the life and times of Giangaleazzo Visconti that provides fascinating insight into the political, social and cultural world of fourteenth-century Italy.

A personal story promising laughs, surprises, tears, and joy, and guaranteed to warm your heart! When a grandmother embarked on a two-week travel adventure to Italy with her eighteen-year-old twin granddaughters, Margie Miklas’s long-awaited dream became a reality. Excited to share her beloved Italia, she hoped to create a special experience they’d treasure for the rest of their lives.

The Roman Forum, the Leaning Tower, the Piazza San Marco: these are the sights synonymous with Italy. But such landmarks only scratch the surface of this magical country's offerings. In See You in the Piazza, Frances Mayes introduces us to the Italy only the locals know, as she and her husband, Ed, eat and drink their way through all 20 regions - from Friuli to Sicily. Along the way, she seeks out the cultural and historic gems not found in traditional guidebooks.

New York Times Best Wine Book of 2021. South of Somewhere begins and ends in Robert Camuto’s maternal ancestral town of Vico Equense, Italy—a tiny paradise south of Naples on the Sorrento Peninsula. It was here in 1968, at 10-years-old, that the author first tasted Italian life.

Katie is overdue for a vacation. She is ready to peel out of her work parking lot and joyfully lose all the tread on her tires while doing so. Experience language barriers, confusing moments with bidets and losing the Doug of your Wolfpack. Join her for an unforgettable trip to Italy with some equally spirited women. Explore the art of consuming gelato and wine while laughing your way through Italy.

Storie della storia d’Italia dalla nascita della nazione, nel 1860, ai giorni nostri. Centocinquantadue racconti neri brevi e netti di delitti, carriere criminali e violenza pubblica. Gli omicidi che ancora si ricordano e quelli che furono celebri ai loro tempi: dalla Contessa Lara uccisa dal giovane amante e mantenuto (1896) al caso Murri che sconvolse Bologna (1902); dalla contessa Tarnowska dark lady russa a Venezia (1910) a Gino Girolimoni, falso mostro di Roma inventato dal fascismo (1927); da Leonarda Cianciulli, la saponificatrice di Correggio (1939), alla belva di San Gregorio Rina Fort (1946).

David Gross is working as a corporate lawyer in New York when he gets a call from a friend inviting him to move to Bologna to help turn around a legendary Italian motorcycle company, known for its dominance on the track and its inability to turn a profit. Off he heads to the fabled home of marbled meats, radical leftist politics, and bespoke shoes, diving into his new life as the "corporate image consultant" to gearheads while learning to navigate the giddy mores of Bolognese society.

Fin da giovane, addirittura dal 1911, Benito Mussolini aveva cominciato a scrivere pagine in cui raccontava la propria vita. Aveva proseguito durante la prima guerra mondiale con un diario in cui raccontava le sue avventure di cronista militare dal retrofronte. Nel 1932 aveva a lungo dialogato con il giornalista tedesco Emil Ludwig per descrivere la vita di un dittatore sotto le luci della ribalta e dietro le quinte.

"Brutta, povera e comunista" disse di Teresa Noce la madre del suo futuro marito – nonché segretario del Partito comunista italiano – Luigi Longo. Quella di Teresa Noce, nata poverissima alle "Cà neire", il quartiere più difficile di Torino, all’inizio del ventesimo secolo, è la storia di una femminista ante litteram che attraversa controcorrente quasi tutto il Novecento. Proletaria, figlia di una lavandaia abbandonata dal marito, fin da giovanissima organizza i primi scioperi delle operaie tessili e da iscritta al Pci è protagonista dell’antifascismo dopo la presa del potere di Mussolini.

La familia Gambino es un ejemplo paradigmático de las familias del crimen organizado, sus luchas internas y diversos estilos de liderazgo han definido la era de la mafia. Desde principios del siglo XX, la familia ha pasado por una serie de nombres y líderes, pero siempre se mantuvo en la cima del régimen mafioso de Nueva York y ha conservado sus vínculos sicilianos.

In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the US Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia.