John Berendt

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

West Virginia

Traces the aftermath of the 1996 Venice opera house fire, an event that devastated Venetian society and was investigated by the author, who through interviews with local figures learned about the region's rich cultural history.

The City of Falling Angels

4ad814d6-f790-4bbf-9b79-160eaecea681-1

Michigan

101 Reasons to Be Proud You're Italian

This exploration of all things Italian, presented as a combination tour guide, cookbook, historical and biographical record, celebrates the Italian-American contributions to American culture.

Italian Pride

aa7208a4-16bf-495e-9344-061b40debd73-1

#hardcover #fiction #europe #italy #florence #womanspower 

Georgia

A tall, yellow-haired young European traveler calling himself 'Mogor dell'Amore', the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the Emperor Akbar, lord of the great Mughal empire, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the imperial capital.

The Enchantress of Florence

5afc720c-88d6-4a87-8384-6953e26f7455-1

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Oregon

An immigrant saga reminiscent of Roots begins in a small Italian village and spans three generations and two world wars to capture the essence of the Italian-American experience. 300,000 first printing. $300,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Unto the Sons

c02b5686-d9e1-4bb6-ac8a-d23c743ca4cd-1

Tennessee

New Jersey

The American Express Guide to Florence and Tuscany

879fb51f-36a6-4119-8cdd-2a3a77bd0b04-1

Adriana Trigiani

Texas

When Valentine Roncalli discovers a long lost shoe design, a family secret unravels that helps her take control of the company from a conniving relative, but first she seeks the counsel, and more, of her ex-fiancee, Bret Fitzpatrick, to help re-boot the business while she pursues a hot romance with a handsome Italian from her past. By the best-selling author of Very Valentine. 200,000 first printing.

Brava, Valentine

d9df8845-8342-4c8a-b16f-4c043c28a1c8-1

Neal I. Rosenthal

Missouri

On a Lifetime in the Vineyards and Cellars of France and Italy

A leading importer of limited-production wines of character and quality takes us on an intimate tour through family-owned vineyards in France and Italy and reflects upon the last three decades of controversy, hype, and change in the world of wine In the late 1970s, Neal I. Rosenthal set out to learn everything he could about wine. Today, he is one of the most successful importers of traditionally made wines produced by small family-owned estates in France and Italy. Rosenthal has immersed himself in the culture of Old World wine production, working closely with his growers for two and sometimes three generations. He is one of the leading exponents of the concept of “terroir”—the notion that a particular vineyard site imparts distinct qualities of bouquet, flavor, and color to a wine. In Reflections of a Wine Merchant, Rosenthal brings us into the cellars, vineyards, and homes of these vignerons, and his delightful stories about his encounters, relationships, and explorations—and what he has learned along the way—give us an unequaled perspective on winemaking tradition and what threatens it today. Rosenthal was featured in the documentary film Mondovino and is one of the more outspoken figures against globalization, homogenization, and the “critic-ization” of the wine business. He was also a major subject in Lawrence Osborne’s The Accidental Connoisseur. His is an important voice in defense of the individual and the artisanal, and their contribution to our quality of life.

Reflections of a Wine Merchant

2539b1b7-192d-440d-906a-253b84dce828-1

Mary Doria Russell

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II, this new novel is the first in seven years by the bestselling author of "The Sparrow" and "Children of God." High school & older.

A Thread of Grace

32242a2d-468a-48b9-85cf-9db842d6797f-1

A. G. D. Maran

New York

Inside the Dark Heart - The Rise and Fall of the Sicilian Mafia

Mafia

d44267ba-0765-4aab-bd8d-1b584f2dd692-1

Connecticut

Opera

5e017185-e950-498e-9c31-1b67ebb0a76b-1

Mary Laven

No writing or markings inside. There are remnants of a price sticker on the front cover. Y1fvvq

Massachusetts

Broken Vows and Cloistered Lives in the Renaissance Convent

Venice in the late Renaissance was a city of fabulous wealth, reckless creativity, and growing social unrest as its maritime empire crumbled. It was also a city of walls and secrets, ghettos, and cloisters-including fifty convents housing three thousand nuns, many of them refined, upper-class women who had been immured against their will. In this utterly fascinating book, Cambridge historian Mary Laven uncovers the long-hidden stories of the "virgins of Venice" and the secret, and often surprising, lives they led. Sifting through records kept during the Counter-Reformation, Laven has pieced together a detailed and dramatic tapestry of resourceful, determined, and passionate women who managed to lead fulfilling lives despite their virtual imprisonment. Far from being precincts of piety and silence, the convents of Venice were hotbeds of political scheming, colorful pageantry, gorgeous decoration, and illicit love affairs. One nun was so determined to sleep with her lover that she painstakingly chipped a hole in a stone wall so he could climb through under cover of night. Another expressed her individuality through obsessive gift giving while keeping records of the dangerous flirtations going on around her. Still others exercised considerable clandestine power in the dangerous game of Venetian politics. Rich in intrigue and gossip, eye opening in its historic revelations, and written with drama and compassion, Virgins of Venicebrings to life a culturally vibrant period in Venice and the hidden residents who dwelled behind its walls.

Virgins of Venice

1a4b9cce-f4cd-48b6-88b1-709e69391247-1

#hardcover #historicalfiction p12jnvd #italy

The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewomen find space to pursue their lives under God’s protection. But any community, however smoothly run, suffers tremors when it takes in someone by force. And the arrival of Santa Caterina’s new novice setsin motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its core.

Ripped by her family from an illicit love affair, sixteen-year-old Serafina is willful, emotional, sharp, and defiant–young enough to have a life to look forward to and old enough to know when that life is being cut short. Her first night inside the walls is spent in an incandescent rage so violent that the dispensary mistress, Suora Zuana, is dispatched to the girl’s cell to sedate her. Thus begins a complex relationship of trust and betrayal between the young rebel and the clever, scholarly nun, for whom the girl becomes the daughter she will never have.

As Serafina rails against her incarceration, others are drawn into the drama: the ancient, mysterious Suora Magdalena–with her history of visions and ecstasies–locked in her cell; the ferociously devout novice mistress Suora Umiliana, who comes to see in the postulant a way to extend her influence; and, watching it all, the abbess, Madonna Chiara, a woman as fluent in politics as she is in prayer. As disorder and rebellion mount, it is the abbess’s job to keep the convent stable while, outside its walls, the dictates of the Counter-Reformation begin to purge the Catholic Church and impose on the nunneries a regime of terrible oppression.

Sarah Dunant, the bestselling author ofThe Birth of Venusand In theCompany of the Courtesan, brings this intricate Renaissance world compellingly to life. AmidSacred Heartsis a rich, engrossing, multifaceted love story, encompassing the passions of the flesh, the exultation of the spirit, and the deep, enduring power of friendship.

Sacred Hearts

0a25ac83-76c0-4c72-9297-882d69d50376-1

Lorenza De'Medici

Inscribed on front free end paper. Dust jacket's a little dirty. 

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

The Beautiful Cookbook

Each title in this award-winning series offers an exquisite region-by-region taste tour filled with culinary specialties and surprises. Included in each large-format volume are gorgeous food and landscape photographs.

Tuscany

62c7f0dd-5f87-4cb6-b168-20e5527aea5d-1

James Holland

Oversized Paperback (4 to 6 lbs)

Florida

The Brutal Battle for Italy 1943

Acclaimed WWII historian James Holland's new book both recasts the controversial Italian Campaign and sets a new standard in the chronicling of war Following victory in Sicily, while the central command planned the spring 1944 invasion of France, Allied troops crossed into southern Italy in September 1943, expecting to drive Axis forces north and liberate Rome by Christmas. Italy quickly surrendered but German divisions fiercely resisted, and the hoped-for quick victory descended into one of the most challenging and protracted battles of the entire war. James Holland's The Savage Storm, chronicling the dramatic opening months of the Italian Campaign in unflinching and insightful detail, is unlike any campaign history yet written. Holland has always narrated war at ground level, but here goes further by chronicling events almost entirely through the contemporary eyes of those who were there on all sides and at all levels--Allied, Axis, civilians alike. Weaving together a wealth of letters, diaries, and other documents--from the likes of American General Mark Clark, German battalion commander Georg Zellner, Italian politician Filippo Caracciolo, and many others--Holland traces the battles as they were experienced across plains, over mountains, through shattered villages and cities, in intense heat and, towards the end of December 1943, frigid cold and relentless rain. Such close-up views persuade Holland to recast important aspects of the campaign, reappraising the reputation of Mark Clark himself and other senior commanders of the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth armies. Given the shortage of Allied shipping and materiel allocated to Italy because of the build-up for D-Day, more was expected of Allied troops in Italy than anywhere else, and a huge price was paid by everyone for each bloodily contested mile. Putting readers vividly in the moment as events unfolded, with characters made unforgettable by their own words, The Savage Storm is a defining account of the pivotal months leading to Monte Cassino, and a landmark in the writing about war.

The Savage Storm ARC

3fb30244-555b-424b-873b-005d3359d840-0

#hardcover #nonfiction #fiction #travel #history #non #italy #venice 

Colorado

Frances Mayes

Excellent condition from a smoke-free home

Ohio

The Sweet Life in Italy

The author explores life in the idyllic Italian countryside, offering authentic Tuscan recipes and intimately portraying the local people and the environment

Bella Tuscany

22e65985-886f-47a5-94ab-3ed14d9fe333-1

Pennsylvania

A Novel

Meet the Roncalli and Angelini families, a vibrant cast of colorful characters who navigate tricky family dynamics with hilarity and brio, from magical Manhattan to the picturesque hills of bella Italia. Very Valentine is the first novel in a trilogy and is sure to be the new favorite of Trigiani's millions of fans around the world. In this luscious, contemporary family saga, the Angelini Shoe Company, makers of exquisite wedding shoes since 1903, is one of the last family-owned businesses in Greenwich Village. The company is on the verge of financial collapse. It falls to thirty-three-year-old Valentine Roncalli, the talented and determined apprentice to her grandmother, the master artisan Teodora Angelini, to bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the twenty-first century and save the company from ruin. While juggling a budding romance with dashing chef Roman Falconi, her duty to her family, and a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store, Valentine returns to Italy with her grandmother to learn new techniques and seek one-of-a-kind materials for building a pair of glorious shoes to beat their rivals. There, in Tuscany, Naples, and on the Isle of Capri, a family secret is revealed as Valentine discovers her artistic voice and much more, turning her life and the family business upside down in ways she never expected. Very Valentine is a sumptuous treat, a journey of dreams fulfilled, a celebration of love and loss filled with Trigiani's trademark heart and humor.

Very Valentine

8f1b605a-e439-4fce-8584-8d6cd4aa5f3b-1

David Leavitt

A Delicate Case

Offers an evocative travelogue that unlocks the great Italian city's beauty, wonder, and majesty.

Florence

d3160af2-22d7-4805-b55a-51779c4c9407-0

The Cooking of Italy

Escaping the aunt who wants to adopt only one of them, two orphaned brothers run away from Hamburg to Venice, finding shelter with a gang of street children and their leader, the thirteen-year-old "Thief Lord," while also eluding the detective hired to return them to Germany.

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John Berendt

The City of Falling Angels

Stephen Moramarco; Federico Moramarco; Brenda Jackson

Italian Pride

Salman Rushdie

The Enchantress of Florence

Gay Talese

Unto the Sons

John Berendt

The City of Falling Angels

Sheila Hale

The American Express Guide to Florence and Tuscany

Adriana Trigiani

Brava, Valentine

Neal I. Rosenthal

Reflections of a Wine Merchant

Mary Doria Russell

A Thread of Grace

A. G. D. Maran

Mafia

Herbert Kupferberg

Opera

Mary Laven

Virgins of Venice

Sarah Dunant

Sacred Hearts

Lorenza De' Medici

Tuscany

James Holland

The Savage Storm ARC

John Berendt

The City of Falling Angels

Frances Mayes

Bella Tuscany

John Berendt

The City of Falling Angels

Adriana Trigiani

Very Valentine

David Leavitt

Florence

Waverly Root

The Cooking of Italy

Cornelia Funke; Oliver Latsch (Translator); Christian Burmingham (Illustrator)

The Thief Lord

Donna Leon

The Golden Egg

John Berendt

The City of Falling Angels