Here is his rollicking report.

     Years ago, a sweet girl from Utah was swept off her feet by a handsome Italian. Today, the sweet girl from Utah is a wife and mother living in Italy. And she's about to be swept off her feet all over again...

    You’ll discover picturesque lanes, enjoy the best city views, and tour outlying islands in the lagoon. Dine at a romantic canal-side restaurant, or join the locals at a characteristic cicchetti bar and munch seafood-on-a-toothpick. As the stars shine over St. Mark’s Square, sway to the free music of café orchestras.Rick’s candid, humorous advice will guide you to good-value hotels and restaurants. You’ll learn how to explore Venice hassle-free and get up-to-date advice on what’s worth your time and money. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket.

    More recently, expensive “Super Tuscans” have been the rage. But between these extremes lay a bounty of delicious, moderately priced wines that belong in every wine drinker’s repertoire.Vino Italiano is the only comprehensive and authoritative American guide to the wines of Italy. It surveys the country’s wine-producing regions; identifies key wine styles, producers, and vintages; and offers delicious regional recipes. Extensive reference materials—on Italy’s 300 growing zones, 361 authorized grape varieties, and 200 of the top producers— provide essential information for restaurateurs and wine merchants, as well as for wine enthusiasts.Beautifully illustrated as well as informative, Vino Italiano is the perfect invitation to the Italian wine experience.

    Dozens of Top 10 lists provide vital information on each destination, as well as insider tips, from avoiding the crowds to finding out the freebies, The DK Top 10 Guides take the work out of planning any trip.

    In Naples, Lucky Luciano fixes horse races and launches the global heroin trade. And in Bologna, a bartender searches for true love and his missing communist father.Set during the height of the Cold War - with the world divided into East and West - 54 features Italian partisans, KGB agents, Parisian lowlifes, and cameos by David Niven, Marshal Tito, and Grace Kelly. Wu Ming brings us a cinematic romp that is by turns edgy social satire and modern comic send up.

    In fact, the most elaborate outfits of the period could cost more than a good-sized farm out in the Mugello. Yet despite its prominence in both daily life and the economy, clothing has been largely overlooked in the rich historiography of Renaissance Italy. In Dressing Renaissance Florence, however, Carole Collier Frick provides the first in-depth study of the Renaissance fashion industry, focusing on Florence, a city founded on cloth, a city of wool manufacturers, finishers, and merchants, of silk dyers, brocade weavers, pearl dealers, and goldsmiths. From the artisans who designed and assembled the outfits to the families who amassed fabulous wardrobes, Frick's wide-ranging and innovative interdisciplinary history explores the social and political implications of clothing in Renaissance Italy's most style-conscious city.Frick begins with a detailed account of the industry itself—its organization within the guild structure of the city, the specialized work done by male and female workers of differing social status, the materials used and their sources, and the garments and accessories produced. She then shows how the driving force behind the growth of the industry was the elite families of Florence, who, in order to maintain their social standing and family honor, made continuous purchases of clothing—whether for everyday use or special occasions—for their families and households. And she concludes with an analysis of the clothes themselves: what pieces made up an outfit; how outfits differed for men, women, and children; and what colors, fabrics, and design elements were popular. Further, and perhaps more basically, she asks how we know what we know about Renaissance fashion and looks to both Florence's sumptuary laws, which defined what could be worn on the streets, and the depiction of contemporary clothing in Florentine art for the answer.For Florence's elite, appearance and display were intimately bound up with self-identity. Dressing Renaissance Florence enables us to better understand the social and cultural milieu of Renaissance Italy.

    Schiavelli evokes a foreign and often closed culture from a unique perspective: that of an outsider welcomed into the homes, kitchens, and hearts of the people. Includes recipes for authentic Sicilian fare. Illustrations.

    Destroyed by an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that began on the morning of August 24, 79 A.D., the buried city has preserved for all time a unique record of the life of its inhabitants. Unlike other ancient cities such as Rome that have a continuous history and layer upon layer of subsequent development, Pompeii has revealed itself to its excavators exactly as it was on that fateful day. Scorching clouds of fine ash suffocated every living creature, making it impossible for them to flee. Roofs collapsed and buildings were buried under the weight of the stone fragments hurled by the volcano. The massive destruction deprived the city and its people of a future, but also recorded their mute testimony for later generations. This is the most complete, informative, and beautiful book on Pompeii ever published. Written by scholars who have been active participants in the excavation and study of Pompeii, it offers the latest research yet is addressed to a general audience. More than 500 color photographs convey the incredible richness of the city, the unsurpassed elegance of its interiors, and the great beauty of its art, including sculpture, frescoes, and mosaics. There is fabulous jewelry, including rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Fifteen individual houses receive detailed attention, along with the famous suburban villas, the Villa of the Mysteries and the Villa of Poppea at Oplontis. The urban development of the city, including the construction of its walls and the function of its government buildings, is explained. A separate section describes the major temples and religious practices. The interesting and varied economic activities in Pompeii are explored through descriptions of the meat and fish market, the office of weights and measures, the taverns and cafes, and the workshops that cleaned and processed cloth. Bread is given its due, with the description of a bakery. And there is a rustic villa, the Villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, with its machinery for producing oil and wine, its apartments for the owners, and dormitory for the slaves. The fascinating social life of Pompeii is seen in descriptions of the gladiator games, athletic competitions, the theaters, and the public baths. There is a section on the famous Lupanare, or brothel, and a concluding chapter on funeral practices and the many tombs that line the streets outside the city walls. This book will appeal to travellers, to students of Rome and the ancient world, to artists, designers, architects, urban planners, historians, and anyone else who might wish to understand and appreciate the beauty and achievements of Pompeii. About the AuthorsFilippo Coarelli (Rome, 1936) is Professor of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Perugia. He is one of the foremost experts on Roman antiquities, a connoisseur of the history of early Rome, and a leading expert on Roman topography. Emidio de Albentiis (Milan, 1958) received his degree with a thesis devoted to one of the insulae in Pompeii, and has written many studies of Roman houses and of the artistic culture of the Republican and Imperial eras. He presently teaches art history at the Academy of Fine Arts of Perugia. Maria Paola Guidobaldi (Colonella, 1961) received her doctorate from the University for Studies in Perugia. Besides works on history, topography and Roman antiquities meant for a popular audience, she is the author of scholarly papers on various aspects of the Romanization of ancient Italy. On the staff of the Archeological Superintendence of Pompeii, she is currently director of the excavations at Herculaneum. Fabrizio Pesando (Ivrea, 1958) is Associate Professor of Classical Archeology at the University of Naples and teaches Archeology of Magna Graecia and Antiquities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. He has specialized in the history of the private house in Greece and Rome, the archeology of the Vesuvian cities and the historical topography of Greece and ancient Italy. He is in charge of excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum for the Istituto Universitario Orientale. Antonio Varone (Angri, 1952) is the Coordinating Archeological Director for the Ministry of Cultural Assets and Activities and since 1984 has been in charge of the scientific-cultural service of the Archeological Superintendence of Pompeii. His many publications include one on the excavation of the Insula of the Chaste Lovers that began in 1987, and a study of inscriptions on walls in the area surrounding Vesuvius for a new supplement to volume IV of the Corpus Iscriptionum Latinorum.

    In a village called Supino, said to take its name from the crossroads where Christ rested, supine, en route from Rome to Naples, is a rundown villa bought sight unseen by Mezzabotte's daughter Maria -- an olive branch after years of family struggle. While she and her husband Bob breathe in the chatter of local tradesmen, the fragrant offerings of well-wishing neighbors and the aroma of fine wine, her father awaits in Canada anticipating the day he will again touch Italian soil. Hoping to avoid the wounds of his difficult marriage and the onset of senility, father and daughter retrace footsteps that yield from the Saint of Special Favors a miraculous recovery.

    It is a city of many contradictions—something grand but faded, magical yet ghostly, beautiful but with a dark, sinister undercurrent running through its canals.Featuring over 100 beautiful duotone and color photographs, Simon Marsden's Venice: City of Haunting Dreams allows the reader to sense the silence and spirituality of the great cathedrals and churches, feel the aura of the once mighty Venetian Empire and the decadence of its fall from grace.

    Whether on business or vacation, take the work out of planning any trip with DK's Top 10 Travel Guides. Building on the success of the Eyewitness Travel Guides, DK has created a new series that makes finding the best every destination has to offer even easier than before. Whether searching for the finest cuisine or cheapest places to eat, the most luxurious hotels or best deals on places to stay, the coolest family destination or hottest nightspot, the Top 10 format allows travelers to use the insights of experts to make the most of their vacation. Accompanied by a companion website, readers can share their experiences and vote for their own personal Top 10s.

    Presenting a complete survey of the restored Sistine Chapel frescoes from Creation scenes to the Last Judgment, the book includes a new text by a prominent American scholar. The stunning photographs, previously published by Abrams in two separate volumes, show brilliant details as well as large, overall views. No other one-volume work on the Sistine Chapel offers such a clear, concise introduction to this perennially popular subject.

    Carved by Gianlorenzo Bernini in 1636–37 for his own pleasure, the portrait of Costanza is one of his most captivating works, but until now little has been known about its subject.For centuries Costanza was identified only as Bernini's mistress, who later incited his rage by betraying him for his brother. Author Sarah McPhee corrects and expands this story in her remarkable biography of a sculpture and its subject. Bernini's Beloved sets the bust and Costanza's own life—her childhood and noble name, her marriage, affair, fall from grace, and recovery—against the backdrop of Baroque Rome. Beautifully illustrated and written, this fascinating story expands our understanding of the woman whose intelligence and passion served as inspiration for Bernini's celebrated sculpture, and who courageously forged a life for herself in the decades following its creation.

    Get up close and personal with detailed historical background and full-color pictures of ancient Pompeii.

    Employing some of the foremost scholars of the time—including Pietro Pomponazzi, Andreas Vesalius, and Galileo Galilei—the Italian Renaissance university was the prototype of today's research university. This is the first book in any language to offer a comprehensive study of this most influential institution.In this magisterial study, noted scholar Paul F. Grendler offers a detailed and authoritative account of the universities of Renaissance Italy. Beginning with brief narratives of the origins and development of each university, Grendler explores such topics as the number of professors and their distribution by discipline, student enrollment (some estimates are the first attempted), famous faculty members, budget and salaries, and relations with civil authority. He discusses the timetable of lectures, student living, foreign students, the road to the doctorate, and the impact of the Counter Reformation. He shows in detail how humanism changed research and teaching, producing the medical Renaissance of anatomy and medical botany, new approaches to Aristotle, and mathematical innovation. Universities responded by creating new professorships and suppressing older ones. The book concludes with the decline of Italian universities, as internal abuses and external threats—including increased student violence and competition from religious schools—ended Italy's educational leadership in the seventeenth century.

    

    Enchantingly evocative of the time and places, her vintage narrative is a gem of travel literature. In her new introduction, Anita Brookner offers an insightful, gracefully written analysis of the astringent wit and classic poise of Templeton’s writing.

    Essays on the political, economic, and military aspects of Italian colonialism are featured alongside works that reflect the insights of anthropology, race and gender studies, film, architecture, and oral and cultural history. The volume includes many essays by Italian and African scholars that have never been translated into English. It is a unique resource that offers students and scholars a comprehensive view of the field.

    With his amazing ear and photographic memory, his sense of moral imperative and iron will, he raised the standards of orchestras and opera companies to previously undreamed-of heights. He conducted the world premieres of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Puccini’s La bohème, The Girl of the Golden West, and Turandot. His sixty-eight-year conducting career began before Verdi had completed Otello and lasted into the era of televised concerts and stereophonic sound. He headed such ensembles as La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.Yet he never wrote a memoir, or even essays for publication, or granted interviews. Now we are brought closer to him than we have ever been—in seven hundred letters, well over ninety percent of them previously unpublished in any language.The letters are vivid and impassioned. They reveal a complicated man, often angry and unhappy, who was also capable of great generosity of spirit, self-irony, and humor. They show the depth of his musical knowledge and insight, and shed much light on the musical life of his time in Europe, in New York, and throughout the world. There is fascinating correspondence with his wife and children, and with colleagues and friends, and he writes, as well, about his affairs and erotic adventures. He expresses particular vehemence when talking about his active opposition to fascism and Nazism. Of Mussolini, for instance, he says: “Open all the prisons—you won’t find a delinquent or a criminal who is more of a delinquent, more of a criminal, than that ignoble animal!”The Letters of Arturo Toscanini is a revelation of both the maestro and the man.With 7 photographs.

    In the tradition of Lest We Forget, Chronicle's bestselling interactive tour through the African American experience, the text uses the stories of individuals and families -- from early explorers, through the wave of 19th century impoverished families, to contemporary figures -- to recapture the rich heritage the Italian people carried with them over the waves, and planted anew in the American soil.Among the topics covered here are:The roots of American democracy in Roman historyThe migration of 15 million Italians, 1880-1920Catholicism in Italian-American cultureFood, music, and other Italian cultural traditionsThe Mafia: myth and realityCultural icons: DiMaggio, Sinatra, Madonna & moreAs vibrant and packed full of history as previous volumes in this extraordinary series, Passage to Liberty is a splendid and loving tribute to the Italian-American experience.