Tag Archives: books
‘An Irreverent Curiosity’ – An Interview with David Farley

‘An Irreverent Curiosity’ – An Interview with David Farley

by Melanie on 06. Jul, 2010 in Featured Articles

If you know me, you’ll know that I am nuts about religious relics. And if you know David Farley’s book “An Irreverent Curiosity,” you’ll know immediately why that first line is a wee bit funny. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Farley in Manhattan to discuss his book, which has the tag [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }
Five Favorites: Reasons to Rent a Villa in Italy

Five Favorites: Reasons to Rent a Villa in Italy

by Melanie on 27. May, 2010 in Accommodations, Five Favorites

Have you ever wanted to rent a villa in Italy but didn’t know where to start? Or, are you having trouble being convinced of the value and/or utility of renting a villa over booking a hotel? This excellent guest post, from Linda Dini Jenkins, author of Up At the Villa: Travels With My Husband, provides [...]

Read full story • Comments { 9 }
An Italian Wedding

An Italian Wedding

by Melanie on 25. May, 2010 in Romantic Travel, contests and giveaways

June is the classic month in which to schedule wedding, and this holds true in Italy, too. Therefore, with the marriage month fast approaching, I am delighted to be able to provide readers with an excerpt from Susan Van Allen’s wonderful new book 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go. An Italian Wedding If [...]

Read full story • Comments { 17 }
The Scariest Place in Tuscany

The Scariest Place in Tuscany

by Melanie on 06. Oct, 2009 in Destinations, Florence, Italy News, News, Tuscany

Last year saw the release of the book the Monster of Florence, a true tale about a serial killer who terrorized the hills around the Tuscan capital for almost 20 years, from 1968 until 1985. While several men were tried for the heinous crimes, many Italians, crime experts, and the book authors Mario Spezi and [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }
The Real Pinocchio

The Real Pinocchio

by Melanie on 18. Apr, 2009 in Destinations, Out and About, Parks and Nature, Tuscany

Last November, the New York Review of Books released Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio under its NYRB Classics imprint. The tale, as reviewed by Tim Parks in the latest issue, is much darker than the Disneyfied version. After the jump is Parks’ full review. As always, I urge you to subscribe to NYRB; they [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }
Caravaggio’s Innovative Painting Techniques

Caravaggio’s Innovative Painting Techniques

by Melanie on 12. Mar, 2009 in Arts and Culture, Fun Stuff

Discovery.com recently reported that the master 16th century artist Caravaggio used a “camera obscura” among other techniques to trace the models in his paintings. According to a Florentine researcher, Caravaggio made use of a dark room, first described by Leonardo da VInci, and was able to fix the outline of his subjects in order to [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }
Farewell to an Italian Historian

Farewell to an Italian Historian

by Melanie on 06. Jan, 2009 in Arts and Culture, Destinations, Florence, Lazio, Rome, Tuscany

I was hoping that with my first post of the new year I would look forward. Instead, with the passing of Christopher Hibbert, I thought it would be worth it to look back. Until I read Hibbert’s obituary, I didn’t know too much about him, only that he was the author of one of the [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }
“Rome 1960″ Book Presentation

“Rome 1960″ Book Presentation

by Melanie on 04. Sep, 2008 in Festivals and Events

Earlier in the summer, we wrote about David Maraniss’ new book Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World. If you read the book and loved it or put it on your reading list, then you may be interested in attending a book presentation with the author. On September 10 at 6:30 p.m., the Istituto [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }
Two Of Summer’s Most Intriguing Reads Are Set in Italy

Two Of Summer’s Most Intriguing Reads Are Set in Italy

by Melanie on 26. Jun, 2008 in Destinations, Florence, Fun Stuff, Lazio, Rome, Tuscany

I am supremely excited about two new nonfiction books this summer: The Monster of Florence and Rome 1960. Both describe tumultuous times in central Italy, the first being a period of time in Florence when an unknown predator or predators who “stalked lovers’ lanes in the countryside,” and the second describes the 1960 Olympic Games [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }
‘Angels and Demons’ Tourism

‘Angels and Demons’ Tourism

by Melanie on 24. Jun, 2008 in City Walks, Destinations, Fun Stuff, Lazio, Out and About, Rome

The book – and now movie – Angels and Demons isn’t too kind to the Catholic Church, with murders taking place at some of Rome’s famous and not-yet-famous churches and squares, including Piazza del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria. But, city officials don’t think that will deter tourists from wanting to take an Angels-and-Demons-based [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }
Older Entries »