Customer Reviews (2)

not silly
"Revisioning Italy" is a collection of essays exploring contemporary Italian culture, including literature, cinema, the media, and other such cultural elements.A book like this might be called "cultural criticism," and while that might not be everyone's cup of tea, the open-minded will find this book to be a long-awaited treasure trove of ideas and theories about contemporary Italy.The articles themselves are well-researched and well-written.The previous reviewer describes this book as "silly."Really the only "silly" thing is his easy dismissal of this interesting book, and especially his seemingly arbitrary assertion that the selections by Italian writers are better when there are so many interesting contributions from non-italian academics here.

Silly
This book is silly nonsense.Honestly, I approached it with some skepticism because of the jargony title.I wasn't disappppointed.It's even worse.The best items are those by italian writers.All aresubstandard, most are junk.This is the opposite of a must-read.Amust-pass. ... Read more

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Under the spell of la dolce vita . . .

For centuries Italy has been many things to many people. In this brilliant anthology and traveler's companion, twenty-eight first-rate women writers reveal why the land that is the heart and soul of European civilization is so seductive to women.

Kate Simon walks us through a Siena filled with surprises and luminous beauty. Elizabeth Spencer writes of first coming to Italy and finding "home." Shirley Hazzard explores the mysteries of Naples. Muriel Spark writes on Venice, Edith Wharton on Rome, George Eliot on Florence, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison on San Gimignano, Patricia Hampl on Assisi. Other wonderful writers contemplate the idiosyncratic glories of Italy's architecture, cooking, art, and landscape; its culture; its places and people.

As these writers tell their stories--in fiction, memoir, and essay--of coming to understand Italy, they explore the complexity of their passions for it, mingling affection and ecstasy with intellectual curiosity. Organized geographically--from northern Italy to Rome and on to the south, Desiring Italy offers an enchanting journey for readers and travelers.

Amazon.com Review
When literary art meets the warmth, beauty, and culture ofItaly, the results are stupifyingly wonderful. Susan Cahill hasgathered jewels of writing, penned by 31 women of letters, inspired byItaly. There's Muriel Spark on Venice, Elizabeth Barrett Browning andMary McCarthy on Florence, Florence Nightingale and George Eliot onRome, Edith Wharton on Milan, and Mary Taylor Simeti on Sicily. Alltogether Cahill's arranged a beautiful antipasti plate of theimpact--on the mind, the spirit, and above all the senses--of Italy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

As aesthetic and eccletic as the Italians themselves!
This book is a treasure chest, a real find!Susan Cahill gives us here a fabulously artistic collection of woman's writings, all of which are centered around Italy and Italian experiences.The result is a resplendent patchwork of thoughts, ideas, articles, recipes, facts, stories... great writings, which explore various aspects of that paradise on earth and its inhabitants that we all know as Italy and the Italians.This book makes a great travel companion, whether you are traveling or not, or a great souvenir, in case you read it only once you are back. I highly recommend it not only for its literary side but because it very astutely portrays the multi-faceted, highly aesthetic "dolce vita" from numerous angles...

the Cook and the gardener
This a great book. I read it in a short time. It was like being there. I loved every moment of the book. Of course, I like to cook and I garden The recipes are worth a try. I felt like I was there, part of the book. A great read!

A Disappointing Read
I ordered Desiring Italy to read while my husband and I travelled in Italy this year. I had hoped that it would be as interesting as The Italians by Luigi Barzini or Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes.Unfortunately, Iwas disappointed by the book; it did not meet my expectations or hold myinterest so I abandoned it in our hotel room.

A wonderful companion
I love Italy and I love this book. It is arranged in regional sections, but that is not entirely relevant because the pieces range over time and subject. For example, in the section on The Veneto there is an excerpt fromMarcella Hazan's 'Classic Italian Cookbook' (incidentally, one of the veryfinest cookbooks - a lovely literary work, and the recipes work too!) - onItalian Cooking: where does it come from? The Italian art of eating,restaurants The bacaro experience, gelati. Simply scrumptious.

The othercontributors are the very best of literature: Edith Wharton, FrancineProse, Maty Shelley, Jan Morris, Muriel Spark (one of my favouriteevocations and lived experiences: Venice in Fall and Winter), Lady MaryWortley Montagu, Elizabeth von Arnim, Francesca Alexander, ElizabethBarrett Browning, George Eliot, Mary McCarthy, Kate Simon, Iris Origo, LisaSt Aubin de teran, Patricia Hampl, Florence Nightingale, Margaret Fuller,Eleanor Clark, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Spencer, Rose Macaulay, ShirleyHazzard, Ann Cornelisen, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Mary TaylorSimeti.

Each contribution is preceded by some brief contextualinformation on the author's piece. It is not 'biographical' in the sense ofbeing a recitation of dates and places and events, more a little about theauthor's motivations or expressed thoughts about Italy or the subject athand. After the excerpt is a guide for the traveller - a little more aboutthe places, people or events mentioned in the passage.

This is the sortof book that inspires a lust for travel, or becomes a treasured travelcompanion. It is one of the most 'lovingly' edited books I have everread.

Many anthologies contain an imbalance of male to female writers,and more men are travel writers, so this volume is particularly delightful.The editor elaborates on aspects of places that are particularly concernedwith the cultural history of women. One of the reasons to produce a bookusing women writers is expressed by Susan Cahill (editor): " The womenwriters who love Italy take a different tone from what we hear in thetravel notebooks of Dickens, Hawthorne or henry james. The women'snarratives come across with a down-to-earth concreteness. They'reirreverent, critical andanecdotal but never brittle, mean-spirited orsmug at the Italians' expense....No narrator observes safely from a cool,aesthetic all-knowing distance. Rather, their affection for the place andpeople moves the current of the prose."

I love this book. Maybe youwill too.

How strange this book is!
Why are all 30 of the entries written by women?What's the point of that?Is this some kind of womens studies book, or what's up with that! ... Read more

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This richly textured cultural history of Italian fascism traces the narrative path that accompanied the making of the regime and the construction of Mussolini's power. Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi reads fascist myths, rituals, images, and speeches as texts that tell the story of fascism. Linking Mussolini's elaboration of a new ruling style to the shaping of the regime's identity, she finds that in searching for symbolic means and forms that would represent its political novelty, fascism in fact brought itself into being, creating its own power and history.
Falasca-Zamponi argues that an aesthetically founded notion of politics guided fascist power's historical unfolding and determined the fascist regime's violent understanding of social relations, its desensitized and dehumanized claims to creation, its privileging of form over ethical norms, and ultimately its truly totalitarian nature. ... Read more

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This book, the first full-scale treatment of ancient Umbria in any language, takes a balanced view of the region's history in the first millennium BC, focusing on local actions and motivations as much as the effect of outside influences and Roman policies. ... Read more

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Even after the arrival of printing in the fifteenth century, texts continued to be circulated within Italian society by means of manuscript. Scribal culture offered rapidity, flexibility and a sense of private, privileged communication. This is the first detailed treatment of the continuing use of scribal transmission in Renaissance Italy. Brian Richardson explores the uses of scribal culture within specific literary genres, its methods and its audiences. He also places it within the wider system of textual communication and of self-presentation, examining the relationships between manuscript and print and between manuscript and the spoken or sung performance of verse. An important contribution to a lively area of the history of the book, this study will be of interest both for the abundance of new material on the circulation of texts in Italy and as a model for how to study the cultures of manuscript and print in early modern Europe. ... Read more

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From the rise of the Roman Empire to Italy's rebirth after WWII, the long history of the Italian people is highlighted in the pages of this new book. Captivating photos help show the daily life of the modern Italian family, their customs, food, fashion, and leisure activities. ... Read more

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Italians the world over historically have identified themselves more with their regions of origin than with what is known as Italy. This new, comprehensive guide invites readers to view the colorful land as its denizens have for centuries: by region. Author Roy Domenico superbly surveys the regional and provincial characteristics and cultures of the 20 regions of Italy, encompassing economy, cuisine, history, recent politics, and arts. ... Read more

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A fascinating and comprehensive exploration of Italy

Perfect for everyone from general readers to students to recreational or business travelers, the Teach Yourself World Cultures series explores language, history, art, politics, economics, cuisine, and much more. Each book in the series lists useful addresses, websites, and points of interest. Mixing historical information with travel tips, Teach Yourself World Cultures books are both educational and entertaining.

Teach Yourself World Cultures: Italy provides:

*A balanced and comprehensive overview of the nation--from geography to political history to the workplace environment of today
*Valuable information on the people and their customs
*Practical vocabulary and language tips for the traveler
*Recipes for common dishes of the region ... Read more

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Describes the geography, history, government, economy, and culture of Italy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Southern Europe
Italy is a very good country to know and learn about for several reason to undertand about the people that live there.

Religion wise: Mainly Roman Catholic, a large growing Muslim minority, some Protestants and a few Jews.

Population wise: Mainly Italian, a growing number of North African Arabs, Albanians, as well as other people. ... Read more

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A rich connection between the people and art is at the core of the many traditions of Italy. Italy the culture explores Vatican City, the festivals of Carnevale and Liberation Day, Renaissance and Baroque art, ancient ruinsand architecture, as well as the country's language and literature. ... Read more

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This ambitious collection treating the Italian Fascists’ appropriation of the past for political purposes focuses on the role of the visual in the aim of fusing the past and the modern world in Mussolini’s Italy. With contributions by art historians and classicists, literary and intellectual historians, Donatello among the Blackshirts demonstrates that the Fascist regime appropriated not only Italy’s ancient Roman past but also the medieval, Renaissance, and even baroque eras, as well as its own recent history, in constructing a new myth of the nation.

Every aspect of visual culture—from monumental architecture, sculpture, painting, and gardens to exhibitions, spectacles, films, medals, household items, and stamps—helped to link the past with modernity. As a result, Italy’s artistic traditions became familiar to all social classes throughout the peninsula. While this richly illustrated book concerns Fascist Italy, at the same time it also shows how Italy’s premodern artistic traditions have been passed down to the present through the filter of the Fascist era. ... Read more

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What was daily life like in Italy between 6000 and 3500 BC?In this book, John Robb brings together the archaeological evidence on a wide range of aspects of life in Neolithic Italy and surrounding regions (Sicily and Malta). Exploring how the routines of daily life structured social relations and human experience during this period, Robb provides a detailed analysis of how people built houses, buried their dead, made and shared a distinctive cuisine, and made the pots and stone tools that archaeologists find. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Includes Leonardo's 10 Year Guarantee!
I sometimes get a bit nervous when I buy a book written, supposedly, for the general public by an academic. Is the book going to be written in "normal" English, or am I going to be bombarded by jargon and a clunky style? Happily, Peter Burke appears to believe in "plain-speaking". He also has a sense of humor, which helps. Additionally, he doesn't go off the deep end when coming to conclusions. He is prudent and cautious. If he can't say something definitive, if statistical or other types of evidence just aren't there, he isn't afraid to tell you so. Mr. Burke attempts to explain why the Renaissance happened in Italy and why it started when it did. This leads to the importance of the city-states, such as Florence, Milan, Venice, etc. Artists and sculptors oftimes were the children of craftsmen, and the city-states were populated by many craftsmen. Humanists and scientists were usually the children of "professional" people, and were educated at universities. Again, professionals and universities tended to be found in or near urban centers. Why did Italy have so many city-states? Because, during the period of the Italian Renaissance, Italy was a natural trade center.....right between the Middle East and Northern Europe. This created wealth, which led to the city-states, which also led to new sources of patronage, as the new merchant class looked for ways to spend their money and impress each other. When the Atlantic trade routes opened, and also after the Portuguese led the way around the Cape of Good Hope, Italy lost its place as the "hinge" of trade. Of course, I am greatly simplifying Mr. Burke's arguments, as they are much more complex and nuanced. But, I think I am giving you the general drift. In any case, what makes the book really interesting is that Mr. Burke grounds his theories in the everyday. He talks very specifically about painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, writers, etc. He tells you how they got their training, who they worked for and who called the shots......patron, artist, or both. The "case histories" are both fascinating and funny. Some examples? "More precise evidence about the relative importance of patrons and artists and the expectations of both parties is provided by the scores of surviving contracts....Contracts often specified that the materials employed be of high quality.....Leonardo's contract for "The Virgin Of The Rocks" gives a ten-year guarantee; if anything was to need repainting within that period, it was to be at the expense of the artist. One wonders if Leonardo gave a similar guarantee in the case of his flaky "Last Supper". (I can just see the author delivering this line in a lecture, with a deadpan expression!) This was also a time when the status of the artist was in flux. Before the Renaissance the artist was considered to be just another craftsman in the employ of a "great" man or lady. But as the city-state grew in importance, and as the merchant and craftsman grew in importance, the status of the artist started to change. In the period of change, the artist looked for reasons why he should be considered to be "high-class". To quote the author: "Another point in favor of the high status of painting, and one which reveals something of Renaissance assumptions or mentalities, was that the painter could wear fine clothes while he was at work. As Cennini put it: 'Know that painting on panel is a gentleman's job, for you can do what you want with velvet on your back.' And Leonardo: 'The painter sits at his ease in front of his work, dressed as he pleases, and moves his light brush with the beautiful colours...often accompanied by musicians or readers of various beautiful works.' " As the person actually doing the creating started to become more important and independent, what the patron began looking for could be rather amusing. One nobleman, who was looking for a "court musician" and had narrowed the choice down to two men, picked the less talented man- because he was both cheaper and he would compose music "on demand". The other fellow only composed when he felt like it! The book is filled with many concrete examples such as the ones I have mentioned, which makes it very enjoyable indeed....although Mr. Burke does also mix in some statistics, where appropriate, to allow the book to stand on its own two feet academically. The book also branches off into interesting little side areas; the change in subject matter over the course of the Renaissance; the incorporation of allegories which were meant to have poliical overtones; who taught the classically untrained artists about mythology so they would know enough to do history paintings?; censorship of the arts- on one occasion Veronese was asked to explain "why he had included in a painting of 'The Last Supper' what the inquisitors called 'buffoons, drunkards, Germans, dwarfs and similar vulgarities'. " If you are at all curious about the Renaissance, do yourself a favor and get yourself a copy of this very good book. ... Read more

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Numbers and Nationhood explores the rise of statistics as a mode of representation in Italian society during the nineteenth century. Silvana Patriarca examines the ideologies that informed numerical productions, and the role that statistics played in generating a national image of Italy that nevertheless accentuated its internal territorial divisions. This innovative study provides a fresh reading of the historiography of Risorgimento Italy, bringing issues of science, ideology and representation to the fore. ... Read more

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Concentrating largely on the 'middle ranks' of society in Renaissance Italy - artisans, merchants, and professionals such as bankers and lawyers - this book focuses on new social subjects, new documents and unusual objects. Using innovative methods of inquiry and interdisciplinary analytical tools, contributors explore a little-known but pervasive erotic culture in which sexually explicit artefacts, games and gestures were considered essential to a number of rituals and social occasions. At the same time, they demonstrate how a burgeoning market for erotica, along with a cultural tradition of allusion and innuendo, played an increasingly important role in the Italian peninsula between the fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries. This volume fills some pervasive lacunae in both Renaissance studies and the history of sexuality through a series of critical engagements with material culture and social custom. It reflects recent scholarly interest in interdisciplinary areas such as the material Renaissance, visual communications, urban sociability in the domestic context, and court records regarding marital disputes. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Lavish and Beautiful
This book truly captures the spirit and ideology of what makes Italy so wonderful. Filled with pictures and articles, you will appreciate "La Dolce Vita" even more after you examine this work of art. Highly recommended. ... Read more

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There is keen interest in the exquisite yet simple Italian cuisine and Italian culture. This volume provides an intimate look at how Italians cook, eat, and think about food today. It describes the cornucopia of foodstuffs and classic ingredients. An overview of the typical daily routine of meals and snacks gives a good feel for the everyday life. The changing roles of women are explored with a discussion of the inroads that convenience foods are making. In addition, the current concerns about the food supply, the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and the slow food movement are tied in to the debates on these issues in the United States.

Food is one of the main reasons why many Americans travel to Italy. Yet, the fascination with Italian cuisine is not all about health or taste. There is much more to it. Italian food is perceived and portrayed in the media as representing a whole lifestyle: Italians live la dolce vita, leisurely eating and drinking with friends and families, families are still important, and communities are close knit. The reality of Italian society is more complex, and this volume offers a balanced view of Italian culture and identity through its foodways.