Delizia: The Epic History of The Italians and Their Food
In this revelatory history of gourmet Italy from antiquity to today, author John Dickie (Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia), examines the centuries of religious, political and sociological events that effectively thrust Italian food into today’s global limelight. Though it begins with the requisite gnocchi, lasagna, tagliatelle and tortellini, this bittersweet historical narrative quickly dispels the romantic notion that contemporary Italian fare has been the prideful plate of the rural peninsula and peasants throughout the ages. Dickie tracks the country’s culinary saga to medieval times, during which the impoverished would have been less likely to eat bistecca alla fiorentina or risotto alla milanese (had either existed), as they were to subsist on banal fare like turnips and polenta, with little concept of epicurean taste or pride. He notes that it was the urban areas, replete with food markets and money, that enabled foods like Parmigiano-Reggiano and mortadella to become Italian staples. As Dickie shows, the mainstream American concept of Italian food is a modern-day notion developed as a mixture of the multiple identities of the country’s cities. Boisterous, gluttonous stories—some verging on salacious—are balanced by accounts of paucity in this look into Italian history and its edibles.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
Buy Delizia: The Epic History of The Italians and Their Food!
The Civilized Shopper’s Guide to Florence by Louise Fili
Louise Fili is a passionate Italophile and renowned graphic designer. Both roles come together in this tiny jewel of a book, which gives the lucky traveler to Florence a guide to the best of Florentine artisans and shopping. Cleverly organized by eight walking tours of the Renaissance city, this book is a must for anyone who delights in beauty and finding "secret" treasures. Fili’s finds encompass everything from fabrics, to books, to buttons (!), to spices, to jewelry, to lingerie. The book is chock full of gorgeous color photographs, maps and helpful hints.
The leather products of Simone Taddei, one of the artisans featured in this book, are proudly carried by eyeItalia. Buy The Civilized Shopper’s Guide to Florence!
Made in Italy by Laura Morelli
If you love the beautiful things offered on eyeItalia you will love this charming book, which showcases a marvelous selection of Italian artisans and their wares. The author, Laura Morelli, has traveled all over Italy in search of authentic and precious objects that are lovingly and carefully produced by hand, and her love for Italy shines through on every page. This book is both marvelous armchair reading and a great travel resource to take on your next trip to bella Italia. Buy Made in Italy!
The Talisman Italian Cookbook
A jewel of a cookbook, Il Talismano is to Italy what The Joy of Cooking is to America. For over 50 years, The Talisman has been Italy’s most popular standard cookbook, containing hundreds of recipes from all regions of Italy, encompassing antipasti, soups, pasta, pizza, meat, seafood, contorni and desserts. This adapted edition has weights, measurements, instructions and ingredients for American usage.
Beloved and trusted by Italian cooks for decades, this cookbook-first published in 1950-contains scores of traditional recipes that Italians have been preparing for generations. There’s nothing trendy here; authenticity defines Il Talismano.
Whether you’re a novice or an accomplished cook, The Talisman is one standard your cookbook library should not be without. Buy The Talisman today!
Desiring Italy by Susan Cahill
A rich anthology of fiction, memoir and essays, Desiring Italy is both literature and traveler’s companion. Editor Susan Cahill has artfully collected pieces from 28 women writers–Mary McCarthy, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Muriel Spark, Edith Wharton and Barbara Grizzuti Harrison among them–each with its own voice, perspective and subject, but all possessing a common thread: the allure, soul and sensuality of Italy. Whether Harrison’s reflections on Sicily or McCarthy’s musings on Tuscany, the perennial seductiveness and timeless beauty of Italy come alive in these pages.
Order Desiring Italy
A Place to Live by Natalia Ginzburg
Now that autumn’s in the air, it’s time to put the beach reads away and delve into a book that possesses intelligence, wit and piercing introspection. Natalia Ginzburg’s A Place to Live is such a book.
Ginzburg is one of the greatest women writers you’ve probably never heard of. Though she was one of Italy’s most celebrated writers of the 20th century (Ginzburg died in 1991), she is far from a household name in the United States. According to the New York Times, A Place to Live is " a glowing light of modern Italian literature…Ginzburg’s magic is the utter simplicity of her prose, suddenly illuminated by one word that makes a lightning stroke of a plain phrase…As direct and clean as if it were carved in stone, it yet speaks thoughts of the heart."
Lynne Sharon Schwartz, the accomplished American writer, was both editor and translator of the 21 essays collected in this volume, and her profound respect for Ginzburg’s talent shines through on every page.
For a rare reading pleasure and a book you will never forget, order A Place to Live. Highly recommended by eyeItalia.
The Italians by Luigi Barzini
larger image
"In this consummate portrait of the Italian people, bestselling author, publisher, journalist and politician Luigi Barzini delves deeply into the Italian national character, discovering both its great qualities and its imperfections. Barzini is startlingly frank as he examines “the two Italies”: the one that created and nurtured such luminaries as Dante Alighieri, St. Thomas of Aquino and Leonardo da Vinci; the other, feeble and prone to catastrophe, backward in political action if not in thought, “invaded, ravaged, sacked, and humiliated in every century.” Deeply ambivalent, Barzini approaches his task with a combination of love, hate, disillusion, and affectionate paternalism, resulting in a completely original, thoughtful and probing picture of his countrymen."
—From the back cover
Buy The Italians
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
What can we say about Marcella Hazan that hasn’t been said before? Perhaps something like "you are a goddess among women, and a fabulous cook and teacher, and our lives would not have been as rich without you and your influence”? To the divine Signora Hazan we say “grazie mille, Marcella" for bringing the joy of Italian food into our previously sad and culinarily-challenged homes.
Marcella Hazan ranks right up there with Julia Child as a cutting-edge culinary trailblazer. Her passion for her native Italy and its incredible food, and her determination to share it with the rest of us has earned her an exalted place in the cooking Hall of Fame.
The Essentials of Italian Cooking is a compendium of two of Marcella’s classic and ground-breaking cookbooks: The Classic Italian Cookbook and More Classic Italian Cooking (both now out of print).
If you love to cook and love Italian food, your cookbook collection is simply not complete without this volume. It is “perfetto”. Lovingly endorsed and highly recommended by eyeItalia.
The Essentials of Italian Cooking: Published by Knopf; 704 pages, hardcover; 9.6 x 7.3"
Buy Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Restoring a Home in Italy
A beautiful and practical book for anyone buying a property in Italy, and a book of dreams for anyone who longs to.
Outstanding in terms of both production and subject matter, this is a coffee-table book for the ages. Dividing the text into five geographical sections, Minchilli, who has restored an Italian home herself and written several books on Italian art and culture, considers the various challenges encountered while restoring an old house. She presents problems of site, structure, and design along with the chosen solutions. The lucid text is illustrated by 180 large and magnificent photographs by McBride, whose work has appeared in such publications as Architectural Digest, House & Garden, and Country Living. A seaside home in Liguria, a rooftop apartment in Rome, a farmhouse with loggia near Siena, a convent in Lombardy, and a watchtower in Tuscany are just some of the restoration projects described. Not a bad consolation prize for those of us who will never restore an old house in Italy. Recommended for anyone with a passion for all things Italian.
Top Picks for Your Carry-On Bag
If you’re on your way to Italy, these three volumes are indispensable. All will enhance your Italian experience, and are the perfect size and weight to stash in a purse or carry-on for airplane reading.