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Product Description
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.
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.
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First Sentence
It is hard to say whether the stock phrase of the stock tourist-"there is so little to see in Milan"-redounds most to the derision of the speaker or to the glory of Italy. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
It is hard to say whether the stock phrase of the stock tourist-"there is so little to see in Milan"-redounds most to the derision of the speaker or to the glory of Italy. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Crossing the dark waters from Venice on route to the Lido, I watched a woman so intent upon her reading that she seemed oblivious to the haunting beauty visible in all directions. As we slowed in our approach to the landing area, I asked her what she was reading. It was Desiring Italy, she said, given to her by her mother in anticipation of this trip. I recorded it in my journal and it was the first book that I bought upon arriving home. Written by a group of women writers, it is a joyous celebration of all things Italian. It evokes cultural traditions, artistic impressions and history and lyrically describes the glories of the places that you visit. How fortunate the traveler who has this book as a traveling companion. Just as Venice's twisting alleyways and canals create a desire for roving, so does this anthology lure you to a restlessness and passion for "la dolce vita". The autobiographical slant resonates with how Italy has imprinted itself in the hearts and souls of the women who arite of it in this book.
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Desiring Italy" became my inseparable travelling companion across Italy, after I found it by chance at a Roman bookstore. Not only it suggests special places to visit that are not always listed in traditional guides, it also makes them alive through their portrayal by literary masters (all women) that add their elegance, their sensitivity, their intelligence to that of the readers'. An added bonus was that I got to make their literary works real in my mind by following the steps of the characters in these magnificent settings (as Dorothea in "Middlemarch", for example).
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite the dated "age" of many of the stories, Desiring Italy really does transport the reader both to Italy and, in many instances, back in time. It does an excellent job of portraying a land that has retained much of the excitement and enchantment felt thoroughout the ages, despite the passage of time. From the grandeur of Rome to the sights and sounds and smells of Tuscany, the richness of the North to the poverty of the South, the elegance of modern times to the ravages of war - the reader is bombarded with all aspects of this fantastic country.
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