"This is a personal, urgent, and universal book." —Gloria SteinemSituated more than one hundred miles off Italy’s southern coast, the rocky island of Lampedusa has hit world headlines in recent years as the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern refugees fleeing civil war and terrorism and hoping to make a new life in Europe. Dr. Pietro Bartolo, who runs the lone medical clinic on the island, has been caring for many of them—both...

A collection of "entertaining . . . unapologetically opinionated" essays from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Commissario Guido Brunetti novels ( The New York Times).Donna Leon has won legions of fans and waves of critical acclaim for her international bestselling mystery series featuring Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti—not only for her intricate plots and gripping narratives, but for her insight into the culture, politics, family...

A moving fable about luck, persistence, and hope, grounded in the often tragic reality of modern-day immigration, by the winner of the 2004 Prix Goncort. Captain Salvatore Piracci has sailed along the Italian coast for the last twenty years, intercepting boats with clandestine African immigrants who have risked everything in the hope of reaching the new Eldorado. But when Piracci is confronted by a woman haunted by the death of her son, killed during an illegal crossing, he is forced to qu...

The immigrant tenants of a building in Rome offer skewed accounts of a murder in this prize-winning satire by the Algerian-born Italian author ( Publishers Weekly).Piazza Vittorio is home to a polyglot community of immigrants who have come to Rome from all over the world. But when a tenant is murdered in the building's elevator, the delicate balance is thrown into disarray. As each of the victim's neighbors is questioned by the police, readers are offered a...

  Our illustrated travel guide will take you to Pompeii, Italy. Pompeii is in Campania, Italy, not far from Naples. Its major attraction is the ruined ancient Roman city of the same name, which was engulfed by Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Romans took control of Pompeii around 200 BC. On August 24, 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted, burying the nearby town of Pompeii in ash and soot, killing 20,000 people, an...

A Vintage Shorts Travel SelectionThe Nobel Prize–winning novelist Orhan Pamuk reminisces on growing up on the banks of the mysterious Bosphorus in Istanbul.From the ghostly yalis, splendid waterside mansions built by the great Ottoman families during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the crowds of vessels—Russian frigates, rickety fishing boats, and ferries—that plied its waters, Pamuk takes readers on a tour of the great river. A selection from the shimm...

**An NPR Best Book of the YearVulture • “15 Must-Read Translated Books From the Past 5 Years”Written during the height of the 1970s Italian domestic terror, a cult novel, with distinct echoes of Lovecraft and Borges, makes its English-language debut.**In the spare wing of a church-run sanatorium, some zealous youths create "the Library," a space where lonely citizens can read one another’s personal diaries and connect with like-minded souls in "dialogues across the e...

Englishwoman Caroline Seller met Marcello Manzo at a Halloween party in London in the mid-seventies. Although she spoke little Italian and he spoke practically no English, the chemistry between them was undeniable, and it wasn’t long before Caroline was invited to visit Marcello's family in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily. A large, eccentric, and loving clan living in a magnificent, crumbling villa, Santa Maria, the Manzos welcomed Caroline warmly, and soon she and Marcello were married. Together...

“An exemplary literary rebel.” —Sarah Kerr, The New York Review of Books“[Bolaño] demonstrates . . . what is possible in fiction—which is to say, anything.” —William Deresiewicz, The New RepublicNow I’m a mother and a married woman, but not long ago I led a life of crime. So begins the story of Bianca, whom a car crash has overnight left an orphan and, only a teenager herself, a caregiver to her younger brother. A...

In this amazing eBook you can find more than one hundred facts about the country of Italy. Separated into sections such as its geography, its landmarks, famous Italian figures from history and many more you will find some fascinating information inside! Whether you are planning on visiting Italy, working on a geography project or just want to know more about this beautiful country, this is an excellent addition to your bookshelf. Find the information you need, fast!

"An ode to the imagination."—NRC HandelsbladA joy to read, La Superba, winner of the most prestigious Dutch literary prize, is a Rabelaisian, stylistic tour-de-force. Migration, legal and illegal, is at the center of this novel about a writer who becomes trapped in his walk on the wild side in mysterious and exotic Genoa, the labyrinthine port city nicknamed "La Superba."Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (b. 1968), poet, dramatist, novelist, renowned...

The dome of Florence Cathedral is considered by many to be among the finest in the world. Being one of the largest domes ever constructed, it is certainly worthy of such a title. The grandeur of the dome itself is a visible icon of Renaissance thinking- the power of man to use technology and its own ingenuity to achieve seemingly impossible tasks. It is representative of the humanist approach of the Renaissance to arts and architecture.