Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site(Non-Fiction)

	Some Non-Fiction Books About Italy	Books Color-Pages Child's Books Thrillers Mysteries
Legends of the Sibilline Mountains	Introduction Personal Experiences History of Italy Italian Cookbooks (updated) Introduction Non-fiction books about Italy are many and varied. I've stuck to three categories here: personal experiences, histories of Italy, and cookbooks. Books on other subjects such as the following, you can find on the specific pages on these subjects here on my site: majolica, decorating, fashion, children's books, games, gardens, immigrants art. *Click on the book covers to link through to Amazon.com's page for the book. There you can read: back cover, flap text professional reviews reader reviews (my favorites) prices and formats availability of second-hand copies. Most are out in paperback*, so be sure to check, if you think the price of the hardback is too high.

Personal Experiences In A Thousand Days in Venice, Marlena de Blasi, food writer and chef, recounts her love affair with Italy and Fernando, the Italian who becomes her husband late in life. They begin in Venice and end in Tuscany. Food and recipes, of course, are mixed in with life, love, philosophy and sumptuous descriptions of all. From a reader review: "Few books make me both misty-eyed and laugh out loud... This was one of them. Can't recommend it highly enough, even if you don't care to move to Venice in the near future." Marlena de Blasi has been a busy woman! Below are the direct links to her other books, each highly ranked by readers on Amazon.com. I was tipped to Ms. de Blasi's books by site visitor Laura, of the gorgeous site Villa Paradiso Home. Be sure to visit her site for some Italian and Tuscan dreaming and decorating.

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes How could I not put her books? From Frances Mayes: "I thought I was strange to feel this way. Since I've met so many people who read Under the Tuscan Sun, I've found out that lots of people feel this way. It's complicated but feels so very easy. The warmth of the people, the human scale of the towns, the robust food, yes, but I've begun to think, too, that it's the natural connection with art, the natural exposure to beauty on a day-to-day basis." See her follow-up books: Bella Tuscany, In Tuscany, Swan, Bringing Tuscany Home, there are also many poetry books by the author.
The Reluctant Tuscan by Phil Doran The anti-Mayes...at first. Also called Mayes-with-a-sense-of-humor. From Booklist: "In funny, breezy, offhand prose, yet one more American discovers the pleasures and pains of restoring a superannuated, bucolic Tuscan dwelling. A writer-producer of television series, Doran moves from Los Angeles to Tuscany at the behest of his interior-decorator wife and begins to live out his own Italian-inflected version of Green Acres."
Too Much Tuscan Sun by Dario Castagno and Robert Rodi Tuscany from the Tuscan perspective...travel book, memoir, and more. From the Book Description: "...But the bulk of the book is devoted, with humor and affection, to the Americans he has met-the vain, the silly, the ignorant, the ambitious, the horny, the condescending, the charming, and the outright pathological. Some of them have made his life hell and live in his nightmares; others became lifelong friends." The ultimate guide on how not to be the Ugly-American (Australian/British/...)
Vanilla Beans and Brodo by Isabella Dusi Two Australians go native, and take us with them. From a Reader Review: "This book makes us aware not only of the wonders available to us when we visit Italy but to how much we miss by not being prepared for our visits. VB&B is a fascinating book about a region and a primer on how to learn to adapt and enjoy another culture than our own." From Library Journal: "Culturally sensitive, Dusi avoids the trap of mocking the unfamiliar or seemingly bizarre. She takes small steps to insinuate herself into social life, always mindful of a history that is not her own."
More Personal Experience Books
History of Italy *Legends of the Sibilline Mountains* was brought to my attention by the translators of the Italian book. They wrote: "We have translated Giuseppe Santarelli’s "Legends of the Sibilline Mountains" from the Italian and published it with Staf edizioni of Amandola, Italy. "The Sibilline Mountains, dividing Le Marche from Umbria, were "celebrated in the 14th and 15th centuries throughout all Europe for magical fairytales and necromantic intiations," according to the author. "In the most famous of these tales a mysterious Sibyl inhabits a grotto devoted to the pleasures of the flesh, luring knights to eternal damnation. The Lago di Pilato, a nearby mountaintop lake where Pontius Pilate’s body was said to have been cast, became a destination for demonic rituals. "In a witty and personal tone, Santarelli, director of the Sanctuary of Loreto, discusses the origins of the myths in folklore, their literary transformations through the centuries, and the archeological traces left behind." The book is available from Unilibro.com or directly from the translators Nathan Neel and Phoebe Leed at nathanneel@peoplepc.com, which might be the better buy especially if you live in the States. I enjoyed this book (137 pages long) and the interesting links made between fantasy, history, religion and literature. I thank the translators for their generosity in letting me read it. It's a wonderful pre-read for anyone traveling to that area of Italy. This little book can inspire a reader to turn to the many literary and musical transformations of the legends of the Sibilline Mountains, which can never be a bad thing! Aretino, Wagner, Ariosto, Andrea da Barberino, even Leopardi was inspired by these mountains as he wrote his beautiful poetry. The book will be especially interesting to those who have roots in that region, and for anyone interested in evolution of thinking from the superstitious Middle Ages to the humanist Renaissance. Students of European literature will find it especially interesting. Main Square of Ascoli Piceno circa 1900		For a free, concise history of Italy, visit my History of Italy pages If you enjoy folktales, and want to read more Italian ones, I can also recommend Italo Calvino's classic Italian Folktales.
Concise History of Italy by Christopher Duggan Rave Reader Reviews. From one: "The book is, as the title indicates, a "concise" history. Very concise, and incredibly well written! The author covers a lot of ground, and so few words are devoted to character development or the broader context of historical events that one might expect the book to read like an almanac."
Rough Guide History of Italy by Rough Guides A very thorough and concise history of Italy. Rough Guides are a series of books that specialize in being practical, concise, accurate, and reasonably priced.
Oxford Illustrated History of Italy edited by George Holmes For the professional historian's point of view... Although illustrated, don't make the mistake of thinking this is a simple read. These are articles by historians analyzing in great depth Italy's history in relation to Europe and the world's history. For the erudite traveler, or the armchair historian...
Books and films about Italy's unification and the great Giuseppe Garibaldi
More History Books
Italian Cookbooks Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazen From Amazon.com: "Perhaps more than any other person, Marcella Hazan is responsible for bringing Italian cuisine into the homes of American cooks. We're not talking spaghetti and meatballs here--Hazan's cuisine consists of polenta, risotto, squid braised with tomatoes and white wine, sautéed Swiss chard with olive oil and garlic... Now a new generation is ready to be introduced to Marcella Hazan's way with food, and in Essentials of Italian Cooking Hazan combines her two earlier works into one updated and expanded volume."
Celebrate...Italian Style by Jacqueline Miconi Jacqueline Miconi is an Italian-American cook and author. Her book shares not just her family's time-honored recipes, but her lovingly remembered stories from her rich life in an extended Italian-American family. If you're not of Italian origin, after reading her engaging stories, you may wish you were! But at least you can eat like an Italian using her 100 recipes as guides. Here's a description from her website, where you can find recipes, excerpts and ordering information. "This cookbook includes over 100 traditional recipes using readily available ingredients for dishes that are not only easy to create, but even more enjoyable to indulge in. It is divided into 10 different chapters, covering the many celebrations that make up our lives. Through chapters like Sunday Dinner, La Pasqua (Easter Sunday), A Feast with your Paisani and An Italian Christmas, this cookbook reads like a continuous feast of memories and wonderful Italian dishes, all while showing readers how to prepare authentic Italian meals, even for the most amateur of cooks."
Mario Batali is what is now known as a 'super-star chef'. Whatever you want to call this restaurateur, cookbook writer and TV-personality, people like his recipes. Here's a quote from an Amazon.com customer. "You know it's a different kind of grilling book when it includes a recipe for homemade ricotta. The grill recipes are unusual, relatively easy, and the ones I have tried so far have been delicious--from the ribs to the chicken legs with fennel and blue cheese sauce to zucchini with the aforementioned ricotta. And yes, that is Mario's kickass barbecue sauce dripped on one of the pages of my copy!"
Claudia Roden is more than a cookbook writer, she is a sociologist, ethnologist, essayist, historian and chronicler of food's role in the lives of people all over the world. This from Amazon.com: "Containing more than three hundred recipes, Claudia Roden’s timeless and enchanting book (CR's The Food of Italy) is set against a backdrop of the story of Italy and its people and is the most authoritative and approachable guide to one of the world’s best-loved cuisines by one of the great food writers of our time." You can't get any better than that! They go on to explain: "For an entire year Roden traveled up and down Italy, through every region, taking in city and countryside, to discover the local specialties on their home ground." One Reader's Review says she and her daughter used the book as a culinary guide to order at restaurants while travelling Italy.
Vegetarians do well with an Italian diet. The grains and beans and vegetables are rich in nutrients and low in calories. Here a few books just for vegetarian Italophiles.
Eating Italian food every day. That's the goal of these three cookbooks.
Italian Immigrant Cooking by Elodia Rigante From a Reader Review: "Mrs. Rigante and my husband's grandmother were acquaintances in her Brooklyn neighborhood; they lived just a few blocks from one another. Grandma didn't write down a lot of her recipes, so Mrs. Rigante's cookbook is a lifesaver. Their recipes are so similar it's like having a bit of home every time you open up the book. We can't look through it without getting hungry! Every recipe we've tried is excellent, and I love the family anecdotes and pictures. This is a staple for every cookbook collection." Rave Reader Reviews.
Some Italian Sweets Cookbooks
More Cookbooks