Wearied by his life as an administrator at the Duke's court in Weimar, in 1786 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe departed unannounced in the middle of the night for what had been the destination of his imagination since childhood: Italy. His extended stay there dramatically affected his views of art, architecture, prose, poetry, and science. When he returned to Germany and Weimar, Goethe's experiences translated into his life and work in ways that influenced countless others as they developed Germany's own brand of high culture. The Spell of Italy: Vacation, Magic, and the Attraction of Goethe tracks the peculiar space Italy occupies in the cultural consciousness of German writers by reconsidering the Italian journeys of Goethe and Winckelmann and the legacy of those journeys in the works of Heine, Nietzsche, Freud, Mann, Carossa, and Bachmann. Author Richard Block contests previous assumptions about Italy as a place to encounter classical culture and creative rebirth. His study examines the degree to which Germany's literary and cultural traditions appropriated a phantasmic Italy, showing how Winckelmann's art history and Goethe's Italian journey predisposed later writers to search for an aesthetic ideal in Italy that did not exist, and how their search for this absent ideal eventually resulted in disillusionment and deception. Building on previous work on Goethe, literary theory, and cultural history, The Spell of Italy offers compelling new ways of understanding Germany's fascination with Italy from the eighteenth century to its troubled political history of the twentieth century.

Montenero Val Cocchiara is usually referred to simply as Montenero, or Mundunur in the local dialect. It is a typical mountain village on the border of Italy's Abruzzo and Molise regions, but Montenero is more than that. Certainly the village and its people retain unique traditions and character traits because of its relative seclusion. At the same time-as fully revealed in this book-its history was tinted by contacts with numerous powerful groups over many centuries. Since Naples was the political and cultural heartbeat of south Italy, it sewed threads that tie Montenero to a heritage common to all living in the sunny south. Anyone with roots in south Italy will certainly benefit from reading this book. However, the author's greater aspiration is that others will equally enjoy the story of Montenero as a metaphor for their own ancestral village or town, regardless of country-or even see the village as a microcosm of the world, where the forces of history and culture forge the character of people.

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. Including the following contents: From Italian Backgrounds: Picturesque Milan by Edith Wharton “Cauliflower Heads” by Francine Prose From Rambles in Germany and Italy: Letters from Venice by Mary Shelley From The World of Venice: On Women by Jan Morris From The Classic Italian Cookbook: Preface, Italian Cooking: Where Does It Come From?, The Italian Art of Eating, Restaurants, The Bacaro Experience, Gelati Venice in Fall and Winter by Muriel Spark From Embassy to Constantinople: To Lady Mar by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu From The Enchanted April: VI, VIII by Elizabeth von Arnim From Roadside Songs of Tuscany: The Ballad of Saint Zita, A Tuscan Lullaby by Francesca Alexander From Casa Guidi Windows: Casa Guidi Windows, Bellosguardo by Elizabeth Barrett Browning From Romola: Proem From The Stones of Florence: V From Italy: The Places in Between: Siena From Images and Shadows: La Foce & from War in Val D’Orcia: An Italian War Diary 1943-1944 by Iris Origo From A Valley in Italy: The Many Seasons of a Villa in Umbria: I, VI by Lisa St. Aubin de Terán Umbrian Spring by Patricia Hampl From Florence Nightingale in Rome: Letter VI From Dispatches from Europe to the New York Tribune, 1846-1850: Dispatch 14, Dispatch 19, Dispatch 30 From Middlemarch: The Wedding Journey by George Eliot “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton From Rome and a Villa: Fountains by Eleanor Clark From A Time in Rome: The Smile by Elizabeth Bowen From The Light in the Piazza: Introduction & “The White Azalea” by Elizabeth Spencer From Pleasure of Ruins by Rose Macaulay From The Bay of Noon: I, IV, VIII by Shirley Hazzard From Torregreca: Life, Death, Miracles: The Setting, A Night at San Fortunato, The Project Realized, Epilogue by Ann Cornelisen From The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Palermo by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison From On Persephone’s Island: A Sicilian Journal: Prologue, Winter by Mary Taylor Simeti

An indispensable guidebook to the final 400km of the Via Francigena from Lucca to Rome. This is the most popular stretch of the pilgrim route connecting Canterbury to the Vatican City. Crossing Italy's heartland, this last section of the Via Francigena goes through two of Tuscany's loveliest cities, Lucca and Siena, and visits medieval San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and Radicofani. Divided into 18 day stages, the route is suitable for any averagely fit walker. Full stage directions are accompanied by maps showing the route line and the facilities available at different locations. Accommodation listings give invaluable information on low-cost pilgrim hostels and where to stay. There are useful city maps for Lucca, Siena, Rome and Viterbo, and a stage planning table lists intermediate distances between accommodation, so you can customise your own walking schedule. Containing a wealth of advice on planning, preparation and tips for making the most of the walk, this is a must-have guide for any pilgrim. One of three volumes covering the complete Via Francigena.