Desiring Italy: Women Writers Celebrate the Passions of a Country and Culture

• Paperback - 15 April, 1997 - Ballantine Books
• Usually ships in 24 hours
• By: Susan Cahill
• ISBN: 0449910806

Buy this book from Amazon.com

List Price: $13.95
Amazon.com Price: $11.44
You Save: $2.51

About this book

When literary art meets the warmth, beauty, and culture of Italy, the results are stupifyingly wonderful. Susan Cahill has gathered jewels of writing, penned by 31 women of letters, inspired by Italy. There's Muriel Spark on Venice, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Mary McCarthy on Florence, Florence Nightingale and George Eliot on Rome, Edith Wharton on Milan, and Mary Taylor Simeti on Sicily. All together Cahill's arranged a beautiful antipasti plate of the impact--on the mind, the spirit, and above all the senses--of Italy.

Other books you may find interesting

• Travelers' Tales Italy: True Stories
• Travelers' Tales Tuscany: True Stories
• Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Month Is Enchanted
• The Italian Way
• Italian Days
• Italy in Mind: An Anthology (Vintage Departures)
• A Traveller in Italy
• An Italian Affair (Vintage)
• Pictures from Italy (Penguin Classics)
• Italian Neighbors
• The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley
• The Smiles of Rome: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers
• The Hills of Tuscany
• Italy Out of Hand: A Capricious Tour
• Italy, A Love Story: Women Write About the Italian Experience
• Piazzas and Pizzas: Adventures of the Clean Plate Club in Italy
• A Tuscan Childhood (Vintage Departures)
• The City of Florence: Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings
• Sandra Gustafson's Great Sleeps Italy
• Venice Observed (Art and Places,)
• That Fine Italian Hand
• Italian Education
• Olive Farm
• When in Rome
• Central Italy: The Collected Traveler: Tuscany and Umbria
• Eating in Italy: A Traveler's Guide to the Hidden Gastronomic Pleasures of Northern Italy
• A Valley in Italy
• Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy

Reviews by readers

As aesthetic and eccletic as the Italians themselves!

This book is a treasure chest, a real find! Susan Cahill gives us here a fabulously artistic collection of woman's writings, all of which are centered around Italy and Italian experiences. The result is a resplendent patchwork of thoughts, ideas, articles, recipes, facts, stories... great writings, which explore various aspects of that paradise on earth and its inhabitants that we all know as Italy and the Italians. This book makes a great travel companion, whether you are traveling or not, or a great souvenir, in case you read it only once you are back. I highly recommend it not only for its literary side but because it very astutely portrays the multi-faceted, highly aesthetic "dolce vita" from numerous angles...

the Cook and the gardener

This a great book. I read it in a short time. It was like being there. I loved every moment of the book. Of course, I like to cook and I garden The recipes are worth a try. I felt like I was there, part of the book. A great read!

A Disappointing Read

I ordered Desiring Italy to read while my husband and I travelled in Italy this year. I had hoped that it would be as interesting as The Italians by Luigi Barzini or Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the book; it did not meet my expectations or hold my interest so I abandoned it in our hotel room.

Top of page