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Best of Village Italy in 14 Days: Recommended Reading & Viewing
Italy is overwhelmingly rich in history, art and culture. Any preliminary reading, viewing or listening you can do will help you get the most from your trip. Here's a list of some sources we've found helpful. For more information on any of these books, visit your favorite bookstore or check out amazon.com; for video information, go to imdb.com. Rick Steves guidebooks are available at our office in Edmonds and also on our website's Travel Store.
Recommended Reading
Non-Fiction
- Italian Neighbors; Italian Education — Tim Parks
- Italian Days — Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
- That Fine Italian Hand — Paul Hofmann
- Desiring Italy — Susan N. Cahill
- The Italians — Luigi Barzini
- Central Italy: The Collected Traveler — Barrie Kerper
- Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany — Frances Mayes
- Venice Observed — Mary McCarthy
- The Hills of Tuscany — Ferenc Mate
- A Tuscan Childhood — Kinta Beevor
- A Small Place in Italy — Eric Newby
- Travelers' Tales: Italy — Ann Calcagno
- Marling Menu-Master for Italy
- Culture Shock: Italy — Raymond Flower
Fiction
- Ratking (mystery set in Umbria, first in a series) — Michael Dibdin
- A Soldier of the Great War — Mark Helprin
- The Passion of Artemisia — Susan Vreeland
- Up At the Villa — Somerset Maugham
- The Charterhouse of Parma — Stendahl
General Europe
- Europe 101 — Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw : a fun and informative overview of European history and art.
- A World Lit Only by Fire — William Manchester
- Innocents Abroad — Mark Twain
- Civilisation — Kenneth Clark
- Connections — James Burke
Rick Steves' Travel DVDs
For a fun, informative preview of your next tour destination, watch a DVD from our "Rick Steves' Europe" TV series! Our online Travel Store has 70 shows available on 12 DVDs (a generous five to eight shows per disc).
Films With an Italian Accent
La Dolce Vita (1961) • 1900 (1977) • Room with a View (1986) • Cinema Paradiso (1990) • Enchanted April (1991) • Much Ado About Nothing (1993) • Ciao, Professore! (1994) • Il Postino (1995)
Mood Music
- Big Night soundtrack
- Ezio Pinza
- Andrea Bocelli
- Zucchero
- Three Tenors
- Vivaldi's Four Seasons
- Puccini's Tosca
- Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci
- Verdi's Rigoletto
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