La Passione
How Italy Seduced the World
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A jubilant celebration of Italy’s outsize impact on culture, from literature to art, music to movies, that “masterfully examines the multitude of reasons why so many people fall in love with Italy and the Italian lifestyle” (Forbes)
Can you imagine painting without Leonardo, opera without Verdi, fashion without Armani, food without the signature tastes of pasta, gelato, and pizza? The first universities, first banks, first public libraries? All Italian.
New York Times bestselling author Dianne Hales attributes these landmark achievements to la passione italiana, a primal force that stems from an insatiable hunger to discover and create; to love and live with every fiber of one's being. This fierce drive, millennia in the making, blazes to life in the Sistine Chapel, surges through a Puccini aria, deepens a vintage Brunello, and rumbles in a gleaming Ferrari engine.
Our ideal tour guide, Hales sweeps readers along on her adventurous quest for the secrets of la passione. She swims in the playgrounds of mythic gods, shadows artisanal makers of chocolate and cheese, joins in Sicily’s Holy Week traditions, celebrates a neighborhood Carnevale in Venice, and explores pagan temples, vineyards, silk mills, movie sets, crafts studios, and fashion salons. She introduces us, through sumptuous prose, to unforgettable Italians, historical and contemporary, all brimming with the greatest of Italian passions—for life itself.
A lyrical portrait of a spirit as well as a nation, La Passione appeals to the Italian in all our souls, inspiring us to be as daring as Italy’s gladiators, as eloquent as its poets, as alluring as its beauties, and as irresistible as its lovers.
Praise for La Passione
“[An] effervescent love letter to all things Italian.”—Newsday
“In this sweeping account of la passione italiana from ancient to modern times, Dianne Hales shows once again why she is one the world’s foremost guides to the riches of Italian culture. Every page resonates with the author’s love for Italy and her joy in sharing its remarkable discoveries and exquisite pleasures with her readers.” —Joseph Luzzi, author of My Two Italies and In a Dark Wood
“Hales takes us on an enriching and delightful journey, filled with fascinating characters, scintillating sensual details, and an authentic connection to the ever-inspiring Italian heart and soul that has given the world boundless pleasures.” —Susan Van Allen, author of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this inquisitive celebration of the Italian spirit, Hales (Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered) traverses the country, exploring its history and culture. Her journey begins in Sicily where she traces the island's role in Greek mythology and Etruscan history ("Among pre-Roman civilizations, only the Greeks compared in wealth, power, and influence"). In the next vignette, her gaze turns to Rome and a succession of emperors with a focus on romantic intrigue, from Mark Anthony and Caesar's affairs with Cleopatra to the polygamy of Octavian. While in Florence, Hales discusses the works of 15th-century poet Dante; in a chapter on music, she gives a history of Italian opera, from the earliest "castratos" (singers castrated to retain a boyish high pitch) to the life of Luciano Pavarotti. The chapters on food will delight readers with descriptions of artisan foods: in Parma, for example, she tries the local specialty of prosciutto; in Modena, a balsamic vinegar maker says, "This is my passion the emotion, the tradition coming together to give people a true flavor of Italy, something that can't be found anywhere else in the world." Sure to inspire many vacations, this volume shows Italy's many contributions to the world and captures the essence of the very things that make it such a wondrous place.
