Otherwise know as the creator behind the popular Studentessa Matta website, writer Melissa Muldoon has recently launched her latest project: a historical fiction novel based on the life of a renowned Renaissance — and female — painter many of us have never heard of. Artistically crafted by an author passionate about Italian art and history,…
Category: Books
Experience Basilicata, Authentic Italy
“Basilicata is a misshapen, green, rocky, mountainous piece of land forming the awkward instep of Italy’s boot, and Matera is its gnarled crown jewel,” writes Susan Wright for The New York Times, in an article announcing Matera, the region’s most well-known town, as the 2019 European Capital of Culture. American movie director Francis Ford Coppola,…
Reads for Renaissance Lovers
Whether categorized as a collection or a fascination/obsession, one topic which is well represented in my home library is the Renaissance. I tend to purchase a book or two during my travels, sparked by something amazing I’ve seen and unable to resist the always strategically placed gift shops. Examples: Above: Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King is a must-read…
Reads for Renaissance Lovers: Just the Lists
For an extended version of this post which includes book summaries and thoughts from your reviewer, please click here. 15 Renaissance Reads Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered by Dianne Hales Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King Leonardo and The Last Supper by Ross King Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King (detecting a pattern, here?)…
BookLove: The Dianne Hales Edition
My FAVORITE book on Italian Culture, La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales, has been named Amazon’s #1 Bestseller in Travel, Italy. To celebrate, I’m re-posting my book review here, which first ran in December 2014. Auguri, Dianne!
Traveling Italy with Margie
“Congratulations, Stacy, you are one of the winners…” is an email I have received never… before last week, when I got an email stating exactly that! I was thrilled just to win something, and even happier when I realized that the message was from Margie Miklas, blogger behind the popular Margie in Italy blog, and author…
BookLove: Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
“No one can give you a language: you have to take it for yourself.” — Gabriel Wyner Gabriel Wyner is clearly brilliant. He is an opera singer who graduated summa cum laude from his university and is fluent in six languages, primarily self-taught. In Fluent Forever, published in 2014 by Harmony Books, he shares his language learning secrets….
BookLove: The Dianne Hales Edition
It’s no secret to readers of this blog that Dianne Hales is my favorite author on all things Italian, and these two books are at the top of my BookLove list. And I’m not alone — Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered, has recently been named one of Amazon’s “Best Books of the…
Prayers & Piazzas 