The Italian Party

The Italian Party
Author: Christina Lynch
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2018-03-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250147832

"Newly married [in 1956], Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany's famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of Italy, America, and each other. When Scottie's Italian teacher--a teenager with secrets of his own--disappears, her search for him leads her to discover other, darker truths about herself, her husband, and her country. Michael's dedication to saving the world from communism crumbles as he begins to see that he is a pawn in a much different game"--Amazon.com.

The Italian Party

The Italian Party
Author: Christina Lynch
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2018-03-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250147840

One of the Wall Street Journal's "Six More Books to Read This Winter" • "Required Reading,"The New York Post• Library Journal's "Spring/Summer Bests" of 2018 •A Sonoma Index-Tribune Bestseller •One of CrimeReads' "Debuts to Discover Spring 2018" "Deeply funny." —The New York Times Book Review podcast "[A] sweltering thriller set against the backdrop of what is probably your dream getaway destination: Tuscany." —Bustle "Tremendous fun! Wives with big secrets, husbands with bigger ones, swirling around a 1950s Siena teeming with seduction and spycraft." —Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of The Travelers "Seeing the "antiquated" culture of postwar/Cold War Italy through the eyes of Americans, obsessed with modern convenience and progress, sort of mirrors my Italy to America transition in a fun way—plus there are spies! Affairs! and lot of food!!" —Giada De Laurentiis "Imagine Beautiful Ruins plus horses; Toujours Provence with spies, a mystery and sex. The Italian Party is a fizzy, page-turning delight that begs for a Campari and soda!" —Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank With Me “I’ve always wanted to take a trip to Italy in the 1950’s and The Italian Party is my ticket. Like the best Italian paintings, this smart and funny book deftly combines the light and the dark. Christina Lynch’s prose pairs well with any hearty Tuscan red.” —Conan O'Brien Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany's famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of ltaly, America and each other. When Scottie’s Italian teacher—a teenager with secrets of his own—disappears, her search for him leads her to discover other, darker truths about herself, her husband and her country. Michael’s dedication to saving the world from communism crumbles as he begins to see that he is a pawn in a much different game. Driven apart by lies, Michael and Scottie must find their way through a maze of history, memory, hate and love to a new kind of complicated truth. Half glamorous fun, half an examination of America's role in the world, and filled with sun-dappled pasta lunches, prosecco, charming spies and horse racing, The Italian Party is a smart pleasure.

The Nature of the Italian Party System

The Nature of the Italian Party System
Author: Geoffrey Pridham
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2016-01-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317339703

This study, first published in 1981, focuses on a single region of Italy – Tuscany, and examines the internal and external relationships of the parties, their evolution and their roles in the years 1975-1980. Looking in depth and detail at the activity of the parties in Tuscany, the book identifies and examines different factors of change and continuity and comes to the conclusion that there has been significant movement in the political positions and strengths of the respective parties as well as in their strategic courses and inter-relationships. This volume has a particular importance due to the questioning of many previously held assumptions of the country’s party system in the light of political and socio-economic change during the 1970’s. This title will be of interest to students of European politics.

A House Party in Tuscany

A House Party in Tuscany
Author: Amber Guinness
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Australia
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1760764450

This ebook has a fixed layout and is best viewed on a widescreen, full-colour tablet. 'A stunning book in every way. Amber Guinness paints such a dreamy, evocative picture of her home in the Tuscan countryside and of the sumptuous feasts she cooks there. I long to be there with her and to eat everything in this book.' Skye McAlpine, author of A Table in Venice 'A truly beautiful book with food as colourful as paintings and thoughtful menus guided by the Tuscan seasons.' Emiko Davies, author of Torta della Nonna 'A peculiar attribute of the landscape surrounding Arniano is the ever-changing light. Early in the morning, there is an extraordinary mist that sits in the valley and interweaves through the hills, allowing just the tops to show above the smoky clouds. These changes bring with them new moods and shadows, drawing our painters to different views and areas of the garden throughout the day. By the evening, everything has altered again, and there are often intense sunsets, bringing silhouettes from the trees and much darker, richer, olive colours.' There are many farmhouses in Tuscany, but few are quite so magical as Arniano. It is here, in this 18th-century podere, that Amber Guinness grew up and learned to cook. And it is here that she established The Arniano Painting School, a residential painting course and immersive art and food experience. 'As I look through the recipes and think about the common thread that binds them, I realise that they all exemplify a fundamental principle of Italian home cooking. Which is that simplicity - and keeping ingredients as close to their original form as possible - leads to the most delicious and rewarding food. The beauty of Italian cooking is that it is not about fancy sauces or preparation techniques. Rather, it is about bringing out the best in what you are cooking, through patience, constant tasting and the development of flavour - sometimes using nothing but some olive oil and salt.' Filled with recipes for classic dishes and cocktails, feast curation, seasonal menu suggestions and notes on an Italian pantry and wines, A House Party in Tuscany will transport you to the Tuscan countryside and bring the conviviality of Arniano to your table.

First They Took Rome

First They Took Rome
Author: David Broder
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786637618

Italy’s political disaster under a microscope There is little that hasn’t gone wrong for Italy in the last three decades. Economic growth has flatlined, infrastructure has crumbled, and out-of-work youth find their futures stuck on hold. These woes have been reflected in the country’s politics, from Silvio Berlusconi’s scandals to the rise of the far right. Many commentators blame Italy’s malaise on cultural ills—pointing to the corruption of public life or a supposedly endemic backwardness. In this reading, Italy has failed to converge with the neoliberal reforms mounted by other European countries, leaving it to trail behind the rest of the world. First They Took Rome offers a different perspective: Italy isn’t failing to keep up with its international peers but farther along the same path of decline they are following. In the 1980s, Italy boasted the West’s strongest Communist Party; today, social solidarity is collapsing, working people feel ever more atomized, and democratic institutions grow increasingly hollow. Studying the rise of forces like Matteo Salvini’s Lega, this book shows how the populist right drew on a deep well of social despair, ignored by the liberal centre. Italy’s recent history is a warning from the future—the story of a collapse of public life that risks spreading across the West.

The Italians

The Italians
Author: John Hooper
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2015
Genre: Italians
ISBN: 0525428070

John Hooper presents the ideal companion for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Digging deep into their history, culture and religion, he offers keys to assessing everything from their bewildering politics to their love of life and beauty.

The Tailor of Ulm

The Tailor of Ulm
Author: Lucio Magri
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2019-08-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786635569

Twenty years have passed since the Italian Communists’ last Congress in 1991, in which the death of their party was decreed. It was a deliberate death, accelerated by the desire for a “new beginning.” That new beginning never came, and the world lost an invaluable, complex political, organizational and theoretical heritage. In this detailed and probing work, Lucio Magri, one of the towering intellectual figures of the Italian Left, assesses the causes for the demise of what was once one of the most powerful and vibrant communist parties of the West. The PCI marked almost a century of Italian history, from its founding in 1921 to the partisan resistance, the turning point of Salerno in 1944 to the de-Stalinization of 1956, the long ’68 to the “historic compromise,” and to the opportunity—missed forever—of democratic transformation. With rigor and passion, The Tailor of Ulm merges an original and enlightening interpretation of Italian communism with the experience of a militant “heretic” into a riveting read—capable of broadening our insights into contemporary Italy, and the twentieth-century communist experience.

Aperitivo

Aperitivo
Author: Marisa Huff
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2016-04-19
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0847847446

Kick off the evening as the Italians do, with these recipes for drinks and small dishes from the best bars and restaurants of Venice, Milan, Turin, and beyond. Aperitivo takes the reader on a spirited ride through this cocktail culture, covering variations on all the classics including the Negroni, the Bellini, and the spritz and stopping at the chicest bars that have elevated this ritual to an art form. Many of the drinks are structured around vermouths and other botanical-infused liqueurs, which offer a new world of complex flavors. They yield enticingly simple cocktails that refresh—without stunning the palate (thanks to a lighter alcohol content). But Aperitivo is just as much about the food because in Italy, drinking and eating go hand in hand. Recipes feature fried sage leaves, oven-roasted eggplant, and carbonara tramezzini, as well as many delicious riffs on crostini, frittata, and focaccia. Whether planning a party or just having a friend over for a quick drink, Aperitivo brings a whole new spirit of conviviality and true Italian style to the occasion.

The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics

The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics
Author: Erik Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 801
Release: 2015
Genre: Italy
ISBN: 0199669740

The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics provides a comprehensive look at the political life of one of Europe's most exciting and turbulent democracies. Under the hegemonic influence of Christian Democracy in the early post-World War II decades, Italy went through a period of rapid growth and political transformation. In part this resulted in tumult and a crisis of governability; however, it also gave rise to innovation in the form of Eurocommunism and new forms of political accommodation. The great strength of Italy lay in its constitution; its great weakness lay in certain legacies of the past. Organized crime--popularly but not exclusively associated with the mafia--is one example. A self-contained and well entrenched 'caste' of political and economic elites is another. These weaknesses became apparent in the breakdown of political order in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This ushered in a combination of populist political mobilization and experimentation with electoral systems design, and the result has been more evolutionary than transformative. Italian politics today is different from what it was during the immediate post-World War II period, but it still shows many of the influences of the past.