Italian Adventure

A good deed leaves Sally stranded in wartime Italy, brandishing a biting wit, a fake passport, and an elastic sense of right and wrong. To save her friends and find her way home through a land of besieged castles and villas, Sally must combat tragedy with comedy, tie up pompous bureaucrats in their own red tape, force the cruel to be kind, and unravel the mystery, weight, and meaning of family.

Tuscany. What's it really like? The author of the acclaimed Inside Tuscany: A Second Time Around guide book series offers a new anthology of essays about living and traveling in Tuscany and Italy. Book Sections I. P8: Many of the best foods of Italy begin with the letter P: pizza, pecorino Toscano, porcini mushrooms, pasta, parmigiano reggiano, prosciutto, porchetta, and pici. II. Working and Living: including my philosophy for slow travel, what my workday looks like, the benefits of speaking Italian, a visit to the hospital emergency ward, and mysterious vibes. III. Rome: staying at a ...

John Hooper's marvelously entertaining and perceptive new book is ideal for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Looking at the facts that lie behind and often belie the stereotypes, his revealing book sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life: football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger yet none for a hangover.

*** 2023 Chaucer Book Awards Finalist*** 1365, Venice, Italy. For generations, the merchants of House Aretoli have profited through faithful service to the Republic of Venice. Despite being only a minor senatorial family, they’ve established a reputation for reliability, fidelity, and ingenuity. But the Aretoli are about to face the ultimate test. Caught up in a rebellion on Venice’s territory of Crete, young Niccolo Aretoli returns as a hero after saving the governor’s life and evacuating the loyal citizenry. Yet despite his new fame, not all is well in Venice. Niccolo’s beloved ...

I'm a mafia man who lives for power and family. My past has made it so love isn't an option. Which is why some say I don't have a heart. A client who owes a substantial debt to me has disappeared. Sitting in his restaurant, I'm greeted by a woman who's a real spitfire. She doesn't care that I'm Franco DeLuca a made man. After a few more verbal exchanges things take a dark turn. She becomes my captive. During the time spent under my roof together the lines get blurred. Because of my dark past I keep telling myself I don't want anything to progress between us. She's testing my limits. She ...

An arranged marriage to the Russian hitman... and his twin brother? It's an outrage! Mafia princess Marie Lauro always knew that duty to the family was worth any sacrifice, but she never believed her father would order her to be married against her wishes. Roman and Alek Borosliev are new pawns in the ongoing turf war between the Russian Mob and Italian Mafia. Twenty years of peace is nearly shattered when Roman receives orders that he is to take the Mafia princess as his bride. But the Russian twins have ideas of their own about what kind of bride they really want, ideas that would shock ...

The woman who was my childhood best friend and is now mine would never walk away. So, I thought. Why did she leave? Lexis and I had a wonderful life together. We were best friends growing up and later lovers. My brother Marco and I are the bosses of the Esposito crime family. Lexis ran one of many Espositos’ gambling houses. She didn’t take anyone’s mess. I loved how tough she was. And that she was mine. Five years later, after Mom mentioned her name at a holiday dinner, I thought about Lexis long and hard. It was time to find the woman I loved and bring her home. Warning this book ...

Italy, the late 80s. Leda is a bookish 10-year-old tomboy. Her life turns upside down when shady Nico moves to the North from Sicily. Determined not to let the bully ruin her life, Leda is dragged through a tornado of adventures that will transform both kids in the face of first crushes, weird adults, and family drama... This humorous and insightful coming of age tale will show you the Italy you never imagined, an exhilarating mix of sensuality, religion, and superstition set against the gorgeous backdrop of the serene countryside, the Alps, and the enchanting Island of Sardinia.

My main priority as the mafia boss is protecting my queen. When I first laid eyes on Lexis as a boy those dark brown eyes and her pretty brown skin drew me in. I had to meet her. Get close to her. Remain close to her. We became best friends. I consoled her when she felt abandoned by her mother. My father dropped a bomb in my lap when I was sixteen. I learned I’d become the next mafia boss of the Esposito’s. Dad said I needed to let her go. Her grandmother told her to run away from me and don’t look back. She had no idea I sank my teeth into the mahogany beauty a long time ago. She’s...

Imagine living in Italy for one full year. This was always the dream and promise Ilene and Gary made to each other. This story is an invitation to witness the magic of Italy through the eyes of two new Italian citizens. Listen to their own authentic voices, in alternating chapter format, sharing their story, raw emotions, laughter, triumphs, challenges, and experiences in this intimate format.

I'm employed by Lucas Esposito Jr., the infamous mafia boss of the Esposito Crime Family. His girlfriend Lexis disappeared while I was on duty. During my search, I've taken up residence in a three-star hotel on Chicago's North Side. While I should keep my focus on my task at hand, this vixen somehow managed to slip her way into my life.  Will our connection prove to be a fleeting flame or an unbreakable bond?

Cucina Tipica: An Italian Adventure is the story of Jacoby Pines, a disheartened American who arrives in Italy on holiday, and decides he never wants to leave. What follows is a wine-soaked, food-filled, travel-laden adventure about one man’s quest for an antiquated existence in the modern world.

They had it all -- love, privacy, security... Until betrayal and lies forced them apart. Now, seven years later, Charli is on the run with her young son. Their lives are at stake, and the only ones who can help her are Tek and Nico, the brothers she burned so long ago. Thrown together by fate, they'll need to learn to trust each other again if any of them are to survive! Charli Capelli - A strong, fierce woman, determined not to let anything stand in the way of saving her son from a life of violence. Tek Lauro - Brilliant and intense, his silence masks a rage that time hasn't dimmed. Nico ...

Frances Mayes offers her listeners a deeply personal memoir of her present-day life in Tuscany, encompassing both the changes she has experienced since Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany appeared, and sensuous, evocative reflections on the timeless beauty and vivid pleasures of Italian life. Among the themes Mayes explores are how her experience of Tuscany dramatically expanded when she renovated and became a part-time resident of a 13th century house with a stone roof in the mountains above Cortona.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” Poirot and Hastings investigate the suspicious death of Count Foscatini in his apartment in Regent’s Court. Found dead at the dinner table, with three empty dinner plates, suspicion is immediately place on his two dinner guests. But is there more to the story? This short story originally appeared in the October 24, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

The Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth believed to bear the image of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion, has been pronounced a fake by an antiquities expert. But if that’s true, then where is the authentic shroud of Christ? In this next Phoenix Quest adventure, Simon Kessler sends Thalia Phoenix and her cousin, Casey, to a New York museum to examine the writing on a papyrus document. However, before they can carry out their assignment, Thalia and Casey are kidnapped by a villain who demands that she locate the authentic shroud—Casey will be held hostage until Phoe finds it. Forced to ...

With the six lectures of The Everyday Guide to Wines of Italy, you can experience the dynamism of Italian wine for yourself and become your own expert in the tastes, traditions, and innovations from history’s definitive wine-making regions. Delivered by acclaimed Master of Wine Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, one of the foremost authorities on wines around the world, this course is a chance for you to embark on a delicious, interactive, and unforgettable tasting tour through a country that is equal parts picturesque, romantic, and mysterious.

"The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman" unfolds as a captivating short story within Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series. In this intriguing narrative, the fastidious Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is confronted with a peculiar case involving an Italian nobleman who seeks Poirot's assistance to recover a valuable possession.

The best-selling author of the Alienist series returns with a chilling elaboration on the Sherlock Holmes canon, as the famed detective investigates a pair of gruesome murders, which cast an otherworldly shadow as far as Queen Victoria herself.

A Sardinian wedding feast, the search for the perfect seaside pasta with wild fennel, meeting a risotto master: Laura Fraser journeys from the SpaghettiOs of her American childhood to savor the best of Italian cuisine and the culture that cooked it up. Using the same dreamy, delicious type of prose that made An Italian Affair a best-selling memoir, these essays will delight listeners who loved that book and all who love Italian food and culture.