Andrew Cotto, author of three novels and numerous magazine and newspaper articles, lives real life in Brooklyn, but dreams of Italy ever since a life-changing year in a Tuscan village over fifteen years ago. The experience, especially the wine and food, finds its way into the pages of his new novel, Cucina Tipica, An Italian […]
Florence, Tuscany and murder: It’s a combination that gave birth to a new series of mysteries that brings together Florentine history, locations and cuisine with murder and mayhem in the Renaissance City. A love of reading murder mysteries and thrillers coupled with a fascination for the museums, markets and trattorias, historic palaces, and the less-traveled
The Cats of Italy is a book for four longish short stories written about cats who live in four of the most scenic culturally rich parts of Italy. The stories are written from the viewpoints of the cats. Each story is also a travel guide of the cities and countryside of Italy. The book is a
Instead of relying on internet sites and travel guides to inform your upcoming visit to Italy, get a copy of these histories, essays, cultural musings, and cookbooks to heighten the anticipation for your travels. Guide books are great planning tools, but an in-depth discussion of history and culture and cuisine will result in a richer
Over the winter months, reading from the new crop of fiction set in Italy will heighten the anticipation for your upcoming Italian vacation. Guide books are great planning tools, but novels and short stories add depth, fantasy, historical background and imagination to an Italian adventure. These books are set in Rome, Florence, Venice, Sicily and
Death at the Duomo is the first book, just released, in a new series of mystery/thrillers set in Florence, Italy. The Renaissance City’s fictional murder rate is about to rise, requiring the pairing a young Florentine detective, Caterina Falcone, half American, half Italian, with Max Turner, an agent from the American Embassy. The first novel
If you or your friends and family are going to Italy this year. Or if you want to do some armchair traveling, you should pick up Italian Food Rules and Italian Life Rules that I wrote after living in Florence for fifteen years. I broke every one of the “rules” before I learned to live
Many visitors to Florence will either learn for the first time or will remember the Great Flood of Florence, which occurred on November 3, 1966, fifty years ago. Both the nonfiction and fiction lists are sure to include books about the flood and the response of the world to the catastrophe. Tuscan traveler has chosen
With so many of your friends and family planning to travel to Italy in 2016, this holiday season is the perfect time for the gift of a book or two that will enrich their experience. Or, perhaps, these suggestions will serve as a reminder that you meant to catch up on a little reading yourself
The Book British-born John Hooper took on the almost impossible task of explaining to the outside world what makes the Italians so unique. Hooper was not living under the Tuscan sun for the last fifteen years, but was reporting from Rome, so his new book, simply entitled The Italians, isn’t a view full of good