Italy

This is the true story of Toto Riina, the Cosa Nostra boss who rose from nothing to become the most powerful man in Sicily. The picture emerges of a bloodthirsty, power-hungry monster who, despite his lowly beginnings, is able to outmanoeuvre the other...

This vivid and engaging book weaves together the history, architecture and archaeology of Syracuse and is an essential companion for anyone visiting the city. Dubbed 'the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all' by Cicero, Syracuse also...

'This forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy - and brutality' Telegraph 'Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence' TLS 'A...

Leo Lyon Zagami uses the internal documents of the Illuminati to reveal confidential and top-secret events. His book contends that the presence of numerous Illuminati brotherhoods and secret societies-just as those inside the most prestigious U.S...

*A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK*'Utterly enthralling - a beautifully-written voyage of discovery that takes us deep into the heart of music-making' Deborah MoggachFrom the moment she hears Lev's violin for the first time, Helena Attlee is captivated. She is...

The story of the Renaissance city and palace of Urbino, and the life of the extraordinary man who created it: Federico da Montefeltro. 'Painstakingly researched and yet unfailingly readable' Ross King 'An insight into one of Renaissance Italy's...

In recent years, tourists have discovered the rustic charms of Puglia, also known as Apulia, the heel stretching down from the spur of the Italian boot. The region boasts beautiful landscapes and miles of dramatic coastline, cities with Romanesque...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781513218946Author Jacob BurckhardtFormat HardbackPage Count 382Imprint Mint EditionsPublisher Mint Editions

In Sicily is a loving take on an extraordinary island, based on Norman Lewis's sixty-yearlong fascination with all things Sicilian! Few places on earth have escaped the singular eye of Norman Lewis, but always, in the course of his long career, he has...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781914059667Author Massimo PredonzaniFormat PaperbackPage Count 144Imprint Helion & CompanyPublisher Helion & Company

Exam Board: AQA, Edexcel, OCR & WJECLevel: A-levelSubject: HistoryFirst Teaching: September 2015First Exam: June 2016Give your students the best chance of success with this tried and tested series, combining in-depth analysis, engaging narrative and...

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642 something happened which completely revolutionized Western civilization. Painting, sculpture and architecture would all visibly change in a striking fashion. Likewise, the thought and...

A comprehensive. illustrated account of the wartime Italian battle fleet, from its ships and technology to command structure, logistics, codebreaking and more. In the 1920s, the Italian Navy faced great challenges. Mussolini's ambitious Italy turned...

The elaborate and inventive slaughter of humans and animals in the arena fed an insatiable desire for violent spectacle among the Roman people. Donald G. Kyle combines the words of ancient authors with current scholarly research and cross-cultural...

'Magisterial - an outstanding book that shines a bright light one of the most important, interesting and under-studied cities in European history. A masterpiece.' Peter Frankopan'A wonderful new history of the Mediterranean from the fifth to eighth...

This is a study of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) during the most critical period of its recent history. In the mid-1970s, the PCI almost succeeded in entering the national government; by the end of that decade, it had been relegated to the opposition...

Romance, intrigue, and dangerous ambitions combine to create the perfect escape: welcome back to the beautiful Hotel Portofino on the magical Italian Riviera. HOTEL PORTOFINO: LOVERS AND LIARS IS OUT NOW! ***NOW A MAJOR ITV DRAMA*** A heady historical...

Roman unit standards played a important role, both ceremonially and on the battlefield. With the armies of the late Roman Republic and early Empire continually engaged on the frontiers, the soldiers selected for the dangerous honour of carrying them were...

'When Dickens has described something you see it for the rest of your life' George OrwellIn 1844, Charles Dickens took a break from novel writing to travel through Italy for almost a year, and Pictures from Italy is an illuminating account of his...

'For God's sake, bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country!' HOME SECRETARY REGINALD MAUDLING, RETURNING FROM HIS FIRST VISIT TO NORTHERN IRELAND IN 1970 In the early years of the twentieth century, simmering discontent began to boil over...

This is the inspiring story of two Gordon Highlanders Territorial Army battalions which saw action in some of the Second World War’s fiercest battles. After evacuation from Dunkirk, 6th Gordons fought in Tunisia in 1943, leading to the German surrender...

The indispensable account of the Ottoman Empire's Siege of Malta from the author of Hannibal and Gibraltar. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, had...

Completely updated, this edition contains superb coverage of painting, architecture and sculpture as well as updates on museums including the reorganized Uffizi. Detailed coverage of where to stay and eat. The depth of information and quality of research...

The untold story of how the volcanic landscape surrounding Naples influenced a crucial moment in twentieth-century intellectual history In the 1920s, the Gulf of Naples was a magnet for European intellectuals in search of places as yet untouched by...

A magisterial work of gripping history, City of Fortune tells the story of the Venetian ascent from lagoon dwellers to the greatest power in the Mediterranean - an epic five hundred year voyage that encompassed crusade and trade, plague, sea battles...

The emergence of Rome as an imperial power. In the first few centuries of its existence, Rome developed from a minor settlement on the Tiber into the most powerful city-state in Italy. This book examines the reasons for Rome's emergence and success...

A gripping tale of three crucial battles fought at the end of 1943 as Allied forces approached the Gustav Line in Italy. After repulsing the German counter-attack at Salerno in September 1943, the US Fifth Army and British Eighth Army advanced up the...

Books VI-X of Livy's monumental work trace Rome's fortunes from its near collapse after defeat by the Gauls in 386 bc to its emergence, in a matter of decades, as the premier power in Italy, having conquered the city-state of Samnium in 293 bc. In this...

This book is both an introduction to fifteenth-century Italian painting, and a primer in how to read social history out of the style of pictures. It examines the commercial practice of the early Renaissance picture, trade in contracts, letters, and...

You are born into it or marry in. Loyalty is absolute, bloodshed revered and you kill or go to your grave before betraying The Family. This code of omerta is how the 'Ndrangheta became the world's most powerful mafia. The Good Mothers is...

'Everything about Venice,' observed Lord Byron, 'is, or was, extraordinary - her aspect is like a dream, and her history is like a romance.' Dream and romance have conditioned myriad encounters with Venice across the centuries, but the city's story...

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023'A beautiful, compelling memoir . . . Father and Son is an exquisite, sometimes lunatic tension between powerful emotions and carnage on one side, and on the other, the conventional codes of what must remain unsaid. This,...

Updated and revised edition. Bahru Zewde has updated the first edition, adding a new chapter and taking the history through to 1991. 'The new chapter enhances the value of the book as the best historical introduction to modern Ethiopia. The...

'A ripping read ... fascinating, charming, enjoyably unorthodox' Daily TelegraphWas Niccolo Machiavelli really the cynical schemer of legend - or was he a profound ethical thinker, who tried to save the democratic freedom of Renaissance Florence as it...

John Took provides an entirely original view of one of the most important poets and thinkers in all of Western literature, Dante Alighieri. The year 2021 marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, a poet who, as T. S. Eliot put it,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780802158529Format HardbackImprint Atlantic Monthly PressPublisher Atlantic Monthly Press

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781804514917Author Ralph RiccioFormat PaperbackPage Count 238Imprint Helion & CompanyPublisher Helion & Company

Benvenuto Cellini was a celebrated Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith - a passionate craftsman who was admired and resented by the most powerful political and artistic personalities in sixteenth-century Florence, Rome and Paris. He was also a murderer...

In 2017 the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction for $450m. But is it a real da Vinci? In a thrilling narrative built on formidable research, Ben Lewis tracks the extraordinary journey of a masterpiece lost and found, lied and fought over...

The Italian Wars 1494-1559 outlines the major impact that these wars had, not just on the history of Italy, but on the history of Europe as a whole. It provides the first detailed account of the entire course of the wars, covering all the campaigns and...