The Amalfi Coast & The Isle of Capri - May 23-29, 2010

This brilliant book is an account of Carlo Levi's banishment to a remote village in southern Italy for his opposition to Fascism in 1935. The title may be a bit misleading: this book is not about an incarnation of the deity that alighted in a place called Eboli. Eboli, a town of no consequence to the action of the book, is, rather, the farthest south Christianity (read: civilization) got. Gagliano, the town in which Levi arrives to carry out his exile, is as far south from Eboli as Eboli is from Naples, and is the end of the road in more than one respect. In Gagliano, Levi lives a somewhat enviable (for an exile, at least) existence painting, writing, and, as a doctor, administering to the sick and injured. But the book is not about Levi's good works among the peasants. Rather, it is a series of sublime sketches about a people so grim, so primitive, so impoverished, so imbued with superstition and pagan ritual (Gagliano has a village priest, but he's drunk most of the time) that they seem an alien species. Levi doesn't so much understand them as observe them and paint them with words. It is a haunting work, but a memorable book.

The career of Italian policeman Auerlio Zen has certainly had its operatic ups and downs: as a nasty colleague points out, "In Milan, you wrongfully arrest a man for the Tondelli murder, and 20 years later he tries to kill you after his release from prison. In Rome, you single-handedly 'solve' the Moro kidnapping, unfortunately too late to save the victim." So it's fitting that Michael Dibdin has used a real comic opera by Mozart and Lorenzo Daponte as the frame for his latest Zen outing. A Northern fish in Naples's polluted waters, Venetian-born Zen seems to have found the perfect job to make himself invisible, as head of the harbor police. But several tangled plots--including one that deftly turns the Daponte stew of unsuitable suitors and fake Albanians on its head--conspire to bring Auerlio into the spotlight one more time. Two of Dibdin's best Zen encounters.

With its starlit isles, 24-karat resorts, and sapphire-shaded lagoons, Campania has been the crema di crema of Italian tourism ever since the Roman emperors headed here to work on their tans. Today, its siren call remains irresistible: with five of the top ten destinations in Italy for Americans---captivating Capri, whirlwind Naples, seductive Sorrento, petrified Pompeii, and perfect Positano---this region is second only to Tuscany for number of visitors per year. Covering it all, Fodor’s Naples, Capri and the Amalfi Coast is gorgeously written and “immensely useful” (to quote Conde Nast Traveler’s rave) but now ups the ante with a spectacular, new, photo-rich make-over. Quintessential delights to be featured in unique, pictorial layouts, including “Remembrance of Things Pasta" (hey, pizza was born in Naples), "Mamma Mia, Sophia!" (on native girl Sophia Loren), and “Postcards from the Ledge" (on the Amalfi Drive, "road of a 1,001 bends") Tantalizing 8-page color photo insert will capture Campania’s bluer-than-blue bays, glittering Baroque palaces, and skyhigh villages in all their glory.

This is a book made up of four short stories motivated by letters written by four Women who travel to Italian Cities and find love. Great stories, that are fast and easy to read.

Very few people know of the other Neapolitan city that was destroyed in 69AD by the eruption of Vesuvius and because of this there are few good books that have been written on Herculaneum. Deiss' book on Herculaneum is probably the cream of the crop and an essential one to any scholar or amateur classicist/archaeologist who is interested in the other little seaside city. Deiss provides a good overview of the difference between the destruction of Herculaneum and the destruction of Pompeii which had a great effect on the excavation of the cities. He also chronicles the discovery of Herculaneum which occurred before Pompeii and the birth of modern archaeology through that discovery. Essential to anyone interested in Pompeii, Herculaneum or ancient Roman culture.

In this fine historical by British novelist Harris, an upstanding Roman engineer rushes to repair an aqueduct in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, which, in A.D. 79, is getting ready to blow its top. Young Marcus Attilius Primus becomes the Aquarius of the great Aqua Augusta when its former chief engineer disappears after 20 years on the job. When water flow to the coastal town of Misenum is interrupted, Attilius convinces the admiral of the Roman fleet-the scholar Pliny the Elder-to give him a fast ship to Pompeii, where he finds the source of the problem in a burst sluiceway. Attilius, through a climb up Vesuvius reveals that an eruption is imminent. Before he can warn anyone, he's ambushed by the double-crossing foreman of his team, Corvax, and a furious chase ensues. As the volcano spews hot ash, Attilius fights his way back to Pompeii in an attempt to rescue Corelia. Harris's volcanology is well researched, and the plot, while decidedly secondary to the expertly rendered historic spectacle, keeps this impressive novel moving along toward its exciting finale.

The book starts out describing the history of excavations in Pompeii. Then, we have chapters on the daily life in Pompeii, how they earned a living, the role of women in society, leisure in Pompeii, their relationship with Gods and their views on love and death. At the end there is a section called documents, which includes writings of various writers on Pompeii, including Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Stendhal.

No caveats for readers of Davis's second playful, well-plotted mystery featuring imperial agent Marcus Didius Falco and based in first century, C.E., Rome. Nero's successor Vespasian has squelched an early treasonous plot and assigned Falco to take care of loose ends, which include the body of the uncle of the high-born young widow Helena Justina, whom Falco met and courted stormily in Silver Pigs. Disguised as an idle vacationer in the company of his comrade and captain of the Aventine Watch, Petronius Longus and family, Falco travels south to Neapolis, Capreae and Pompeii (eight years before its destruction) where he uncovers and must thwart a new conspiracy involving the shipment of Egyptian grain to Rome and an unwitting Helena. Like a toga-clad McGee or Spenser, Falco has a modern sensibility that wears its ancient trappings comfortably, whether he's sneaking down a narrow Roman street or feasting sumptuously at a sunlit coastal villa. A rousing horserace in the Circus Maximus, balanced with a touching romantic resolution, rounds out this action-packed entertainment, enlivened by Davis's vivid characterization of both major and minor players, and his clear delight in--and easy authority with--the story's time and place.

Based on texts from the period (many letters), the book is a chronicle of life at the court of Naples between 1730 and 1820, including artistic life, archeological discoveries, war with the French, Austrian occupation. Before the unification of Italy in 1870, Naples was the capital of the largest of the separate Italian kingdoms. Ruled for more than 100 years by the Bourbons, one of the most eccentric and pleasure-seeking of European dynasties, Naples attracted aristocratic travelers by the hundreds; it also attracted the armies of revolutionary France. Sir Harold Acton, who had unique access to state and private archives, wrote The Bourbons of Naples over 40 years ago. Teeming with unforgettable characters, royal eccentrics, court intrigue, and the vivid events of 18th-century Italy, it is a masterpiece of modern historical writing.

Travelers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries acclaimed Naples as the most glorious and dazzling capital of the West. Today's eternally sunny Naples rises majestically around the bay that offers some of the most memorable views of the Mediterranean. An authoritative, exhaustively researched guide to one of Italy's most popular tourist destinations, this guidebook enables travelers to make the most of their trip to Naples covering historic sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii to the Greek temples of Paestum, from the islands of Ischia and Capri to the extraordinary "Versailles" of Italy, the Reggia of Caserta. A chapter on tourist information provides essential information on restaurants, shopping, accommodations, and more. This edition contains 20 percent new material including an all-new introduction geared toward American travelers.