Italien

Joseph Balsamo, dit comte de Cagliostro, né à Palerme (Sicile, Italie) le 2 juin 1743 et mort à San Léo le 26 août 1795, est un grand personnage énigmatique du xviiie siècle. Il a emprunté durant sa vie de nombreux pseudonymes, notamment des titres de noblesse illégitimes.Sa vie obscure, ses origines mystérieuses, ses agissements douteux d'aventurier ont laissé place à un mythe autour de sa vie, cultivé par de grands auteurs à travers leurs oeuvres.

Le livre de Marco Polo est le fruit de deux aventures. Celle de l'intrépide Vénitien qui pénétra jusqu'au plus profond de l'Asie, passe vingt ans au service de l'empereur mongol, le maître absolu de ces pays étrangers et fascinants, et effectua au retour un long périple, plus aventureux encore, par les Indes, ces royaumes peuplés de monstres, terres de rêves et de merveilles. Il est aussi le résultat d'une aventure littéraire qui n'est pas moins déconcertante que la vie de Marco Polo. En fait, Le Livre des Merveilles n'est pas vraiment le récit de ses voyages. On oublie trop souvent qu'il fut écrit par un Italien de Pise, homme de plume, familier des rois d'Angleterre et des Angevins de Naples, en français, langue de ces cours princières et de leurs cénacles d'auteurs. Comme le titre original l'indique, c'est un Devisement, c'est-à-dire une oeuvre qui s'inscrit dans la tradition des trouvères et des encyclopédistes, qui cherche à instruire autant qu'à plaire. OEuvre composite et de collaboration, née d'une rencontre de hasard, il reflète cette civilisation de cour trop méconnue des années 1220, ses curiosités, sa soif d'apprendre, son inébranlable fidélité aux textes et, surtout, l'éclat de ce premier humanisme français, capable de s'imposer alors dans tout l'Occident. Professeur d'histoire médiévale à Paris IV, Jacques Heers est l'auteur de plusieurs livres sur l'économie et la société au Moyen Age (dont Esclaves et domestiques au Moyen Age dans le monde méditerranéen, et Fête des fous et carnavals, Fayard). Il est aussi l'auteur de biographies, Christophe Colomb et Machiavel.

Virginia Oldoini, contessa di Castiglione, è una delle donne più fotografate, ritratte, adulate e criticate dell¿Ottocento. In vita è stata raccontata, di volta in volta, come la più bella e la più spregiudicata delle dame alla corte di Napoleone III, perversa fin da ragazza, agente di Cavour, amica dei potenti, avida, passionale, la belle dame sans merci, speculatrice in Borsa, alleata dei Rothschild, presto appassita, pazzä Proclamava di aver fatto l¿Italia e salvato il papato, però non ha trovato posto nel Pantheon dei fondatori della patria, peraltro tutti maschi fino a tempi recentissimi. Le corti europee, all¿epoca, pullulavano di giovani donne belle, intelligenti, colte, disinvolte che servivano interessi vari, economici e politici, alimentando una diplomazia parallela; diplomazia, sia inteso, affidata anche agli uomini, solo che a loro poi toccavano onori, cariche e gloria, come al bel Costantino Nigra, spedito da Cavour ad adulare l¿imperatrice Eugenia. Alle donne no: scaduto il tempo di una breve giovinezza restava solo (come accadde a Virginia) la possibilità di muovere le fila di relazioni pazientemente costruite. Ma nell¿ombra. Senza titoli. E, cosa che spesso si dimentica, in un quadro giuridico terrificante: l¿Italia si fece senza rendere le donne cittadine. Anzi, seguendo proprio il codice napoleonico, rendendole schiave dei loro mariti. Virginia non fu una intellettuale da campi di battaglia o da salotti militanti. Non conobbe il significato della parola solidarietà. Provò a farcela da sola. Quale donna avrebbe potuto vincere in un gioco così impari, le cui regole erano stabilite dagli uomini? Rivendicando regole proprie, è stata travolta dalla macchina del fango: raccontarla come una ¿peccatrice¿ è stato un abile stratagemma per giustificare l¿esclusione di tutte le donne da quell¿agone. Valeria Palumbo è tornata nei luoghi dove Virginia ha vissuto i suoi splendori e le sue miserie, ne ha ricalcato le orme e riletto i documenti che la riguardano, facendo nuova luce su una storia raccontata solo a metà. «La particolarità di Virginia è che la costruzione della sua ¿favolä è iniziata subito... è evidente da tempo che la visione tutta maschile di Gozzano, secondo cui per una donna è impossibile vivere per sè, tranne che non sia una perfetta e rapace egoista, ha dominato il racconto della sua vicenda». Das Urheberrecht an bibliographischen und produktbeschreibenden Daten und an den bereitgestellten Bildern liegt bei Informazioni Editoriali, I.E. S.r.l., oder beim Herausgeber oder demjenigen, der die Genehmigung erteilt hat. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Chronicle of an Anonymous Roman is a treasure of history writing and of medieval Italian literature. It was written by an unknown fourteenth-century Roman, probably a physician and a first-hand witness to many of the events he records. It offers the most important narrative of late medieval Rome during the Avignon papacy, situating the city in a broadly Mediterranean and European context. Most famously, it provides our most detailed account of late medieval Rome's most famous son, Cola di Rienzo. The author deserves our gratitude for his vivid depiction of Cola, a charismatic man of humble birth but astonishing talent who rose to dominate Rome not once but twice. <BR>Yet this marvelous work, which provides insights and information we can find nowhere else, very nearly did not survive. From the time it was written, it has all too often tended to be read in a piecemeal, selective manner. Until recently it was neglected by modern specialists unsure of how to categorize it or the fourteenth-century Rome it describes. Scholars have now come to cherish this chronicle both as a brilliant literary product and as a rich source of historical data about late medieval Italy.<BR>Written in Romanesco, the chronicle leads us through the streets, rioni, and palaces of Rienzo's Rome. But it also offers keen observations on Milan, Florence, Naples, and the Romagna; on Iberia, the eastern Mediterranean, France, and Hungary. <BR>James A. Palmer presents the first complete English translation of the Anonimo Romano. He captures the style, spirit, and wry irony of this master historian. Palmer's introduction examines the text, its mysterious author, and the world in which he wrote. He brings us a primer on fourteenth-century Italy and explores the moral and political examples and lessons that the Anonimo Romano offered his contemporary audience.

In 1960, Otto Schmalz and his wife, Gertrud, decided to take a four-month vacation to their native Europe, where they would tour parts of West Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Italy, visiting family and friends, and seeing as much of the continent as possible. They went by freighter from Canada and took their car with them. Their goal was to discover and learn about history, culture, food, people, and new things. Having worked for more than two years without a day off, this transplanted-to-Canada German couple was itching for a change of scenery. Today, their tales still vibrate with interest and colour for anyone who likes to travel or has an interest of the histories of the places they visited.

Born in 1942 under a bridge in a small war-torn village in southern Italy, Teresa Renda spent the first 17 years of her life searching for the truth of how she came into the world-a secret that no one in her village would speak of-while navigating the only universe she knew: one of bombings, soldiers, famine, and terror, but also one filled with the joys and simple pleasures of tight-knit communal life, with its ceremonial feasts and ritual processions, wine making and olive oil pressing, set against a lyrically painted scenic backdrop. Just before leaving her little village for a new world in Canada at age 17, Teresa finally discovers the gut-wrenching circumstances of her birth, a secret of her own that she would carry onto the harrowing transatlantic journey, and for decades to come.Author's proceeds from sales of all three Oddyssey books go to the old ladies of Capistrano, some of whom are centenarian and have lost their entire family.

**Formerly published as The Lost Boys**<BR><BR>'Remarkable. A powerful, engrossing story of a journey into the heart of darkness and final escape from it' Sunday Times<BR><BR>In September, 1944, the SS march into a remote Italian castle, arrest a mother and seize her two sons, aged just two and three. If Hitler has his way she will never see them again. For Fey Pirzio-Biroli is the daughter of Ulrich von Hassell, executed days before after the failed assassination of the Fuhrer. Mercilessly cast into the Nazi death machine, Fey must cling to the hope that one day she will escape and rescue her lost children . . .<BR><BR>'Riveting, important, reads like a terrifying thriller' Daily Telegraph<BR><BR>'Heartbreaking. It started with a plot to kill Hitler. It ended in one of the most astonishing and moving stories of the war' Daily Mail<BR><BR>'Extraordinary. A rich, deep, gripping read' Guardian<BR><BR>'As thrilling as any novel. Bailey has an extraordinary talent for bringing history to life' Kate Atkinson

" Désormais, grâce au chemin de fer, une distance de quatre heures sépare à peine Venise de la poétique et féodale résidence des Scaliger, devenue aujourd’hui le siège du gouvernement militaire de la Lombardie au lieu et place de Milan. Trieste systématiquement substituée à Venise dans l’ordre du mouvement industriel, Vérone érigée en capitale, voilà au premier abord ce qui vous frappe dans la politique que les évènements des dernières années semblent avoir dictée au cabinet de Vienne. La ville des doges et l’antique cité des Visconti savent à qui s’en prendre de leur disgrâce ; il est juste d’ajouter que Vérone est l’une des premières places fortes de la monarchie autrichienne, et que M. le chevalier de Brück, ministre actuel du commerce, est Triestin..."

Otello Marilli (1915-1979) fiorentino, comunista. Sindaco di Lentini (SR), deputato alla Camera e all'Assemblea Regionale Siciliana, docente di Meccanica Agraria all'Università di Catania. Protagonista della vita politica siciliana negli anni della maggiore trasformazione sociale ed economica che l'isola abbia conosciuto negli ultimi due secoli. Questa di Ferdinando Leonzio è da considerarsi la prima biografia che sia stata dedicata a questa importante figura della storia siciliana.

Diese illustrierte Biografie für Wissbegierige ab 6 Jahren ist ein Mitmach-Buch. In allen Illustrationen ist ein kleines Suchobjekt versteckt, und es müssen Hinweise gedeutet werden, um zu erfahren, welcher Name zu welchem Jünger im "Abendmahl"gehört. Köpfchen ist auch beim Anagramme-Raten gefragt. Am Ende jedes Kapitels findet sich eine geheimnisvolle Botschaft in Spiegelschrift. Wer beim Lesen gut aufpasst, kann das Leonardo-da-Vinci-Kreuzworträtsel mühelos lösen. Und schließlich gilt es den Code zu knacken, mit dem sich das Leonardo-Geheimfach auf der Homepage der Autorin öffnen lässt. Darin hat Nadine Strauß weitere interessante Informationen und spannende Rästel rund um Leonardo da Vinci zusammengestellt!

23:B&W 6 x 9 in or 229 x 152 mm Perfect Bound on White w/Gloss Lam