Desiring Italy

Book excerpt: For centuries Italy has been many things to many people. In this brilliant anthology and traveler's companion, twenty-eight first-rate women writers reveal why the land that is the heart and soul of European civilization is so seductive to women. Kate Simon walks us through a Siena filled with surprises and luminous beauty. Elizabeth Spencer writes of first coming to Italy and finding "home." Shirley Hazzard explores the mysteries of Naples. Muriel Spark writes on Venice, Edith Wharton on Rome, George Eliot on Florence, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison on San Gimignano, Patricia Hampl on Assisi. Other wonderful writers contemplate the idiosyncratic glories of Italy's architecture, cooking, art, and landscape; its culture; its places and people. As these writers tell their stories--in fiction, memoir, and essay--of coming to understand Italy, they explore the complexity of their passions for it, mingling affection and ecstasy with intellectual curiosity. Organized geographically--from northern Italy to Rome and on to the south, Desiring Italy offers an enchanting journey for readers and travelers. Including the following contents: From Italian Backgrounds: Picturesque Milan by Edith Wharton “Cauliflower Heads” by Francine Prose From Rambles in Germany and Italy: Letters from Venice by Mary Shelley From The World of Venice: On Women by Jan Morris From The Classic Italian Cookbook: Preface, Italian Cooking: Where Does It Come From?, The Italian Art of Eating, Restaurants, The Bacaro Experience, Gelati Venice in Fall and Winter by Muriel Spark From Embassy to Constantinople: To Lady Mar by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu From The Enchanted April: VI, VIII by Elizabeth von Arnim From Roadside Songs of Tuscany: The Ballad of Saint Zita, A Tuscan Lullaby by Francesca Alexander From Casa Guidi Windows: Casa Guidi Windows, Bellosguardo by Elizabeth Barrett Browning From Romola: Proem From The Stones of Florence: V From Italy: The Places in Between: Siena From Images and Shadows: La Foce & from War in Val D’Orcia: An Italian War Diary 1943-1944 by Iris Origo From A Valley in Italy: The Many Seasons of a Villa in Umbria: I, VI by Lisa St. Aubin de Terán Umbrian Spring by Patricia Hampl From Florence Nightingale in Rome: Letter VI From Dispatches from Europe to the New York Tribune, 1846-1850: Dispatch 14, Dispatch 19, Dispatch 30 From Middlemarch: The Wedding Journey by George Eliot “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton From Rome and a Villa: Fountains by Eleanor Clark From A Time in Rome: The Smile by Elizabeth Bowen From The Light in the Piazza: Introduction & “The White Azalea” by Elizabeth Spencer From Pleasure of Ruins by Rose Macaulay From The Bay of Noon: I, IV, VIII by Shirley Hazzard From Torregreca: Life, Death, Miracles: The Setting, A Night at San Fortunato, The Project Realized, Epilogue by Ann Cornelisen From The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Palermo by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison From On Persephone’s Island: A Sicilian Journal: Prologue, Winter by Mary Taylor Simeti