Book Description
This is a lavishly illustrated tour through fifty magnificent villas and palaces built by the Italian aristocracy. From peaceful country retreats in Tuscany and the Veneto and impressive urban residences in Rome and Siena to fortresslike castles and grand villas in Trieste and Sicily, this book showcases the works of some of the most famous artists and architects of all time. Palladio, Raphael, and Veronese, among others, each contributed to create the most divine and otherworldly atmospheres ever to grace Italian art and architecture. In these pages, one is permitted behind the often imposing gates and facades to get a glimpse of a lifestyle that seems almost unimaginable in the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful book to enhance any library!.......1998-05-17
Italian Splendor is simply splendid, and much more than just a coffee table show-off. It is a beautifully produced book, dominated (as it should be) by the wonderful photography of Roberto Schezen.
The descriptions by art expert Ralph Toledano are succinct and respectful and contain some interesting anecdotes. Best of all, they are short enough to just whet the appetite for the photographs.
This book takes you into the fabulous homes of the rich and aristocratic families of Italy and Sicily. From the exquisitely simple La Rocca Pisana, Lonigo to the amazingly rich Palazzo Doria Pamphilij in Rome, each house is different and interesting. Some are astonishing, like the Palazzo, Panza di Biumo, which has a peculiar mixture of ancient frescoes and abstract modern art that works in an odd sort of way. Many are private homes not open to the public, and therefore not able to be viewed in any other way except through this book. Unless you happen to be royalty yourself, of course!
The book was researched over 18 months by Jack Basehart, who must be incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to get to know all of these marvellous houses. Thanks for sharing them with us, Jack....
...And how about turning this book into a documentary series?
PS. If you can get hold of it, I think the hardback is well worth the extra money. This is a book you're going to want to keep.
Book Description
The familiar image of the Italian countryside - hills crowned with groups of tall cypresses and rambling stone houses - dates back to early medieval times. But all the main features of that landscape are still there, particularly in the countryside of Tuscany, where many of the houses featured can be found. The first part of the book explores the essential ingredients of the style, taking in colour and texture and looking at the inimitable mixture of simplicity and comfort evident in furniture and fabrics, and going on to admire the innate gift the Italians have for living outside. The second part looks in more detail at the individual country houses. Whether Rustic, Contemporary, Exotic or Traditional in character, these homes offer myriad ideas for interior decoration that are easily incorporated into other lives and cultures.
Customer Reviews:
Book was so interesting, I accidently purchased one that I already had.......2007-05-31
The seller says I will receive a credit, and allowed me to return the book. It is a nice book, not exceptional; good addition to references.
Average customer rating:
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Italian Villas
Ovidio Guaita
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
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ASIN: 0789208040 |
Book Description
Roman in origin, the villa evolved from serving as a rural and farming center to a stately country residence. Over time the villa's agricultural function became secondary to a new ideal-a place for intellectual leisure and healthy country living. As a result, the new dwelling had to reflect a cultivated design as did its landscaping. Villas were no longer the work of unskilled laborers but of gifted architects, the best known of which is Andrea Palladio, whose style remains influential today.
In this fascinating volume, the author describes and illustrates 250 of the most remarkable villas from the 600-year-old tradition, some well-known houses, others generally overlooked. Presented here are panoramas and details of grand country villas and magnificent suburban estates, each with its own charm and history, and each of which contributes to a style that is still imitated in our century. The illustrations and text by Ovidio Guaita, representing decades of work, are grouped by region, north to south. Enriching the coverage, each chapter includes a profile of a personality-architect, builder, artist, or patron-whose work had a lasting influence on the culture of the villa.
Supplementing the color photographs of exteriors and interiors are architectural drawings of houses and maps. The appendices offer a glossary, a bibliography, and a listing of villas that may be visited
This splendid book should be of great appeal to those interested in architecture, art history, and travel.
Other Details: 400 illustrations, 300 in full color.
Customer Reviews:
Vibrant Villas.......2005-04-23
This is a very informative and interesting book. The pictures though well executed are not as vivid as I expected, I don't know if it's because of the paper used or the exposer, they just don't pop vividly off the page like you often see in books of this price but they are well done and are clear. Having said that the villas covered are great and the picture ARE well executed, all the major areas of Italy are covered and the villas chosen are the best. I really did like this book, it's just that I have owned such fine books, I expect alot, but I do highly recomment the book to anyone interested the subject, it is a fine book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Book Description
Opening up their ancestral homes, the owners of these preserved and fully-functional estates now offer you a key to the hidden splendors of the Italian countryside. A detailed appendix provides all the practical information you'll need for planning your visits. Taking you off the beaten track of tourist Italy, Italian Country Hideaways invites you to the most unforgettable private villas, castles, fortresses, and farmhouses which you can actually stay. Tuscany and Umbria are divided into a number of sub-regions based on cuisine and culture as well as geography. An introduction to each region's local food and wine, sites, festivals, and other points of interest is followed by a selection of unique estates memorable for their meals, decor, architecture, grounds, and history. Opening up their ancestral homes, the owners of these preserved and fully-functional estates now offer you a key to the hidden splendors of the Italian countryside. A detailed appendix provides all the practical information you'll need for planning your visits, including a complete contact information, prices, amenities included, and dates of availability, plus helpful facts and advice on transportation, seasonal considerations, and making reservations.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful book! .......2006-03-27
This was such a fun book to read and the photography is absolutely beautiful! Italy is much more fun off the beaten path anyway...and I'm so glad to see more and more books that take the traveler to the unknown places!
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe for the Senses - A Photographic Journal"
Behind Italy's Curtain.......2005-05-02
A beautiful book that takes travelers to places in Italy that are not generally publicized. An excellent travel guide.
Seeing the romantic heart of this beautiful country........2001-07-25
An excellent guide that takes you off the beaten tourist trap path. This warm and wonderful book invites you to the most unforgettable private villas, castles, fortresses, and farmhouses-places most of which you can actually stay. This book also is a good introduction to each region's local food and wine, sites, festivals, and other points of interest. The book continues to a selection of unique estates memorable that are known for their meals, architecture, grounds, and history. Opening this book is like the owners of these preserved and fully functional estates opening up their ancestral homes many of whom actually do and this book shows you how. The book further lays a full featured and detailed appendix providing all the practical information you'll need for planning your visits, including complete contact information, prices, amenities, and dates of availability, plus helpful facts and advice on transportation, seasonal considerations, and making reservations. Ever think of traveling to Italy and seeing the romantic heart of this beautiful country. This is the book you will need. ...
Plan your trip around this book.......2000-12-22
This is not only a beautiful book, with gorgeous pictures of Tuscany's castles and countryside, but also provides an excellent service by relaying contact information for all of the castles profiled in the book. My husband and I stayed at Castello di Ripa D'orcia this past fall and it was the highlight of our Italy vacation. We chose the castle as our base since the pictures were so magnificent--and we were not disappointed. It was well off the beaten path and it was the only time during our vacation that we were exposed to a real slice of Italy without the onslaught of tour buses that seemed to invade many of the other small villages in the area. If you are planning a trip to Italy, I highly recommend that you comb through this book and choose one of the country estates to stay in. It will make your trip much more memorable and enjoyable.
Rich resource to discover hidden Italian inn splendors.......2000-06-19
This is a wonderful Italian guide book that provides the reader a selection of off-the-beaten- track inns in the very scenic and culturally rich regions of Tuscany and Umbria. We used Ms Hurst's "Italian Country Hideaways" to book a glorious stay at a 19th century, castle-estate in Umbria. Her description of the Titignano estate accurately captured its atmosphere, our stay there was the highlight of our Italian vacation.
The audience for this book is anyone who has an appreciation for Italy and is looking for information to go beyond the typical tourist staples of Italy, i.e. Rome, Venice and Florence. Ms Hurst impeccable research provides the reader a rich resource to discover the hidden splendors that a non-native Italian tourist would not find. The books starts with a short introduction in which Ms Hurst describes her criteria for featuring the 30 unique inns. The text is well written by someone who knows her subject and obviously enjoyed doing her research. "Italian Country Hideaways" is filled with splendid photos that aptly portrays the scenic and immensely civilized Tuscany and Umbria regions and its featured inns. In essence its a tourist guide and coffee table book in one. Included is all the prerequisite information on how to contact (phone, fax and email addresses) the inns. The only quip I have is the lack of an updated map, it would have been helpful to provide an idea where these inns are relative to the say Florence and Rome. Otherwise, this is a great travel resource for anyone contemplating a trip to the Tuscany region and who wants to interact with the local culture.
Amazon.com
Lynne Rossetto Kasper's authoritative first book, The Splendid Table, explored the food and culture of Emilia-Romagna, Italy's culinary heartland. In The Italian Country Table, a collection of 200 regional recipes gathered from farmhouse cooks, Kasper once again provides cultural investigation and authentic, workable recipes. The resulting cookbook-cum-chronicle will appeal to anyone seeking delicious, down-to-earth dishes and an introduction to cherished culinary traditions.
Covering every course of an Italian meal--from antipasti through pasta to vegetables and, of course, dessert--the book weaves recipes with vignettes exploring, for example, Puglia's ritual drying of winter tomatoes. Included also are notes on buying tips, special cooking techniques such as glazing, and discussions of culinary moment, like the nature of a true risotto Milanese. The immediately inviting recipes include such temptations as Mushrooms Stuffed with Radicchio and Asiago, Hot and Spicy Eggplant Soup, Leg of Lamb Glazed with Balsamic and Red Wine, and Espresso Ricotta Cream with Espresso Chocolate Sauce. Kasper also offers a chapter on focaccia, pizza, and bread, as well as menus, shopping sources, and a useful discussion of ingredients. (Taste before you buy, and then pause, she advises. "Aftertaste can reveal how a food's been stored, careless production, or foods going from mature to over the hill.") Concluding with a guide to Italian guest farms, folk life museums, and places to eat and shop, the book is a comprehensive introduction to basic but inspired home cooking and the traditions that both contain and nurture it. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
If you dream of Italy -- and who does not? -- be prepared to fall in love with this extraordinary cookbook. Written by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, author of The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food (winner of both the James Beard and Julia Child/IACP Cookbook-of-the-Year Awards), it is every bit the equal of its celebrated predecessor.
Read its exuberant pages, eat its lusty dishes, and you enter a landscape vibrant with rural life. You are one with the terrain. In some sense, you are home. That, of course, is the miracle of Italy -- no matter where we come from, we want to be a part of it. And the miracle of The Italian Country Table is its ability to take us there.
And what a journey! You will never be as impatient to get into your kitchen as when you are planning a meal from this book. Two hundred recipes, personally collected from home cooks throughout the length and breadth of Italy, will keep calling you back.
Who could resist the "Gatto" di Patate, a mashed-potato "lasagne" from the Neapolitan countryside? Or a Tuscan Mountain Supper of warm beans tossed with an herbed tomato sauce and eaten with tart greens? Or Pasta of the Grape Harvest, a Sicilian dish of grapes, red wine, orange zest, spices, pistachios and linguine? Or Chocolate Polenta Pudding Cake?
Kasper, host of Public Radio's The Splendid Table, is a master teacher who thinks about cooking in a way that is radically distinctive. Her chapter on tomatoes and tomato sauces, a treasure by itself, will change the way you think about them -- and cook them -- forever. Her guide to buying and saucing pasta contains more useful facts than many books that devote themselves to pasta exclusively.
Kasper, the grandchild of Italian immigrants, describes herself as someone with a love of lingering "in places where life changes slowly." This personal book abounds with stories of artisans, farmers and family. It is a portrait of Italian country life.
Where you read The Italian Country Table, cook from it or use it to plan a trip (there is an appendix that lists guest farms, country hotels, restaurants and museums), you have only to turn its pages to be transported to a rustic Italy that few of us know, but all of us long for.
* 16 pages of finished dishes in full color
* 50 black-and-white photographs of country life
Customer Reviews:
Just not that great.......2007-07-23
This book was recommended to me by an Italian friend when I asked for a cookbook recommendation that could serve as sort of an Italian cuisine bible. Over the last 4 years, every recipe I've tried as seemed to be time consuming to make and slightly disappointing to eat.
I'm planning to buy 1 or 2 Biba books to replace this one.
You've gotta try this one.......2007-03-07
My copy of this book, battered from much use, is one of the best cookbooks I've ever found. Full of wonderful recpies and variations of recipes, anecdotes and information about country cooks and food artisans,a great discussion of foods and pastas, several menu suggestions and a list of sources for hard-to-find items. Everything I've made from this book has been spectacular. I heartily recommend it.
great gift.......2006-01-13
I bought this cookbook for my recently retired father who has discovered a love for cooking (after 30 years of preparing the same 3 dishes). Just days after he recieved the book, he called me raving that he and my mother loved it, that the first dish he made (chicken balsamico) was an 11 or 12 on a scale of 10. Since then he has tried many more recipes and they've all been sucessful and delicioso.
My favorite cookbook, bar none. .......2005-10-31
GOOD READ, GREAT RECIPES
How I adore this cookbook. I have a lot of cookbooks, and I always reach for this one first. First of all, you can read it like a novel. LRK's stories are wonderful, and hearing the origins -- anthropological, agricultural, familial, anecdotal --is really fun for a literary foodie type (like me).
THE SIMPLE-TO-COMPLEX CONTINUUM
But my appreciation of this book goes way beyond its bedside appeal. It's my first, best resource in the kitchen, too. I've noticed a few of the other reviewers found the recipes a little complex, and I'd like to address that. It's true that some are multi-step and use a lot of dishes. It's true that, say, the Tyrolean Pot Roast (*drool*) might take a couple tries before it comes out letter-perfect. But let me balance that by saying that:
SIMPLE
(1) there are plenty of recipes so simple you'll find yourself using them every night. Like string beans with olive oil, salt and pepper (optional raw garlic halved and rubbed on the sides of the bowl). It's one of those foundational recipes accessible enough for a novice cook, and the technique may be applied to many vegetables.
CLEAR
(2) Even in Rossetto Kasper's more complicated recipes are not tricky because she explains them so well. It's really hard to take traditional recipes passed down through generations without measurements, cooking by feel, and in another language, no less -- and translate them into a coherent step-by-step set of instructions. That's exactly what Rossetto Kasper has done, though -- she takes recipes a la nonna (grandma recipes) and converts them into accessible text that any home cook can achieve if they really try.
IDIOT-PROOF (SORT OF)
(3) Most of Rosetto Kasper's recipes are really forgiving. She'll point out where you can make substitutions. For example, if you have run out of rosemary, but your basil plant is temptingly available in sun-drenched glory, chances are good that Rossetto Kasper will point out that you can switch them just fine, and that traditional Italian home cooks often do, according to the seasons, regional differences, and the whim of the cook. I've screwed up so many of her recipes the first time, and all my mistakes have been not just edible, but good. Good enough that I was more than interested in trying a second time, for even better result. Example: The Polenta Chocolate Cake. I defy anyone to make that cake not taste incredibly good -- you'd have to do something really drastic, like omit the chocolate or pour ketchup over it. The first time I made it, it was for a giant family dinner. I was stressed and goofed up the cooking time (probably three or four other things). My family moaned like they were having a giant collective foodgasm. It's just really that good. Sure, I made it correctly after that, but it's good to know if you don't always manage to color in the lines, all is not lost.
AUTHENTICITY
More thoughts: her authentic recipes are really authentic. I made her ring-shaped currant/anise seed bread (forget the name) a few years ago for the first time and happened to bring it when I took my grandmother to visit one of her friends. This tiny, very old Italian woman flipped out when she saw it because it reminded her so much of something her own mother made, with a recipe "from the old country." (I know it's a cliché, okay, but that's what she said! She meant it!) The she tasted it and just about cried because it was JUST like her (long dead) mother used to make. Since she never knew the recipe, she hadn't had it since the last time the last (long dead) old woman in her family made it. That's the kind of food you get from this book. Making old ladies that happy is really, really special.
MORE AUTHETICITY
I had a similar experience with the Pane Dolce di Zucca (Pumpkin Bread -- nothing like American pumpkin bread, and actually, I generally use butternut squash, per Rossetto Kasper's suggestion). My husband had colleagues from Italy here in the United States for a month or so. They were kind of homesick. I sent some of this bread in to work with my husband one day and they went wild when they tasted it -- apparently it's a country recipe that they'd all had from their families, but wasn't available commercially, and that they hadn't had in a very long time since they lived in the city now for work. They were absolutely mystified as to how this American (me) managed to figure it out. Not until they met me and heard my lousy Italian grammar did they believe my husband wasn't secretly married to a little old Italian grandmother, heh. The book is like one giant Italian Proust Madeleine.
NUTRTITION
This book really emphasizes fresh, organic, whole foods.
FOR ALL LEVELS OF COOKS
I think this book would be excellent for a novice cook or a very experienced cook (or anyone in between). I loved it for the authentic recipes I've never come across in other texts, for the stories, and for the clarity of the directions. I would have loved it as a beginner cook because there's plenty to make that's not intimidatingly complex, and there are pictures. The sections on tomato sauce, broth, and sourcing/selecting ingredients would be extremely useful for a cook who was just starting out, or perhaps just moving from survivial cooking to loftier, more ambitious cooking.
RECIPES I LOVE
Crackly Apply Meringue Cake, Rosemary Pear Tart, Chicken Balsamico, Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, Pork with Peppers, Marinated Trout, Melting Cavolo Nero (Kale), Chickpea All Souls Soup (a basic recipe that can be used for many different beans), different things with Farro (wheat berries) -- and my goodness, I can't remember what all else. Suffice to say, the spine is cracked, the pages are wrinkled and stained, and it's just the best.
Superior Survey of Rural Italian Cuisine. Not Simple!.......2005-07-26
`The Italian Country Table' is Lynne Rossetto Kasper's second book, a follow-up to the `won every award in the book' title, `The Splendid Table', which is also the name of Ms. Kasper's National Public Radio show which I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing.
It is a great pleasure to see a book this good in such a crowded field. Ms. Kasper has narrowed the field a bit by focusing on `country' recipes. By doing this, she is outflanking the Hazan / Bastianich / Batali / Bugialli / Scicolone crowd and even sidestepping the footprints of the great Elizabeth David's `Italian Food'. Instead, her primary competition is from Susan Herrmann Loomis, who has made a business out of `farmhouse cooking', Vincent Schiavelli, who concentrates on Sicily (and to whom Ms. Kasper gives an acknowledgment), and Elizabeth Romer of `The Tuscan Year'. As Ms. Romer and Senor Schiavelli spend more time on memoir material than they do on culinary content, the real comparison is with Ms. Loomis, who is at a disadvantage in that her home base is in France rather than in Italy.
As Ms. David discovered in 1954, Italian cooking in the hinterlands can be both utterly simple or it can be incredibly complex, especially for dishes designed for major celebrations. The star of this book may very well be its vegetarian timbale made for weddings. In Italian, it is even named as a wedding dish, `Timballo Matrimoniale'. The joker behind this recipe is that it is not a genuine rural Italian dish. It is the invention of the author based on the famous dish that typically contains three or four different varieties of meat. I have seen a timbale made twice. The first was on Mario Batali's show of three years ago, `Mario Eats Italy'. The second, and much more accessible version was in Stanley Tucci's movie, `Big Night', where the chef, played by `Adrian Monk' himself, Tony Shaloub, makes two of these monster pies or `molds'. Ms. Kasper's version is true to the heritage of this dish, as it involves six subassemblies, a page and a half of ingredients, and two pages of procedure.
This complicated dish is not a singularity in this book. There are genuinely rustic `enhanced' versions of many other Italian specialities, such as a very jazzed up version of the Caprese salad.
While `The Splendid Table' limited itself to Emilia-Romagna, the current book includes recipes from the Alps to Sicily, although the larger number seem to come from Lazio (Rome) and north of Rome. I am especially happy to find both simple and complicated recipes here, as it reassures me that the author is not limiting herself to just simple recipes. Although, she does offer some genuinely simple methods for some tasks which may appear difficult at first, such as making homemade soft pasta.
Ms. Kasper's method, almost identical to the one I have seen Sr. Batali do on numerous occasions, is the classic eggs in the well, with the added recommendation that we eschew the mechanical pasta roller and do everything by hand.
I am really hard pressed to find any general, substantive difference between the book by Ms. Loomis and the book by Ms. Kasper. I will give a small edge to Ms. Kasper for the wider range of recipe complexity, more genuinely personal connection to the material, and for the better digressions into the history of some Italian culinary traditions. Ms. Kasper also opens a window to a true taste of `Italian Kitsch' when she digresses on local museums of recently antiquated farm tools and homemade toys.
Both books cover the full range of subjects, although Ms. Kasper seems to be a bit more focused on important recipes. Ms. Kasper includes all the typical subjects in her chapters, which are:
Antipasti / Light Meals
Pasta (sauces without tomatoes)
Pasta Meets the Tomato
Rice, Grains, and Beans
Soup
Poultry, Meats, and Fish
Vegetables and Salads
Focaccia, Pizza and Breads of Ingenuity
Desserts
Menus
Ingredients
Both books also give very good press to the Italian practice of boarding tourists in farmhouses as a method to provide income to local farmers in the face of the new European Union agricultural regulations.
Ms. Kasper has excellent appendices on mail order sources for foods and seeds, plus the contacts for a wide selection of restaurants and farm boarding establishments in Italy. She also has a carefully identified `Partial Bibliography' which concentrates on personal and regional writings on Italian food. The `big' books from Elizabeth David, Marcella Hazan, and Giuliano Bugialli are not here.
If I were to be copy editing this book, the only suggestion I would make regarding it's layout is that it include a map of Italy's principle provinces and cites and indicate more clearly, with each recipe, from where in Italy the recipe comes.
I do give extra points for the great personal black and white snaps that decorate the sidebars on personal experiences in Italy. I also give extra credit for revealing something about broth making which is new to my understanding of both broth making in general and Italian brodo's in particular. I am not fond of the longish cooking time for this broth, but I take Ms. Kasper at her word that this is how they actually make `Brodo di Mamma' in Imola.
If you are already a big fan of Ms. Loomis' other books, get her `Italian Farmhouse Cookbook'. Otherwise, Ms. Kasper's book seems to be just a little deeper and more authentic, from a spiritual native of Italy.
Customer Reviews:
Highly Recommended Simple and Sophisticated Italian Food.......2004-06-23
`The Italian Country Cook Book' authors Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers are two English chefs who carry a lot of weight in the community of writers on Italian Cuisine. They are one of the first employers of Jamie Oliver and were, I suspect, a strong influence on his style and choice of cuisine. Gray and Roger owe nothing to Oliver's current celebrity. Their reputation is firmly based on doing good Italian food before Jamie came to the limelight.
This is their first and most highly acclaimed book, and the last of their three readily available volumes that I am to review. The book can be viewed on at least three different levels, depending on the reader's level of knowledge of Italian cuisine.
The reader who is innocent of any Italian cuisine outside what they may have seen in the local American Italian restaurant will be quite surprised by the absence of the Italian-American classics such as spaghetti and meatballs, veal Parmesan, lasagna, and chicken Marsala. The better informed reader who has read Lydia Bastianich and watched `Molto Mario' will recognize many true Italian standards such as Panzanella salad, osso bucco, slow-cooked lamb shanks, artichokes alla Giudea, and lots and lots of risotto and polenta recipes. This reader may feel slightly disoriented in that there are very few hints and reminders and pointers about how to complete the various recipes. A perfect example is the Roman recipe for `Carciofi alla Giudea' (Fried artichokes, Jewish style). The recipe in David Downie's authoritative `Cooking the Roman Way' covers three pages while Rogers and Gray take three short paragraphs, occupying a quarter of a page to give the recipe with almost exactly the same ingredients. Part of the difference is that Downie's recipe includes detailed instructions on dealing with and cleaning an artichoke and details on techniques for frying with olive oil. Rogers and Gray dispatch this task in four sentences. In dealing with this book, a second paradigm shift is needed to move from the view of culinary newbie to experienced user of Italian recipes.
As with the fried artichoke example, tips on cooking technique are rare in this book. What is not rare are tips on the selection of ingredients. I can honestly say that this is truly the first book I have seen where the recipes are so simple and the ingredients lists so small that the choice of the proper ingredients is essential to achieving the expected results. Some recipes are so specific that they require olive oil fresh from the harvest in December and January. Oil aged as much as six months will simply be too mild to give the proper brightness to the recipe.
The name of the book `Italian Country' was given to `The River Café Cookbook' when its publication was transplanted from the United Kingdom to the United States. This new title and some few statements in the book give a somewhat misleading picture of the book as a collection of `authentic' recipes from rural Italy. I will just point out that two classic artichoke recipes are well known staples of downtown Rome from antiquity. There are also a few statements about the regional source of some recipes, but these do not make this a treatise on regional Italian cookery. The most important point of view to take with this book is the statement in the first sentence of the introduction which proclaims `... a shared vision (to) cook the food we had eaten in Italian homes but could never find outside Italy...'. A corollary to this vision is that since all the recipes were based on or inspired by Italian home cooking, they are truly easy to do in the British or American kitchen. The only catch is that in spite of the wealth of Italian speciality products available in American megamarts, some critical ingredients may still be a bit difficult to find, and the authors tend to make correct ingredient selection an important part of each recipe. Cavolo nero (black cabbage), for example, a native of Tuscany, has not found its way to my local, well-stocked produce palaces. I also think getting fresh olive oil in January may be a bit of a trick for us colonists. But I will reserve judgment on this until I try next year.
While the book contains many recipes familiar to the journeyman Italian cook, there are also many unusual forms. One favorite is rotolo di spinaci, a rolled pasta akin to strudel with a mushroom, ricotta, and spinach filling. This is one of the rare recipes whose method takes a full page and the accompanying photographs detail the steps in the method. While there are tomatoes aplenty in many recipes, the book has a strongly Northern Italian bent, with the lots of risotto, dried bread, and polenta recipes and relatively few hard pasta recipes. For those who crave spaghetti, take a look at the latest cookbook from the River Café, `Italian Easy from the River Café'. This new volume has close to a dozen spaghetti recipes.
The irony of the book is that in spite of the simplicity of the recipes, this is `graduate level' cooking which expects a fair amount of cooking competence from its readers and a considerable dedication to tracking down the right ingredients. But do not be deterred. The world would be pretty dull if every Italian cookbook covered all the same techniques in the same level of detail. Also do not be deterred by the fairly large number of familiar recipes in this book. Most recipes with common names are different enough for you to learn from the variation. The authors' spaghetti Carbonara, for example, is significantly different from, for example, Mario Batali's recipe.
The styling and photography adds to the joyful feeling of the text without being too obstrusive. And, the translation of Italian dish names is less consistant than it should be in an important book published by Random House.
Highly recommended classic for important Italian recipes.
Same as the London River Cafe Cookbook.......2004-05-11
Be aware that this book is exactly the same as the London River Cafe Cookbook, published in 2003 by Random House.
The cover is different and the name is different, but the books (including the formatting) are exactly the same.
Average customer rating:
- A wonderful combination of story and illustration
- A charming book that will captivate your child.
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Papa Gatto: An Italian Fairy Tale
Ruth Sanderson
Manufacturer: Little Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
European
| Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0316770736 |
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful combination of story and illustration.......2000-04-29
Fairy tale connoisseurs will love this retelling of aclassicItalian fairy tale, little known in [the United States], butdeserving of a place on the bookshelf with Cinderella, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretl.
The story is set back in the days when animals could talk. Papa Gatto, a recently widowed high-ranking feline official in the prince's court, has need of a helper to care for his kittens. He places an ad with the town crier, "you choose your payment, no amount too great."
This lucrative offer draws the attention of a widow with a daughter--lazy, cold-hearted but beautiful Sophia--and a stepdaughter--kind and hardworking Beatrice. The stepmother, sensing easy money, pushes Sophia to accept the position, though she is ill-suited for the work... The whole story is set in a sun-drenched Tuscan village. Papa Gatto is a wonderful combination of story and illustration.
A charming book that will captivate your child........1998-09-29
This is a charming book with wonderful illustrations. An Italian fairy tale that is not often told in this country, this is a fresh story that most children have not heard. The sumptuous illustrations bring the cats to life - the reader can really believe the cats are almost human. And the triumph of patience and kindness over selfishness gives children a positive behavior model. This is a book that will appeal to every imaginative child - not only cat lovers!
Book Description
The first ever guide to this area gets to grips with Milan, international mecca of fashion and shopping, with its awesome art collections and world-famous La Scala opera house. The economic powerhouse of Italy since the Middle Ages, Milan is today a vibrant, frenetic city and Cadogan's discerning listings seek out the best bars, restaurants and clubs in which to party with the locals. But Lombardy has its gentle side too, and this guide reveals idylls along the shores of the famous Italian Lakes, such as the palms, lemon groves, and castles surrounding Lake Garda, and winds through the Renaissance cities of the Lombard plain. Admire the Gonzaga frescoes of Mantua and visit the refined art city of Bergamo, perched on a promontory on the edge of the Alps. The beauty of the area is illustrated in stunning color photographs, and full travel and practical information will make anyone's stay as dreamy as the scenery.
Book Description
The Italian Riviera may not have the recognition of its more famous French equivalent, but as Cadogan's unique guide will show, it has all the ingredients for a breathtaking trip. Explore one of nature's most perfect suntraps, with its Neopolitan climate, diverse landscape and dazzling coastline or drive north to discover the fabulous mountains of northwest Italy. In 2006, the Winter Olympics arrive in Turin and details of new facilities in place for the event are included in this new edition. The key cities range from the glamorous Portofino to the medieval Genoa, home of pesto, noble palaces, art-filled churches and Italy's busiest ports. Along the way, travelers can also take in stylish Santa Margherita, the museum of the Antartic, the biggest aquarium in Europe and charming hilltop towns. Written by expert writers on Italy, this guide brings them both the vibrant and the tranquil sides of the Riviera.
Customer Reviews:
So vividly written, it could be a cure for the winter blues.......2007-01-13
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (1/07)
Being back in USA after the fabulous European trip last month makes me feel vaguely blue and lethargic. It is difficult to muster much enthusiasm for anything when the weather is grey and drab; all that one wants to do is to get under the covers and dream of the Mediterranean sunshine. The good news is that I do believe I found the cure for the winter blahs. Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls have written a number of great travel books, and the last I've read, "Italian Riviera & Piedmont" is no exception.
Their writing summons images of sunny, wonderful Italy. If you open the book at random, the section you stumble upon is bound to make you smile. Let me give you an example: "Specialties of the Riviera, or the Marriage of Popeye and the Olive Oyl..." What a wonderful way to describe Ligurian cuisine. The authors go on and describe not only what kinds of foods are traditionally eaten in the area, but also why this is so. Some of the information will probably be quite surprising to most of the readers. If nothing else, it is bound to make you hungry!
As always, their writing is refreshing and wonderfully insightful, slightly irreverent, always informative and never boring. Take, for example, their brief introduction to the city of Turin: "Detroit without the degradation; the absolutist capital of the Savoys; a stately, masculine Baroque city of porticoed avenues and royal squares; the home of the Holy Shroud, of Juventus, vermouth, an endearingly outrageous Mole and the centre of the black magic in the Mediterranean - Piedmont's capital, Turin (Torino, pop. 900,000) is not your typical Italian city. Positioned midway between the pole and the equator, its winters are colder than Copenhagen's; its most renowned museum is Egyptian. It straddles the Po, so close to its source that the water is almost clean. One of its nicknames is Grissinopoli (`breadstickville')."
Such wonderfully colorful and imaginative descriptions do not take away from down to earth, practical information at all. Facaros and Pauls have obviously mastered the art of form not taking away from the function and function not taking away from the form. The guidebook covers all of the usual, necessary facets of travel. History, art, architecture, food and drink, practical advice on how to get ready for the trip and detailed descriptions of the areas encompassed in this book (Riviera di Ponente, Genoa, Riviera di Levante, Turin, Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta) are all very detailed and exceptionally useful. Even for such a relatively small area the authors included information on over 450 places to stay and over 400 places to eat and drink. The photography section conveys some of the intriguing beauty of the areas visited. Over 20 maps included in the book will prove extremely useful for the individual travelers for sure. They are detailed and very easy to read. At the end of the book authors included a short linguistic section with some useful words and phrases as well as a glossary. And if this book provokes a desire to know more about this particular part of the world, the authors also compiled a great list of suggested further reading.
I would highly recommend "Italian Riviera & Piedmont" to anybody who desires a deeper understanding of Italy, particularly the areas described within. As for myself, I will certainly look for more books written by this talented team.
Book Description
Discover the wealth of diversity along Italy's most glamorous coastline. From the buzz of San Remo to the tranquility of the hilltop towns, this unique guide gives readers the experts' insight and picks out the most charming and stylish places to eat and stay.
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