Francescos Italy

Following the success of Francesco's Venice, Francesco da Mosto ventures further afield, this time taking in all of Italy. As he visits the spectacular lakes and fashionable cities of the north and passes through the hills of Tuscany before heading south towards Rome, Naples, and Palermo, he celebrates the country's art and culture--its cathedrals, churches, palaces, opera houses, paintings, sculpture, music, and cuisine. Introducing us to many of the figures who populate the country's rich and vibrant history, his journey also takes in Italian society as it is today. Splendidly illustrated with John Parker's breathtaking color photos and enlivened with marvelous anecdotes about his family and the fascinating characters he meets along the way, Francesco's Italy is the story of both the country we all know and love and the secret Italy only an insider can reveal.

Francesco da Mosto follows his bestselling books on Venice and Italy with his personal quest for the authentic flavours and food of Venice. In this superbly illustrated book Francesco invites us into his family's kitchen in his 16th-century Palazzo in the heart of the city where he acts as the perfect guide to the unique culinary character of traditional Venetian cooking. Francesco shows us how to prepare 150 classic Venetian recipes ranging from Antipasti, sauces, soups and fish, to meats, pasta and puddings. He demonstrates how Venetian food is a fabulous fusion of ingredients brought together over centuries as merchants and traders travelled the Mediterranean. The ancient broeto (stock) and mollusc soups testify to this, as does the richness and variety of dishes based on fish, roasts, grills, tasty deep fried delicacies and sauces. Each chapter is introduced with the history and origins of the recipes and throughout there are personal reminiscences by Francesco of his first encounters with his favourite dishes. As Francesco is keen to tell, his passion for cooking authentic Venetian food comes from home: 'When I start talking about cooking, it is impossible to forget my father, his love and imagination for all things culinary. He has never feared unusual combinations of ingredients and seasonings, and I have always been a willing guinea pig.'

Four old friends confront their darkest secrets in this fantasy steeped in nostalgia, folklore, religion, and the seductive landscape of Southern Italy—by the Italian Neil Gaiman. “A tale of adventure, mystery, friendship and heart-wrenching beauty that will make you re-examine what is holy, what is true, and what is beyond the realm of possibility.” —BookPage Four old school friends have a pact: to meet up every year in the small town in Puglia they grew up in. Art, the charismatic leader of the group and creator of the pact, insists that the agreement must remain unshakable and enduring. But this year, he never shows up. A visit to his house increases the friends’ worry: Art is farming marijuana. In Southern Italy doing that kind of thing can be very dangerous. They can’t go to the Carabinieri so must make enquiries of their own. This is how they come across the rumors about Art—bizarre and unbelievable rumors that he miraculously cured the local mafia boss’ daughter of terminal leukemia. And among the chaos of his house, they find a document written by Art, “The Book of Hidden Things”, that promises to reveal dark secrets and wonders beyond anything previously known. Set in the beguiling and seductive world of Southern Italy, Francesco Dimitri’s first novel in English is a story friendship, landscape, love, betrayal, and mystery that will entrance fans of Elena Ferrante, Neil Gaiman, and Donna Tartt.

Mantegna; humanist, geometrist, archaeologist, of great scholastic and imaginative intelligence, dominated the whole of northern Italy by virtue of his imperious personality. Aiming at optical illusion, he mastered perspective. He trained in painting at the Padua School where Donatello and Paolo Uccello had previously attended. Even at a young age commissions for Andrea’s work flooded in, for example the frescos of the Ovetari Chapel of Padua. In a short space of time Mantegna found his niche as a modernist due to his highly original ideas and the use of perspective in his works. His marriage with Nicolosia Bellini, the sister of Giovanni, paved the way for his entree into Venice. Mantegna reached an artistic maturity with his Pala San Zeno. He remained in Mantova and became the artist for one of the most prestigious courts in Italy – the Court of Gonzaga. Classical art was born. Despite his links with Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna refused to adopt their innovative use of colour or leave behind his own technique of engraving.

This volume integrates the theme of Spain in Italy into a broad synthesis of late Renaissance and early modern Italy by restoring the contingency of events, local and imperial decision-making, and the distinct voices of individual Spaniards and Italians.

Francesco Mazzei hails from Calabria - the toe on Italy's boot and the region noted for producing n'duja (a spicy, spreadable pork sausage). Like n'duja, Mazzei has come to prominence in the last few years impressing fellow chefs, bloggers and critics alike. From making ice cream at his uncle's gelateria at the age of nine to working at London's prestigious Dorchester Hotel and on the pastry sections at Hakkasan and Yautcha, Mazzei has led a varied career that has straddled Rome, Edinburgh, London, Bangkok (where he opened an Italian restaurant at the Royal Sporting Club) and Calabria. He opened L'Anima in 2008, which became one of the leading lights of London's collection of Italian restaurants - 'Many lay claim to being number one Italian restaurant, but Francesco Mazzei's L'Amina has the edge' (The Observer, 2013). Signature dishes at L'Anima - such as Charcoal scallops with n'duja and salsa verde and Spit roast leg of lamb with cannellini beans and black cabbage - offer prime examples of a style that marries rustic Calabrian flavours with Modern European precision. His next project opens in Autumn 2015 with the relaunch of Sartoria in Mayfair. This, his first book, is a straightforward '80 terrific southern Italian recipes' with an introduction to the food of Southern Italy.

In recent years Gian Francesco Malipiero has been recognised increasingly widely as one of the most original and strangely fascinating Italian composers of the early 20th century. He was the teacher of Maderna and Nono, and was revered by (among many others) Dallapiccola, who even called him the most important (musical) personality that Italy has had since the death of Verdi . He was also a key figure in the revival of the long- neglected music of Italy's great past, and himself edited what remains the only virtually complete edition of the surviving compositions of Monteverdi. The present book not only provides the first monographic survey of Malipiero's life, times and music to appear in English, but covers the subject more comprehensively than any previous publication in any language. Dr Waterhouse draws on hitherto unpublished documents, and with the help of numerous musical examples, analyses the composer's works, style and idiosyncratic personality.