Amalia and Guido are a young couple whose dream of a happy life together is broken by the outbreak of the Second World War. Amalia stays in Milan, juggling the bombings and the no less pressing problems of daily survival. Guido, instead, as commander in the Italian Army, leads an epic crossing in the Sahara desert and manages to bring his soldiers to safety, facing a thousand adversities. The solid mutual love, strengthened also by the birth of a little girl, will accompany them on...

ForewordAmalia is a heroin, a mother and a wife: she retraces the events of her family through three generations. She welcomes their inheritance in a hard struggle to survive between a Country's rural age at its sunset and a working-class Milan in which the war is perceived by apocalyptic aerial bombardments and alarm sirens. Of the war she talks about the anxiety and the horror: she faces losses and mourning with an aching and courageous heart, with the determinati...

Amalia is a heroin, a mother and a wife: she retraces the events of her family through three generations. She welcomes their inheritance in a hard struggle to survive between a Country's rural age at its sunset and a working-class Milan in which the war is perceived by apocalyptic aerial bombardments and alarm sirens. Of the war she talks about the anxiety and the horror: she faces losses and mourning with an aching and courageous heart, with the determination to build a future for her and...

A wholly charming, sweetly funny story of one young good-hearted Italian man. It's about life, bicycles, the joy of the journey and the simple beauty of a life well-lived.'Witty, moving and profound, this is the most enjoyable story I have read this year; a book to be treasured.' toowoomba ChronicleLuigi's Freedom Ride is a charming treat of a novel - as sunny, light and enjoyable as a strawberry gelato eaten in an Italian piazza on a summer's day....

A huge international bestseller, this heartbreaking tale of a tiny Italian village during two World Wars will stay with you forever.Among the olive groves and vineyards of southern Italy, a boy and a girl are born, moments apart. Far away in the trenches of World War I, their fathers have just died. Now all the men in Vitantonio’s family have been wiped out – all twenty-one. All except him.Growing up together, war seems far away for the two children. But Vi...

Now a major motion picture starring Liev Schreiber and Josh Hutcherson!A poignant post-WWII tale of a revitalizing love found too late that follows the fleeting connection between an Italian countess and an injured, aging American colonel in Italy**—a** love story that inspires light and hope, while only darkness lies ahead.In the fall of 1948, Ernest Hemingway made his fir...

'Elegantly written, full of wit and charm, this is travel writing at its very best' Orlando FigesIn the summer of 1849, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy's legendary revolutionary hero, fled Rome and led 4,000 of his men hundreds of miles through Umbria and Tuscany, then across the Apennines, Italy's mountainous spine, toward the refuge of the Venetian Republic. After thirty-two exhausting days of skirmishes and adventures, only 250 survivors reached the Adriatic coast.

A gripping and moving first novel by one of the world's best-loved writers for children.From much-loved author Shirley Hughes comes a thrilling World War II novel for children aged 10 and up. It is 1944 and Florence, Italy, is occupied by Nazi German forces. The Italian resistance movement has not given up hope, though – and neither have Paolo and his sister, Constanza. Both are desperate to fight the occupation, but what can two siblings do against a whole army wi...

Enzo Secchi, harbourmaster for Massawa, Eritrea's main port, is a loyal Italian colonial servant. He takes pride in running the docks, enjoys the occasional drink with his gregarious friend Salvatore, colonel of the local Italian garrison, and listens to Caruso in his spare time. But he is lonely and when Salvatore suggests he find an Eritrean housekeeper to cook, clean - and maybe share his bed - Enzo takes the plunge and advertises. Salvatore's own tastes run to the young and nubile, but...

Based on the evidence of survivors and eye-witnesses, Colonel Liuzzi's book isa soldier's appraisal of one of the worst atrocities committed by the Wehrmachtin the European theatre of conflict in the Second World War.This moving work catalogues the annihilation of the Acqui Division on Kefalonia inSeptember 1943 and is an emotional tribute to those men.

After being taken prisoner at Tobruk and transported to Italy, the author was determined to escape and learnt Italian by talking to the sentries. His first escape lasted just one week. He then joined a tunnel party and escaped again. After six weeks on the run he was offered shelter in a Tuscan hilltop village, Montebenichi. There he enjoyed five months of freedom, living the lifestyle and ancient customs of these peasant people.While attempting to re-join the Allied armies, Frank and two ...

In Merry Christmas Don Camillo the author's Christmas stories appear alongside his war-time experiences in the prison camps of Germany and Poland, out of which he formed the polemic that would underwrite his work.Included are many tales new to English-speaking readers and some of the best that Guareschi ever wrote. For Christmas is the time when conflict between the communist mayor and the village priest ceases and they are brought together in the very ground of their souls.