"In this book, readers will learn about the unique and defining features of Italy. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage young readers as they learn more about the key details of the country including geography, climate, culture, and resources. Compelling questions encourage further inquiry"--

Early one morning, Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vỉgta, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vỉgta's most respected detective. With his characteristic mix of humor, cynicism, compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano goes...

"In skillfully intertwined storylines from the dawn of the twentieth century and the heyday of the Roman Empire, Tasha Alexander's bestselling series brings Lady Emily and her husband to Pompeii, where they uncover a recent crime in the ancient city. Somecorpses lie undisturbed longer than others. But when Emily discovers a body hidden in plain sight amongst the ruins of Pompeii, she sets in motion a deadly chain of events that ties her future to...

At its height, Renaissance Florence was a center of enormous wealth, power, and influence. A republican city-state funded by trade and banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. This enthralling book charts the family's huge influence on the political, economic and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary...

In the tradition of Galileo's Daughter and Brunelleschi's Dome, this exciting story illuminates the captivating world of the late Renaissance-in this case its plagues, remedies, and alchemy-through the life of Leonardo Fioravanti, a brilliant, remarkably forward-thinking, and utterly unconventional doctor. Fioravanti's marvelous cures and talent for self-aggrandizement earned him the adoration of the people, the scorn of the medical establishment,...

"Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends...and a host of dark secrets. From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There...

"Inspector Montalbano investigates two puzzling cases: Within days of each other two women whose only link is being bank employees are kidnapped, drugged, and then released unharmed hours later. However a third wakes is found naked with thirty shallow knife wounds. In an arson case, a shop is burned down and its owner has vanished into thin air"-- The day gets off to a bad start: trying to break up a fight on Marinella beach, Montalbano hits the...

After Mario Puzo wrote his internationally acclaimed The Godfather, he has often been imitated but never equaled. Puzo's classic novel, The Sicilian, stands as a cornerstone of his work—a lushly romantic, unforgettable tale of bloodshed, justice, and treachery. . . .
The year is 1950. Michael Corleone is nearing the end of his exile in Sicily. The Godfather has commanded Michael to bring a young Sicilian bandit named Salvatore...

"In 1944, a wounded British bomber pilot parachuted into German-occupied Tuscany and found refuge in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. Nearly thirty years later his estranged daughter finds a letter addressed to Sofia and embarks on a journey to Tuscany to discover his secrets and a past some would prefer be left undisturbed"--

For twenty-five years, Dr. Pietro Bartolo has run the lone medical clinic on the Italian island of Lampedusa. In that time he has rescued, welcomed, and cared for many of the hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants from the Middle East and Africa who have washed up on the island's shores. In this inspiring account of his life and work, Bartolo shares his quiet dignity, unshakable moral center, and inspirational message-"We can't and we won't be...