Best Sicily Travel Guides

Starting in the capital, Palermo, the couple come across some exciting street food that features tasty Arancini (rice balls stuffed with meat sauce and cheese) to lesser know gems such as Panelle (garbanzo bean fritters), and Sfincione, a thick Sicilian pizza, topped with tomatoes, onions, anchovies, and casciocavallo cheese. KATIE and GIANCARLO CALDESI are the owners of London's Caffé Caldesi, Caldesi in Campagna, and La Cucinca Caldesi cooking school.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “At villa Donnafugata, long ago is never very far away,” writes bestselling author Marlena de Blasi of the magnificent if somewhat ruined castle in the mountains of Sicily that she finds, accidentally, one summer while traveling with her husband, Fernando. In a luminous and tantalizing voice, That Summer in Sicily re-creates Tosca’s life, from her impoverished childhood to her fairy-tale adoption and initiation into the glittering life of the prince’s palace, to the dawning and recognition of mutual love. In her fourth Italian memoir (after The Lady in the Palazzo ), American writer de Blasi utilizes her personal narrative as merely bookends for a larger story. In 1995, De Blasi and her Italian husband sought a place to stay in the Sicilian mountains and were directed to the Villa Donnafugata, a grand hunting lodge populated by widows, farmers and an imperious mistress: Tosca Brozzi.

With hundreds of full-color photographs , hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Sicily truly shows you the country as no one else can. With guidebooks to hundreds of places around the globe available in print and digital formats, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides show travelers how they can discover more. DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: the most maps, photographs, and illustrations of any guide. "Known… for its four-color maps, photos and illustrations, the [DK] Eyewitness Guides are extremely user-friendly for travelers who want their information delivered in a concise, visual way."

Check out Fodor's travel guides to Rome; Venice; Florence & Tuscany; and The Amalfi Coast, Capri & Naples. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times.

Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso took James Shaw back to the sweet memories of his childhood and the Italian family who operated the hometown theater. But James was convinced there was a reason why the Renaissance was born in Tuscany and Italy has given the world Saint Francis, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Galileo and now Benigni, whose film Life Is Beautiful, showed the world that the Italian zest for living can even make a heaven of a hell. And so, after a lifetime of thinking about Italy James became convinced that the way to find out why Italians are the way they are, would be to eat with them at their kitchen tables. And James began seeing their unique human quality that attracts people to Italy and keeps pulling them back again and again. To discover the heart of Italian life, James had to travel back to World War II Italy. Review appeared in the Summer Issue 2012 of. FARMING Magazine. David Kline - Editor. His trip to Tuscany takes him to carefully selected farms where he helps harvest the olive crop. What begins as a romantic pilgrimage for the author soon evolves into a story of the plight of the independent farmer struggling to sell farm products for a fair price. Farmers are turning to creative ways to generate income, inviting guests to share the farming experience and selling directly to the consumer.

British Theatre director Malachi Bogdanov moves to Sardinia with nothing but a Fiat Punto full of his worldly possessions and a few Italian swear words.... A humorous travelogue, cookbook and celebration of Sardinian culture revolving around food, theatre and the rich, diverse tapestry of life in the Med.

St. Mark's Square Tour St. Mark's Basilica Tour Doge's Palace Tour Frari Church Tour St. Mark's to Rialto Walk Rialto to Frari Church Walk St. Mark's to San Zaccaria Walk. Rick produces a best-selling guidebook series, a public television series, and a public radio show, and organizes small-group tours that take over 20,000 travelers to Europe annually. He also contributes to Rick's public television series, produces tours for Rick Steves Audio Europe, and is a regular guest on Rick's public radio show.

Check out Fodor's travel guides to Rome; Venice; Florence & Tuscany; and The Amalfi Coast, Capri & Naples. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times.

When Michelle Damiani dreamed of living in Italy, she imagined her family as it was in Virginia—her husband filling every moment with work, her teenage son experimenting with sarcasm, her daughter smiling at the scent of lilacs, her baby-cheeked son methodically clicking Legos together, and herself hovering over the happiness of them all—only surrounded by ancient cobblestone alleys and the sound of ringing Italian. Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center is the profoundly moving story of Michelle and her family’s adaptation to the people and culture of Spello, Italy. Il Bel Centro will sweep you into the heart of Italy, where for bakers, pants are optional, and a good lunch will take you straight through till dinner. “I so enjoyed reading Michelle Damiani's tumbling expedition into the heart of Italy which brought her and her family into the heart of their own evolving lives.”. Her heart, however, is in Spello, Italy, where she and her family spent a year growing accustomed to being fish out of water, grappling with the hardships of parenting on foreign soil, and ultimately cleaving into the soul of Italian village life. Before that year abroad, Michelle wrote short fiction--one of her stories was recently awarded first place in the Hook Short Fiction contest, juried by author John Grisham.

Full of lighthearted humor, sumptuous food, the wisdom of an Italian mother-in-law, and all the atmosphere of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, this warm and witty memoir follows American-born Katherine Wilson on her adventures abroad. Thanks to a surprising romance—and a spirited woman who teaches her to laugh, to seize joy, and to love—a three-month rite of passage in Naples turns into a permanent embrace of this boisterous city on the Mediterranean. From that moment, Katherine’s education begins: Never eat the crust of a pizza first, always stand up and fight for yourself and your loved ones, and consider mealtimes sacred—food must be prepared fresh and consumed in compagnia . Immersed in Neapolitan culture, traditions, and cuisine, slowly and unexpectedly falling for Salvatore, and longing for Raffaella’s company and guidance, Katherine discovers how to prepare meals that sing, from hearty, thick ragù to comforting rigatoni alla Genovese to pasta al forno, a casserole chock-full of bacon, béchamel, and no fewer than four kinds of cheeses. While Katherine is used to large American kitchens with islands and barstools, she understands the beauty of small, tight Italian ones, where it’s easy to offer a taste from a wooden spoon. And, if you ever plan to visit Naples, tuck this in your suitcase: It’s the best primer I’ve ever read as a guide to this bustling, vibrant southern Italian port city.” —Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker’s Wife. You’ll want to share this book with friends and family over a big bowl of rigatoni alla Genovese .” —Julie Klam, author of Friendkeeping “This thoroughly enjoyable love letter to Naples is a tribute to the author’s irrepressible mother-in-law, a larger-than-life figure who teaches Wilson (and us) not just how to cook a true Neapolitan lasagna complete with tiny meatballs, but how to approach life itself with gusto and a healthy appetite. Read this and you’ll find yourself pining for your very own sequined Italian mother-in-law.” —Luisa Weiss, author of My Berlin Kitchen and founder of The Wednesday Chef “ Only in Naples is a cozy, funny, heartfelt love letter to Katherine Wilson’s adopted city and beloved family-by-marriage, especially her mother-in-law, the gorgeous, indomitable Raffaella, whose cooking fills these pages with luscious ricotta and chewy octopus alike.

This is the most comprehensive book on the paintings and frescoes of Florence ever undertaken, with nearly 2,000 beautifully reproduced artworks from the city's great museums and churches-produced in the same manner as BD&L's The Louvre and The Vatican . "...an art lover's dream come true--a collection of nearly 2,000 images that includes every painting and fresco on display in the Uffizi, the Galleria Palatina of the Pitti Palace, the Accademia and the Duomo, and works from 28 additional museums and churches....It's fascinating to see these treasures of the Western world collected in one volume, with page after page of magnificence, including the works of Uccello, da Vinci, Correggio, Titian, Michelangelo and more. The paintings and frescoes of the birthplace of the Renaissance get a lavish, full-color treatment in this new book from Canadian historian and novelist Ross King, whose previous work includes "Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence. "The next best thing to a Tuscan sightseeing trip is a tour through the pages of "Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 1250-1743"...which opens the doors of the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Duomo and countless Florentine churches to the armchair traveler.

Check out Rick Steves Best of Italy . Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe.