Italy

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack and journeys from Hammerfest to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia....

When, near the end of the Seven Years War, Edward Carlisle’s ship Dartmouth was lost on the shoals inside Cape Henry, he envisaged himself settling down to the life of a wealthy gentleman in Virginia’s capital, Williamsburg, with his wife Chiara.

Whether you’re a student of Italian history looking for a refresher or a brand-new learner looking for an introduction, this book is a concise, easy-to-follow overview of the major players, events, and forces in Italian history, from antiquity to today....

What if you were flying into war with barely three weeks of training? What if your first dogfight ended with your guns still on safety? What if a single wrong turn landed you in a prison camp halfway across Europe, unsure if you'd ever see home again?

While they were indeed ostentatious, calculating, worldly, cruel - and even, occasionally, murderous - you may be surprised to find that the Borgias were not terribly different from other powerful and ambitious families of their day....

The Italian Fascist dictator Mussolini was killed in 1945, his body exhibited upside down in Milan before an angry crowd. The repudiation by the people of the dictator who had led them to disaster was complete. But his story did not end there. The Duce continued to live on thanks to a legacy...

For the Allied armies fighting their way up the Italian boot in early 1944, Rome was the prize that could only be won through a massive offensive....

In one furious week of fighting in December 1943, the First Canadian Infantry Division took Ortona, Italy, from elite German paratroopers ordered to hold the medieval port at all costs....

Bloomsbury presents Blood and Power by John Foot, read by Daniel Philpott. 'Clear, cool, plainly written and devastating’ Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary Supplement A major history of the rise and fall of Italian fascism: a dark tale of violence, ideals and a country at war. In the...

Rome - The Rise and Fall is designed as a bitesize, concise but easy-to-listen retelling of what happened to one of the greatest empires in history....

On July 10, 1943, two great Allied armadas of over 2,000 ships readied to invade Sicily. This was Operation Husky....

Set in the court of Urbino in 1507, Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier presents an invaluable look at court life and culture during the Renaissance. Over four nights of dialogue, the book explores the key question, ‘What should a courtier be like?’ Listen for more....

The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice, and vicious cruelty - all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family lived when the Renaissance was coming into its full flowering in Italy. Examples of infamy...

The Unification of Italy: The History of the Risorgimento and the Conflicts that Unified the Italian Nation chronicles the turbulent events and wars that unified Italy, and the struggle to maintain the new nation....

Once upon a time, there was a tower on a hill, beyond the dark trees, somewhere north. An octagonal tower on two levels: glass upstairs and stone below, beneath a steep slate roof – a folly, it was said.

Trace the dramatic European history of a modest river settlement that evolved into the crucible of Italian unification. Perfect for your morning commute or as immersive travel preparation, this architectural and political journey reveals how ancient Roman grids transformed into a sweeping...

In an attempt to appeal to the Medici family during the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli outlines the way to acquire and retain political power, and how great men should behave in a princely government....

Naples '44 is an unflinching autobiographical account of a year in Naples after the armistice and Allied landings in Sorrento in 1943. Working as a British counterintelligence officer under the Allied occupation, Lewis documents the rich pageant of life in the city and its surrounding areas....

An unprecedented portrait of the Renaissance-era Borgia family and their storied milieu, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tudors “A vivid and at times startling reappraisal of one of the most notorious dynasties in history . . . If you thought you knew the Borgias, this book...

The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in northeast Italy in a war that need never have happened....