|
|
Cultural holidays in Italy |
recent updates: “The Irish and English in Italy’s Risorgimento
|
|
|
Etruria - Travel, History and Itineraries in Central Italy di Mary Jane Cryan
Donna Stiles The Maremma guide Excerpts from Mary Jane Cryan’s Etruria - Travel, History and Itineraries in Central Italy Preface During the 35 years that I lived in Rome a succession of English newspapers and magazines provided the international community with information and news. For each of these, in turn, I collaborated as a writer turning out regular articles about art, antiques and lifestyle. In those pre-computer and internet days, I pounded out my articles on a typewriter with carbon paper inserted. Mistakes were corrected with a rubber eraser or whitener before racing into the editorial office by bus or subway to hand in my copy before deadline. Russia was home during the Perestroika years where, besides being a “trailing wife” in the Italian business community, I scouted out information and cultural news as staff writer for the first Western-style magazine. Members of the international community often thanked me for hints that helped make Moscow life easier: from the location of new restaurants to the best places to purchase paintings, sculptures, detergents and food. Returning to Italy we traded life in the big city for a calmer lifestyle and larger home in the Viterbo province where we knew there was an abundance of thermal baths, Etruscan sites and local traditions. These beckoned temptingly to be explored and enjoyed but finding them was another matter. Directions and information were as difficult to uncover as they had been in Soviet Russia! As I scoured salvage dealers in surrounding towns for fireplaces and tiles to restore the old palazzo we had purchased, I gathered information and insight. Thanks to local historians and new friends I discovered fascinating stories about the area. Until recently, the only books that gave attention to this part of central Italy were those specialized in archeology. Most English guidebooks ignored the area completely, leading new residents to believe that “civilization” stopped at the northern Roman suburb of Olgiata. The fourth in a series about this area, Etruria-Travel, History and Itineraries in Central Italy wishes to fill this void by giving new information about a part of Italy still to be discovered by mass tourism. Some of the essays, originally written for local Italian magazines, have been adapted for English language visitors. Others were developed from culture lectures presented to university students and cruise ship audiences. A few stories describing local traditions and festivals have been revised and included to show how little life in Northern Lazio has changed over the years. The essays that narrate the area’s little known international connections and history are the fruit of original research and long hours of digging through archives in Italy, England and Ireland to discover information not found in available guidebooks. Visitors’ enjoyment will be increased when they have a deeper understanding of the area’s background and the people who lived here before us. Inspiration comes from Georgina Masson’s almost anthropologic interest in documenting local customs and life. It is only fitting to follow Masson’s lead because it was her Companion Guide to Rome and a sturdy folding map that helped me make the city of Rome my own when I first arrived in Italy in 1965. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Itineraries
Influences
Treasures
People
How to Order Order your signed copy of Etruria Travel, History and Itineraries in Central Italy Click here to purchase a signed copy. Payment options include paypal and US $ check Cost 12 euro with free postage within Italy. Since cost of postage to USA is 8,70 euro for one or two books, make it worthwhile and buy copies of any 2 books (Etruria, Olio e Ricordi in Cucina, Travels to Tuscany ) for 29 euro or $38.50 . Includes first class air mail to USA. To order an e-book copy go to http://www.edizioniarcheoares.it/etruria
First Reviews for Etruria travel, history and itineraries in Central Italy Here’s what they are saying about Mary Jane Cryan’s latest book In the Tyrrhenian coastal part of Central Italy known as Old Etruria, Mary Jane Cryan is a consummate forager--not for mushrooms (though we who live here find plenty of those), but for places and people in time. In Cryan's newest book, Etruria: Travel, History and Itineraries in Central Italy, gardens, castles and fountains hold pride of place. But in addition Cryan, who is a veteran journalist, researcher, lecturer, writer of guidebooks and weaver of historical tales, introduces us to forgotten heros and heroines and a few rotters.
I could not resist turning immediately to the
chapter entitled Early
Americans in Etruria. Who knew that Bernard Berenson had called at the
fabulous Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, an hour north of Rome, while on a
scouting mission to purchase
masterpieces for Isabella Stewart Gardner?
Not all
those to whom she introduces us are as well remembered as art dealer and
connoisseur Berenson, but they are well worth becoming new acquaintances. At
about that same time in the gaslight era when Berenson was snapping up
masterpieces for the woman who gave Boston its extraordinary museum, Don
Alfonso, heir to the Doria Pamphilj fortunes in Rome and Genoa rented that
very palazzo, into which he installed his gorgeous American mistress,
Frances Baldwin of Boston. Frances, who was as beautiful as she
was scandalous, had caught the
princely eye in Rome after she had dumped her estranged husband because he
had shot and killed her lover in Monte Carlo. As Cryan informs us, so exotic
was all this that Gabriele D'Annunzio, who would never shrink from scandal,
gave Frances and her daughter roles in his 1895 novel, Le
Vergine delle Rocce.
Old Etruria, with its extraordinary towns like Civita di Bagnoreggio and Marta, its volcanic lakes and countryside scattered with ancient Roman ruins, still remains surprisingly and delightfully off the usual tourist routes. For those with a taste for discovery, here is your elegant road map, with an evocative cover painted by the American artist Patricia Glee Smith, plus a wealth of interesting photos, including a fat insert in color; links to helpful websites; and, not least, a useful index. Judith Harris
Etruria -
Travel, History and Itineraries in
Central Italy possiede la rara caratteristica di poter esser inquadrato
fra le guide romanzate. Tutti i saggi, infatti, pur basandosi su una
rigorosa ricerca storica e bibliografica, sono allo stesso tempo percorsi da
una notevole carica di verve, talvolta persino da una nota di ironia. Questi
tratti conferiscono al testo un ritmo veloce e appassionante, che rende la
lettura piacevole ed interessante a vari livelli e per un pubblico
eterogeneo. Luoghi e personaggi sono rappresentati in modo vivace e
coinvolgente, conferendo così al libro un taglio romanzesco, oserei dire
persino cinematografico.Ciò che colpisce altresì nell’autrice è la profonda
ed onesta volontà di salvaguardare un patrimonio culturale e storico di
notevole interesse, ma non noto a tutti. Quest’ultimo aspetto ci rende
debitori nei confronti dell’autrice, per aver dedicato tempo e ricerche a
monumenti tanto affascinanti, ma non frequentemente visitati. Non resta
altro, sulla scorta di questa intrigante lettura, che mettersi in cammino e
vedere personalmente tutti questi luoghi. Le località mai visitate saranno
una sorprendente scoperta e quelle già note potranno rivelare una nuova
epifania di senso.- Giuliana Mattiello
Etruria is a book is for those who have fallen in love with Rome and have come back to explore the surroundings. It is for the bookworm looking for his/her own Under the Tuscan Sun. It is for armchair historians who want more to read in the setting sun precisely where that history took place. For those who don't just like to get of the beaten path, but those who actively pursue it-- whether via conversation or reading. Mary Jane’s book is for those who want to infuse themselves with Etruria, much as Georgina Masson's book (Companion Guide to Rome) was for those who loved saturating themselves with Rome. It is clearly written with an easy flow, like a path where one encounters old friends and old places along with new. Erica Firpo
Il libro Etruria travel, history and itineraries in central Italy di Mary Jane Cryan, conferma la difficoltà da parte dei locali ad apprezzare e valorizzare l’ingente patrimonio storico-culturale della Tuscia. Mary Jane, di origine irlandese, vede il territorio con un’ottica completamente diversa rispetto a chi ci è nato e vive, cogliendo gli aspetti più caratteristici e peculiari di una terra tanto ricca quanto poco valorizzata. Il testo, in lingua inglese, consente una visibilità internazionale al lavoro che è completato da una scelta di immagini emblematiche e suggestive. Il libro presenta, inoltre, itinerari turistici che permettono una valorizzazione del territorio favorendo anche ricadute economiche e occupazionali. Congratulazioni a Mary Jane insieme all’augurio di continuare nella sua opera divulgativa e formativa indispensabile per tutelare i beni culturali e il paesaggio della Tuscia. Andrea Natali
All inclusive holidays to Italy
|
|
|
|
