{"product_id":"books-speak-the-culture-italy-by-andrew-whittaker","title":"Speak the Culture: Italy","description":"\u003ci\u003eSpeak the Culture: Italy\u003c\/i\u003e offers a rich and engaging insight into the events, people and movements that have shaped Italy and the Italians. A guidebook can show you where to go, a phrase-book what to say, but only \u003ci\u003eSpeak the Culture: Italy\u003c\/i\u003e will lead you to the nation's soul. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Italian character is complex, contradictory, alluring and infinitely variable: heirs to the greatest empire of the ancient world but almost ungovernable; cradle of western civilization as well as the Mafia; maestros of modern design, mired in old-fashioned bureaucracy; epicentre of the Catholic Church and exemplars of la dolce vita. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhere do you start? Giotto? Caravaggio? Murky Etruscan tombs or the mighty Roman Pantheon? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpeak the Culture: Italy\u003c\/i\u003e sifts through a sprawling 3,000 year saga and makes sense of it, dissecting architecture, music, food, art, literature, cinema, family and much more. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCulture is covered in its broadest sense, extending into every aspect of Italian life--food and drink, religion, politics, sport, manners, character and so on. While the Italian peninsula has its ancient history, it's been a unified nation for less than 150 years. Lo Stivale, or the famous Boot, is young: the nuances of strong, surviving regional identities are important and revealed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTaken as a whole, \u003ci\u003eSpeak the Culture: Italy\u003c\/i\u003e gives you an insight into what it means to be Italian, but it's also a book to dip into, to learn, for instance, about Giuseppe Verdi, Sophia Loren or Umberto Eco. Easily read and beautifully illustrated, this, the fourth in the \u003ci\u003eSpeak the Culture\u003c\/i\u003eseries, offers an intimate understanding of Italian life and culture for new residents, second home-owners, holidaymakers, business travelers, students and lovers of Italy everywhere.","brand":"World of Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53508643258641,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781854186287.jpg?v=1778151191","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/books-speak-the-culture-italy-by-andrew-whittaker","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}