Author : Cecil Cameron
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
Page : 315 pages
File Size : 34,12 MB
Release : 2021-11-11
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0008494002
A captivating story of romance, passion and adventure set in nineteenth century London and Italy.
Author : Paddy Agnew
Publisher : Random House
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 45,66 MB
Release : 2012-02-29
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 144811764X
When journalist Paddy Agnew and his girlfriend Dympna touched down in Rome in 1985 in search of adventure, sunshine and the soul of Italian football (well, Paddy was looking for that), they were travelling into the uncharted terrain of a country they did not know and a language they did not speak. It soon became clear that neither Italy nor Italian football would be boring. In that first week in Italy, Michel Platini and Juventus won the Intercontinental Cup, whilst just days later the PLO killed 13 people in a random shooting at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Paddy covered both stories. The coming years saw the rise of TV tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, as he became owner of AC Milan and then Prime Minister of Italy, naming his political party 'Forza Italia' after a football chant. In that same period, Argentine Diego Maradona became the uncrowned King of Naples, leading Napoli to a first ever Scudetto title in 1987, notwithstanding a hectic, Hollywood-esque lifestyle that mixed footballing genius with off-the-field excess. Forza Italia is a fascinating tale of inspired players, skilled coaches, rich tycoons, glitzy media coverage, Mafia corruption, allegations of drug taking and fan power - culminating in the 2006 World Cup victory that delighted a nation and a match-fixing scandal that shocked the world. It is also a personalised reflection on the consistent and continuing excellence of Italian football throughout a period of huge social, political and economic upheaval, offering a unique insight into a society where football has always been much more than just a game.
Author : John Foot
Publisher : Bold Type Books
Page : 626 pages
File Size : 15,93 MB
Release : 2007-08-24
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 1568586523
The 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France was a down-and-dirty game, marred by French superstar Zidane's head-butting of Italian defender Materazzi. But viewers were also exposed to the poetry, force, and excellence of the Italian game; as operatic as Verdi and as cunning as Machiavelli, it seemed to open a window into the Italian soul. John Foot's epic history shows what makes Italian soccer so unique. Mixing serious analysis and comic storytelling, Foot describes its humble origins in northern Italy in the 1890s to its present day incarnation where soccer is the national civic religion. A story that is reminiscent of Gangs of New York and A Clockwork Orange, Foot shows how the Italian game -- like its political culture -- has been overshadowed by big business, violence, conspiracy, and tragedy, how demagogues like Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi have used the game to further their own political ambitions. But Winning at All Costs also celebrates the sweet moments -- the four World Cup victories, the success of Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, the role soccer played in the resistance to Nazism, and the great managers and players who show that Italian soccer is as irresistible as Italy itself.
Author : Brigid Pasulka
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 41,48 MB
Release : 2014-02-04
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1451667132
From Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award-winning writer Brigid Pasulka comes a charming and compulsively readable modern day fable of one misanthrope’s journey from darkness into the light—told by one of the most radiantly talented new voices in fiction. In the seaside town of San Benedetto, soccer (or calcio) is more than just a sport: it’s an obsession. Twenty-two-year-old Etto, however, couldn’t care less about soccer. His beloved twin brother Luca, a rising soccer star, died tragically in a motorcycle accident, and their Californian mother, unable to cope with her grief, drowned herself on the anniversary of Luca’s death. This has left Etto alone to tend the butcher shop—where his father barely seems to take in his presence and entrusts him with only the most basic tasks. But then Yuri Fil, a Ukrainian soccer star who Etto’s father idolizes, takes refuge from the paparazzi in a nearby villa, and Etto accidentally falls into Yuri's orbit—and that of Yuri’s beautiful and tough sister, Zhuki. Under their influence, he begins to learn a few life lessons: that the game of soccer might not be a total waste of time, that he might not in fact be a total loser—and that San Benedetto, his father, love, and life itself might have more to offer him than he would have ever believed possible.
Author : Paul Hofmann
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 28,4 MB
Release : 1991-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780805017298
No other people over so long a history have shown a greater knack for survival than the Italians. In this wryly affectionate book, Hofmann reveals his adopted countrymen in all their glorious paradoxes, capturing their national essence as no other book has done since Luigi Barzini's classic, The Italians. The national art of "arrangement"-- dodging taxes, double-dealing, working only as hard as one must-- is counteracted by Italian inventive genius, gusto for life, fierce individuality, deep family bonds (as well as animosities), and a marvelously hedonistic sophistication.
Author : Ken Follett
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 43,25 MB
Release : 2018-06-05
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0143133357
A high-speed, high-stakes thriller from Ken Follett, the grand master of international action and suspense. A fabulous "lost masterpiece" becomes the ultimate prize—for an art historian whose ambition consumes everyone around her, an angry young painter with a plan for revenge on the art establishment, and a desperate gallery owner who may have double-crossed his own life away. Behind the elegance and glamour of the art world, anything goes—theft, forgery, betrayal, and maybe even murder. . . .
Author : Jun Togashi
Publisher : Harlequin / SB Creative
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 15,28 MB
Release : 2022-09-23
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN : 4596497427
A contract marriage with the man of my dreams… “This child’s father is Dante Fiori!” After a year away at school, Minerva shows up with a baby in tow, stunning wealthy Dante with her sudden confession. As childhood friends, Dante has always helped Minerva. Now she needs him to believe the lie in order to keep her friend’s orphaned child safe. Dante is livid but agrees to marry Minerva to protect the child he believes is his!
Author : Massimo Riva
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 46,45 MB
Release : 2008-10-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0300129696
This anthology serves as a literary map to guide readers through the varied geography of contemporary Italian fiction. Massimo Riva has gathered English-language translations of short stories and excerpts from novels that were originally published in Italian between 1975 and 2001. As an expression of a communal contemporary condition, these narratives suggest a new sensibility and a new way of seeing, exploring, and inhabiting the world, in writing. Riva provides a comprehensive introduction to Italian literary trends of the past twenty years. Each selection is preceded by a short introduction and biography of the writer. For English-language readers who are familiar with the work of Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco, this collection presents an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the work of other important contemporary Italian writers of fiction.
Author : John Foot
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
Page : 95 pages
File Size : 46,13 MB
Release : 2010-01-21
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 0007362455
The first history of Italian football to be written in English, ‘Calcio’ is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world.
Author : Mark Sullivan
Publisher : Lake Union Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 15,56 MB
Release : 2018
Category : Germany
ISBN : 9781503902374
A teenage boy in 1940s Italy becomes part of an underground railroad that helps Jews escape through the Alps, but when he is recruited to be the personal driver for a powerful Third Reich commander, he begins to spy for the Allies.
