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Possess the air : love, heroism, and the battle for the soul of Mussolini's Rome / by Grescoe, Taras,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The inspiring true story of political resistance in Mussolini's Italy Plunging readers into Fascist Rome at the height of Mussolini's power, Possess the Air tells the story of three people who defied Italy's authoritarian despot by opposing the rising tide of populism and xenophobia. Two Canadian archeologists, Gilbert Bagnani and his wife Mary Stewart Houston, maddened the self-styled Caesar, determined to dispel his claims that Rome was-- and always would be-- rightful master of the Mediterranean, while poet and aviator Lauro de Bosis, firstborn of an Italian aristocrat and a New Englander, transformed himself into a modern Icarus, amazing the world as he risked his life in the skies bring the dictator down. An inspiring story of resistance, risk, and sacrifice, Taras Grescoe's portrait of heroes past is an essential biography for our time."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Bagnani, Gilbert, 1900-1985.; Bagnani, Stewart, 1903-1996.; De Bosis, Lauro, 1901-1931.; Anti-fascist movements; Political activists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Shattered : a memoir / by Kureishi, Hanif,author.;
"On Boxing Day 2022, in Rome, Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came to, in a pool of blood, he was horrified to realise he had lost the use of his limbs. He could no longer walk, write or wash himself. He could do nothing without the help of others, and required constant care in a hospital. So began an odyssey of a year through the medical systems of Rome and Italy, with the hope of somehow being able to return home, to his house in London. While confined to a series of hospital wards, he felt compelled to write, but being unable to type or to hold a pen, he began to dictate to family members the words which formed in his head. The result was an extraordinary series of dispatches from his hospital bed -- a diary of a life in pieces, recorded with rare honesty, clarity and courage. This book takes these hospital dispatches -- edited, expanded and meticulously interwoven with new writing -- and charts both a shattering and a reassembling: a new life born of pain and loss, but animated by new feelings -- of gratitude, humility and love"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Kureishi, Hanif.; Authors with disabilities; Authors, English; Bisexual men; Falls (Accidents); Hospital patients; Life change events; Novelists, English; People with quadriplegia; Screenwriters; Spinal cord; Dramatists, English;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The curse of Pietro Houdini : a novel / by Miller, Derek B.,1970-author.;
"August, 1943. Fourteen-year-old Massimo is all alone. Newly orphaned and fleeing from Rome after surviving the American bombing raid that killed his parents, Massimo is attacked by thugs and finds himself bloodied at the base of the Montecassino. It is there in the Benedictine abbey's shadow that a charismatic and cryptic man calling himself Pietro Houdini, the self-proclaimed 'Master Artist and confidante of the Vatican,' rescues Massimo and brings him up the mountain to serve as his assistant in preserving the treasures that lay within the monastery walls. But can Massimo believe what Pietro is saying, particularly when Massimo has secrets too? Who is this extraordinary man? When it becomes evident that Montecassino will soon become the front line in the war, Pietro Houdini and Massimo execute a plan to smuggle three priceless Titian paintings to safety down the mountain. They are joined by a nurse concealing a nefarious past, a café owner turned murderer, a wounded but chipper German soldier, and a pair of lovers along with their injured mule, Ferrari. Together they will lie, cheat, steal, fight, kill, and sin their way through battlefields to survive, all while smuggling the Renaissance masterpieces and the bag full of ancient Greek gold they have rescued from the 'safe keeping' of the Germans"--
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Art; Monasteries; Orphans; Painting; Secrecy; Smugglers; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Assassin's creed. [electronic resource]. by Microsoft Corporation.;
Game.Continue the story of legendary assassin Ezio in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Set in Rome in the year 1503, this action-packed title gives you a team of assassin's to play with as you journey through Italy's greatest city to defeat mortal enemies. Plus, a multiplayer layer lets you choose from more characters each with signature weapons, skills and techniques.ESRB Content Rating: M, Mature, 17+ (blood, stong language, violence, sexual content).DVD compatible with Xbox 360 console ; HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p ; in game Dolby Digital ; content download ; 4-8 player online multiplayer with leaderboards and voice (paid subscription and broadband Internet connection required).
Subjects: Assassin's creed brotherhood (Game); Computer adventure games; Computer games.; Video games.; Xbox 360 (Video game console);
© c2010., Microsoft Corp.,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 4
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The savage storm : the battle for Italy 1943 / by Holland, James,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Acclaimed WWII historian James Holland both narrates and reframes the controversial first months of the Italian Campaign and sets a new standard in the chronicling of war. Following victory in Sicily, while the central command planned the spring 1944 invasion of France, Allied troops crossed into southern Italy in September 1943, expecting to drive Axis forces north and liberate Rome by Christmas. Italy quickly surrendered but German divisions fiercely resisted, and the hoped-for quick victory descended into one of the most challenging and protracted battles of the entire war. Chronicling the dramatic opening months of the Italian Campaign in unflinching and insightful detail, The Savage Storm is unlike any campaign history yet written. Holland has always narrated war at ground level, but here goes further by chronicling events almost entirely through the contemporary eyes of those who were there on all sides and at all levels-Allied, Axis, and civilians alike. Weaving together a wealth of letters, diaries, and other documents-from the likes of American General Mark Clark, German battalion commander Georg Zellner, New Zealand lance-corporal Roger Smith, and legendary war reporter Ernie Pyle-Holland traces the battles as they were experienced across plains, over mountains, through shattered villages and cities, in intense heat and, towards the end of December 1943, frigid cold and relentless rain. Such close-up views persuade Holland to recast important aspects of the campaign, reappraising the reputation of Mark Clark himself and other senior commanders of the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth armies. Given the shortage of Allied shipping and materiel allocated to Italy because of the build-up for D-Day, more was expected of Allied troops in Italy than anywhere else, and, as accounts at the time attest, a huge price was paid by everyone for each bloodily contested mile. Putting readers vividly in the moment as events unfolded, with characters made unforgettable by their own words, The Savage Storm is a defining account of the pivotal months leading to Monte Cassino, and a landmark in the writing about war"--
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The lying life of adults / by Ferrante, Elena,author.; Goldstein, Ann,1949-translator.; translation of:Ferrante, Elena.Vita bugiarda degli adulti.English.;
Giovanna's pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, is looking more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Will she turn out like her despised Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father have spent their whole lives avoiding and deriding? There must be a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is. Giovanna is searching for her true reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves between these two cities, disoriented by the fact that, whether high or low, neither city seems to offer answers or escape.
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Domestic fiction.; Teenagers;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 2
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The godmother : murder, vengeance, and the bloody struggle of mafia women / by Nadeau, Barbie Latza,author.;
"The untold stories of the women who have risen to prominence and notoriety in Italy's mafia-many more ruthless than the fathers and husbands they replaced-and the octogenarian murderer who decades ago blazed a bloody trail for them to follow. In 1955 in a public market outside Naples, Italy, a pregnant teenage widow named Assunta "Pupetta" Maresca encounters the man she believes to be her husband's killer. Minutes later, police find the man dead, riddled with an astonishing 29 bullets. Pupetta is arrested and convicted for his death. "I killed for love," she declares in court, "and I'd do it again!" It is the middle of the twentieth century. Italy is impoverished after the war. Criminal organization are springing up where governments fail their citizens. Women are considered adjunct to the growth of the criminal class; they are mothers who train sons in the primacy of blood feuds, or they are daughters and sisters who deliver messages for imprisoned male relatives. But Pupetta changes that. She is heralded "Lady Camorra," and in prison she takes on legendary stature, with films and TV shows produced to capitalize on her outlaw image. The crime and even the killing does not stop there for Pupetta, and though she is arguably the first mafia godmother, she is not the worst. Some of the women who follow in her footsteps will meet terrible fates; others will lead their clans. But if CNN correspondent and Daily Beast Rome bureau chief makes one thing clear in The Godmother, it's that as women seize ever more control of Italy's criminal underworld, they are proving themselves more vicious, cunning and cutthroat than the men they replace."--
Subjects: True crime stories.; Mafia; Women and the mafia;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Evil under the Tuscan sun / by Cole, Stephanie,1950-;
"When a wealthy New York philanthropist pays top dollar for a private, four-day ziti workshop, Nell Valenti wants everyone at the Orlandini cooking school focused on the task at hand. But complications abound when Nell's boyfriend Pete Orlandini rushes to Rome for an unexpected business trip, Chef Orlandini is more preoccupied with a potential spot on an American cooking show than preparing for the workshop, and an uninvited woman sneaks into the villa to inspect Pete's olive grove. The last disturbance proves deadly, and when the woman's body is found in the grove, Nell must investigate before her hopes for the workshop, like the olives, are crushed. Nell now has another item on her checklist--keep the Orlandinis out of trouble and the wealthy ziti-lovers happy while she looks into the stranger's past. When Nell discovers that for one of the Orlandinis, at least, the murder victim was not such a stranger after all, she'll learn that when a detective goes digging in Italy, she'd better be ready for truffle"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Cozy mysteries.; Women cooks; Americans; Murder; Cooking schools; Murder;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A pilgrimage to eternity : from Canterbury to Rome in search of a faith / by Egan, Timothy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Tracing an ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, the bestselling and "virtuosic" (The Wall Street Journal) writer explores the past and future of Christianity. Moved by his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church, Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers to force a reckoning with his own beliefs. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity, exploring one of the biggest stories of our time: the collapse of religion in the world that it created. Egan sets out along the Via Francigena, once the major medieval trail leading the devout to Rome, and makes his way overland via the alpine peaks and small mountain towns of France, Switzerland and Italy. The goal: walking to St. Peter's Square, in hopes of meeting the galvanizing pope who is struggling to hold together the church through the worst crisis in half a millennium. Making his way through a landscape laced with some of the most important shrines to the faith, Egan finds a modern Canterbury Tale in the chapel where Queen Bertha introduced Christianity to pagan Britain; parses the supernatural in a French town built on miracles; and journeys to the oldest abbey in the Western world, founded in 515 and home to continuous prayer over the 1,500 years that have followed. He is accompanied by a quirky cast of fellow pilgrims and by some of the towering figures of the faith--Joan of Arc, Henry VIII, Martin Luther. A thrilling journey, a family story, and a revealing history, A Pilgrimage to Eternity looks for our future in its search for God.
Subjects: Egan, Timothy; Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The devil's triangle / by Coulter, Catherine,author.; Ellison, J. T.,author.;
"From New York Times bestselling authors Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison comes the highly anticipated thriller in their Brit in the FBI series, featuring special agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine in their new roles as heads of the Covert Eyes team--but will their first case be their last when the enigmatic and dangerous thief known as the Fox reappears? "He who controls the weather, will control the world. He who controls time, will never be around." --Thomas Frey. FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are the government's Covert Eyes--leading a top-notch handpicked team of agents to tackle crimes and criminals both international and deadly. But their first case threatens their fledgling team when the Fox calls from Venice asking for help. Kitsune has stolen an incredible artifact from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, and now the client wants her dead. She has a warning for Nick and Mike: she's overheard talk that a devastating Gobi desert sandstorm that's killed thousands in Beijing isn't a natural phenomenon, rather is produced by man. The Covert Eyes team heads to Venice, Italy, to find out the truth. From New York to Venice and from Rome to the Bermuda Triangle, Nicholas and Mike and their team are in a race against time, and nature herself, to stop an obsessed family from devastating Washington, DC"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation; Intelligence officers; Terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 3
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