This collection of passionate travel writings about Italy includes works by George Eliot, Edith Wharton, Mary McCarthy, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Patricia Hampl, and 23 others who reveal why the land that is the heart and soul of European civilization is so seductive to women.

This collection of passionate travel writings about Italy includes works by George Eliot, Edith Wharton, Mary McCarthy, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Patricia Hampl, and 23 others who reveal why the land that is the heart and soul of European civilization is so seductive to women.

For centuries Italy has been many things to many people. In this brilliant anthology and traveler's companion, twenty-eight first-rate women writers reveal why the land that is the heart and soul of European civilization is so seductive to women. Kate Simon walks us through a Siena filled with surprises and luminous beauty. Elizabeth Spencer writes of first coming to Italy and finding "home." Shirley Hazzard explores the mysteries of Naples. Muriel Spark writes on Venice, Edith Wharton on Rome, George Eliot on Florence, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison on San Gimignano, Patricia Hampl on Assisi. Other wonderful writers contemplate the idiosyncratic glories of Italy's architecture, cooking, art, and landscape; its culture; its places and people. As these writers tell their stories--in fiction, memoir, and essay--of coming to understand Italy, they explore the complexity of their passions for it, mingling affection and ecstasy with intellectual curiosity. Organized geographically--from northern Italy to Rome and on to the south, Desiring Italy offers an enchanting journey for readers and travelers. Including the following contents: From Italian Backgrounds: Picturesque Milan by Edith Wharton

"Cauliflower Heads" by Francine Prose

From Rambles in Germany and Italy: Letters from Venice by Mary Shelley

From The World of Venice: On Women by Jan Morris

From The Classic Italian Cookbook: Preface, Italian Cooking: Where Does It Come From?, The Italian Art of Eating, Restaurants, The Bacaro Experience, Gelati

Venice in Fall and Winter by Muriel Spark

From Embassy to Constantinople: To Lady Mar by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

From The Enchanted April: VI, VIII by Elizabeth von Arnim

From Roadside Songs of Tuscany: The Ballad of Saint Zita, A Tuscan Lullaby by Francesca Alexander

From Casa Guidi Windows: Casa Guidi Windows, Bellosguardo by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

From Romola: Proem

From The Stones of Florence: V

From Italy: The Places in Between: Siena

From Images and Shadows: La Foce & from War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Di