Literary Italy
Anne and Jim welcome you to Literary Italy, a joyous romp through the books and the landscape of the bel paese. Join us as we share our love of the literature, the people, the land, and the experience that is Italy.
Episodes
64 episodes
Ep. 63: Castiglione's Book of the Courtier / Urbino, Le Marche
Baldassare Castiglione's Book of the Courtier raises questions such as "What are the qualities the perfect gentleman?", "What are the qualities of language that are suitable for writing?", and "What is the proper balance between artifi...
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Episode 63
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45:07
Ep. 61: Dante's Vita Nuova / Florence
Can't get enough of your love, babe. Or of Dante. This episode we read Dante's New Life , a prelude to The Divine Comedy. Written in prosimetrum, a form that combines poetry and prose, we get to see a little more...
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Episode 61
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38:00
Ep. 60: Italo Calvino's "Italian Folktales"
Italo Calvino was one of the best known Italian writers throughout the world in the late 20th century. In the 1950's he set about working with Italian folklorists to collect, shape, and assemble Italian fables or fairy tales. The result was
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Episode 60
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31:42
Ep. 59: Frances Mayes’ “Under the Tuscan Sun” / Cortona
Liam Neeson or Leslie Nielsen? You decide.Things to know about Cortona:Ancient city - Etruscans - walls go back to 5th c. BCRomansAlso long history as a tourist destination, even before Under the...
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Episode 59
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50:46
Ep. 58: Veronica Gàmbara / Brescia
Another episode in Lombardy, this time featuring poet, politico, and salon host Veronica Gàmbara.
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Episode 58
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42:38
Ep. 57: Cesare Beccaria / Milan
Cesare Beccaria, author of On Crimes and Punishments (
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Episode 57
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47:20
Ep. 56: Leonardo notebooks - Milan and Florence
Coming from their recent travels in Lombardy, Anne and Jim chat about Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. Why do we keep a notebook -- for ourselves? Our contemporaries? Posterity? Leonardo (who was often commissioned by the Sforza's, the ruling fam...
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Episode 56
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44:43
Ep. 55: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard, Palermo, Sicily
We read The Leopard, a novel of the Risorgimento, a tragic-comic story of romance, war, and a stuffed dog.
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Episode 55
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29:42
Ep. 54: Vincent Schiavelli's "Many Beautiful Things" / Polizzi Generosa, Sicily
Vincent Schiavelli, character actor, chef, and author is the our subject! We look at his book
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Episode 54
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38:43
Ep. 53: Dino Buzzati / The Dolomites
You got horror in my magical realism. You got magical realism in my horror. -- It's delicious! This week, we talk Dino Buzzati (whom Jim distressingly insists on referring to as "Dee Butts") and his short story "The Bewitched Jacket." Then, we ...
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Episode 53
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36:01
Ep. 51: Elena Ferrante - The Lost Daughter
This week, we read Elena Ferrante’s novella The Lost Daughter, set on the Ionian coast. We also watch Maggie Gyllenhaal’s film adaptation. Join us!
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Episode 51
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32:42
Ep. 50: Tozzi and Siena, Tuscany
The Dynamic Duo are back, this time with a feature on novelist Federigo Tozzi. We read his short story "A Bender"
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Episode 50
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27:39
Ep. 49: Abandon all hope, ye who listen to this podcast
This week: Canto III of Dante's Divine Comedy!
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Episode 49
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49:40
Ep. 48: Daphne Phelps' "A House In Sicily"
This week we talk about A House in Sicily, a 1999 memoir by Daphne Phelps. Phelps was the owner of Casa Cuseni, a hotel for artists and writers that opened in 1947. It takes guests to this day w...
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Episode 48
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31:58
Ep. 47: Michelangelo
We all know Michelangelo as a giant of sculpture and painting, but, a true "Renaissance Man," he also wrote hundreds of poems. Anne and Jim dip into the life of this fascinating figure.
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Episode 47
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37:12
Ep. 46: Interview with Wendy Holloway of Flavor of Italy
Our guest this week is Wendy Holloway, host of Flavor of Italy, a weekly podcast focused Italian food, culture, and travel. Wendy shares with us springtime foods and t...
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Episode 46
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42:18
Ep. 45: E. M. Forster's A Room with a View
Anne and Jim are back in Tuscany for E. M. Forster's A Room with a View, which helped them love Italy and Florence before they had ever set eyes on it.
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Episode 45
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37:12
Ep.44: Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters
Our guest today is Jay Malarcher. Jay is Associate Professor and Program Director of Theater History and Criticism at West Virginia University. Also, he first introduced Anne and...
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Episode 44
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45:20
Ep. 43: Dacia Maraini / Bagheria, Sicily
We're back with an episode on Dacia Maraini, one of the most fascinating and prolific Italian writers today. We talk about her memoir, Bagheria, named for the town of the same name just outside Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily.
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Episode 43
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35:54
Ep. 42: Minucius Felix / Ostia Antica
Our guest today, Mike Aquilina, has been a friend of ours for years. A prolific writer and authority on Patristics (the writings of the Church Fathers). He’s also a lyricist with rock and roll icon Dion. Mike is the host of the
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Episode 42
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23:13
Ep. 41: Verga / Catania
The short story "Cavalleria Rusticana" (translation online). Later, a tour of Catania, Giovanni Verga's birthplace.
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Episode 41
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35:32
Ep. 40: The Sicilian School, Frederick II of Sicily, and Giacomo da Lentini
In this episode, we talk about the importance of the Sicilian School, and read from the sonnets of Giacomo (Jacopo) da Lentini (alas, only in Tuscan and English -- the original Sicilian is lost to us). We also touch on the life of Frederick II ...
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Episode 40
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37:40
Ep. 39: Pirandello / Agrigento
We get META all over the place. Luigi Pirandello's play Six Characters in Search of an Author is one of the most famous and most influential dramatic works of the 20th century. We talk about Pirandello, his hometown of Agrigento in Sicily, and,...
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Episode 39
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36:40