A Small Place In Italy

This book is a lush and beautiful memoir of a very special house and a superb recreation of a bygone era.

This book features 101 towns that represent the twenty diverse regions of Italy and their varied landscapes.

In 1983, a pale Annie Hawes and her equally pale sister leave England for the sun-drenched olive groves of a small Italian town in Liguria. With fantasies of handsome tanned men and swimming in the sea urging them on, they are hired to work for ten weeks to graft roses -- of which they have little knowledge -- along the Italian Riviera, board and lodging included. But none of the men seem to be under forty, and Ligurians have particular ideas about life, including swimming ("To go swimming in seawater outside the month of July or August is even worse for your health than drinking cappuccino after twelve noon!"). But Annie and her sister are captivated by San Pietro's quirkiness and beauty, and suddenly their brief stay stretches into years, as they are bemused, charmed, and ultimately accepted by the eccentric inhabitants of their adopted home. Resonating with captivating verve and humor, Extra Virgin dishes up a sumptuous sampling of Italian life from an irresistible new voice.

Three years, three months, three days. This was the exact time that Danilo Perrotti Machado took to travel around the planet on a bicycle. Seeking to get to know the world and himself, Danilo left his hometown, Belo Horizonte, and went on a journey through 59 countries, covering 50,000 kilometers across Planet Earth. This exciting adventure is called “Free Man”. His goal was to get to know the peoples and cultures of the world, moved by his own physical effort, discovering at the same time the simple essence of being alive. The trip starts in Brazil followed by Europe, crossing the Middle East and a stretch of North Africa, traversing Asia and its appealing cultural diversity, then he goes to Oceania, descending the Americas and, finally, with a lot of pedaling, he arrives in the Amazon, with a surprising jump in the river that takes him back to Brazil. Free Man talks about what can happen when you realize that it is your own mind that dictates the circumstances you live in, with many accurate remarks about your existence, the way of life of rich and poor countries, the awakening of a man with the sun, moon and stars, most often alone, facing imminent death, danger and difficulty in communicating with foreign languages. A story that makes the reader find the pleasure of traveling very far on a bike, in an adventure that ends and starts after each page, taking him to travel within himself, with an intertwining that only great narratives possesses. It will certainly thrill anyone willing to embark on an immersive journey through Planet Earth and, at the same time, the human soul.