renovating

 this is a good site re house building works... here in Italy.. to be honest with the way regulations change a book on the subject would be hard to rely on in terms of what can and cannot be done and how..   add to that the provincial and or regional rules to follow it would be hard to keep up the site is this......http://www.lavorincasa.it/it also has the news laws , a design help space and lots of other stuff including pricing work.. the only problem is its in Italian.. but in a sense even if you dont have Italian its maybe time to start learning a bit of the building terms... so it might help 

For over the top lushness and gorgeous photos you could try and get hold of thishttp://www.amazon.com/Tuscany-Interiors-Paolo-Rinaldi/dp/3822823880I just realised that's the American Amazon, but since it also includes lots of other suggested books I'll leave it as is.I drooled over all the unaffordable stuff in this book whilst renovating.  One can always dream........

I have this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Restoring-Home-Italy-Elizabeth-Minchilli/dp/1579... which has some vaguely practical sections that explain how a roof is constructed etc. It won;t help you build one but every little helps.

I have pictures of a couple of staircases that I used in house renvations in Italy. Send me a pm with your emaila ddress and I will email them to you! Paola    

i can recommend this one. a follow up to Penny's recommendtion i think. super-lush as well!http://www.amazon.co.uk/Italian-Rustic-Elizabeth-Helman-Minchilli/dp/1579653642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258546379&sr=8-1F

Not so sure about books that would cover internal staircases. Taschen is got a very nice pictorial book called "Tuscan style" if you are interested in this particular one; however, Italy publishes excellent magazines with plenty of good ideas. I like "Il Rustico", Casaviva, Ville Giardini ... but I think that you would be interested in the monographic magazines published by DiBaiowww.dibaio.comin particular "Scale e Soppalchi Nº 20" which specifically deals with internal staircases and lofts.Good luck with your projects!

Thanks everyone - lots of ideas there!