2907 First Italian history book recommendation....

Hello everyone,

Could anyone recommend a first Italian history book for me? We're moving to Puglia in the next month, so anything focussing on the area would be most welcome.

Many thanks,

Gilly.

Category
Culture & Entertainment

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/08/2006 - 18:25

[CENTER][CENTER][COLOR=black]Have you tried [URL="http://www.amazon.com/"][COLOR=#0000ff]www.amazon.com[/COLOR][/URL] I couldn't see much on there but depends on what your looking for. You can pick up information whilst out there,tourist/information office, that has been written in English and of course, you could try searching the net, found some interesting snippets on there. [/COLOR][COLOR=black][/COLOR][/CENTER][/CENTER]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/09/2006 - 01:44

I had read [url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521000726/104-7624680-1754305?v=glance&n=283155]Italy; a Short History[/url] & found it fascinating.

It covered pre-Roman upto Silvio (hard to see the difference at times!) & was fascinating in terms of the changes in power, the city states & the bitter wars. I know Italy had spend a lot of time occupying other countries & being occupied by others, but it's never really been a single state for long at all!

.......not sure on the regional history but though, sorry!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/09/2006 - 06:41

Thanks guys - it seems that the north have got history books pretty well sown up, what with those limelight-hogging Medicis, but the web is proving more fruitfull.

Gilly

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/09/2006 - 06:49

I presume you want an English language book - a good general starter is:
The Oxford Illustrated History of ITALY edited by George Holmes - the first chapter is entitled: "From Augustus to Theodosius" and the last: "Nineteenth-Century Italian Culture" so in less than 400 pages it endeavours to cover a lot of ground.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/09/2006 - 08:19

You might want to surf [url=http://books.google.com]Google Books[/url] to see what's out there.....there doens't seem a lot on Puglian history (must be quiet or just dull down there) ;)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/15/2006 - 05:50

Puglia glorious Puglia "Dove la natura e' colore". Ancient times occupied by the Dau the Messapi & various other tribes until taken over by the Romans. The natural harbour of Brindisi being their main jumping off place to conquer the east. The Greeks were there, the Byzantines, Saracens, Normans, Spanish. Puglia was the favourite place of the famous Frederick 11 the Emporer of the oly Roman Empire. In fact Puglia has quite a history. Hope this helps, ciao Rina