About this item
From the New York Times bestselling author knighted by the President of Italy for her writing, a jubilant exploration of how Italy transformed the Western world's most vibrant passions -- from literature to art, music to movies. No country has matched Italy's impact on culture. Just think of painting without Leonardo, opera without Verdi, fashion without Armani, food without the signature tastes of pasta, gelato, and pizza. The first universities, first banks, first public libraries? All Italian. Dianne Hales attributes these landmark achievements to la passione italiana, a primal force that stems from an insatiable hunger to discover and create; to love and live with every fiber of one's being. This fierce drive, millennia in the making, blazes to life in the Sistine Chapel, surges through a Puccini aria, deepens a vintage Brunello, and rumbles in a gleaming Ferrari engine.
About the Author
Dianne Hales, a prize-winning, widely published journalist and author, was awarded an honorary knighthood by the President of Italy in recognition of her best-selling book, La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.
Her newest book, MONA LISA: A LIFE DISCOVERED, blends biography, history, and memoir to tell the story of Lisa Gherardini, the flesh-and-blood woman in the world's most praised and parodied painting. Dianne Hales takes readers with her to uncover Lisa's colorful family history, explore her neighborhoods, and meet her present-day descendants. In this voyage of discovery, we come to know Lisa as a daughter of Florence, a Renaissance woman, a merchant's wife, a loving mother, a devout Christian, and a "noble spirit."
Dianne has served as a contributing editor for Parade, Ladies Home Journal, Working Mother and American Health and has written for many national publications, including Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, New York Times, Readers' Digest, Washington Post, Woman's Day, and World Book. In addition to more than a dozen trade books, she is the author of 24 editions of the leading college health textbook, An Invitation to Health.
