Includes bibliographical references (pages 254-258) and index.
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
Rome and the empire, prehistory to AD 500 / Karl Christ -- The medieval centuries, 500-1350 / Bryan Ward-Perkins -- Humanism and Renaissance, 1350-1527 / J.R. Hale -- Disaster and recovery, 1527-1750 / Eric Cochrane -- The age of romanticism, 1750-1860 / Francis Haskell -- Modern Italy, 1860 to the present / Franco Andreucci.
0
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
To immerse oneself in the history of Italy is to go back to the roots of Western civilization. The authors of this major new volume have sought to answer the question: How did the qualities of "Italianness" that make Italy unique arise in history? Their various journeys to the heart of Italy -- the country that has produced the Papacy, such centers of civilization and exploration as Florence and Venice, an imperishable literature, the supreme sanity of humanist art, the intoxication of opera -- call up some of the most beautiful, dramatic images in the human reportory. They are fully represented in the almost 300 striking illustrations in this volume, 70 in full color, and supplemented by brilliant modern photography. Images, ideas, and imagination -- all three are here in abundance in a book that is certain to appeal to a wide and diversified audience and to set standards for years to come. -- From publisher's description.