La Passione, Hales, Dianne

New York Times bestselling author 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 ones 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.

Our ideal tour guide, Hales sweeps readers along on her adventurous quest for the secrets of la passione. She swims in the playgrounds of mythic gods, shadows artisanal makers of chocolate and cheese, joins in Sicilys Holy Week traditions, celebrates a neighborhood Carnevale in Venice, and explores pagan temples, vineyards, silk mills, movie sets, crafts studios, and fashion salons. She introduces us, through sumptuous prose, to unforgettable Italians, historical and contemporary, all brimming with the greatest of Italian passions--for life itself.

A lyrical portrait of a spirit as well as a nation, La Passione appeals to the Italian in all our souls, inspiring us to be as daring as Italys gladiators, as eloquent as its poets, as alluring as its beauties, and as irresistible as its lovers.

Praise for La Passione

An] effervescent love letter to all things Italian.--Newsday

In this sweeping account of la passione italiana from ancient to modern times, Dianne Hales shows once again why she is one the worlds foremost guides to the riches of Italian culture. Every page resonates with the authors love for Italy and her joy in sharing its remarkable discoveries and exquisite pleasures with her readers. --Joseph Luzzi, author of My Two Italies and In a Dark Wood