"Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937,...

"Based on a true story, The Sacco Gang is a "wild west" tale of two brothers who battle both the State and a Mafia empire in 1920s Italy. Raffadali, province of Agrigento, 1920s. The Sacco brothers are free men with strong ideas about Socialism and the State. Their lives change radically one morning when their father, Luigi Sacco, receives an anonymous letter from the local Mafia demanding protection money. Luigi tells the police of the extortion...

Based in part on his autobiography, director Franco Zeffirelli's Tea with Mussolini is a story about a group of British and American travelers on an indefinite visit to Italy in 1935. Luca is a boy living in Florence whose family situation is precarious at best; his mother has run off and his father has little time for him. Fortunately, he's a welcome guest with Mary, a English woman visiting Italy to soak up European culture. Mary and her friends...

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Russian Concubine returns with a stunning new novel set in Mussolini's Italy. Isabella Berotti is an architect, helping to create showpieces that will reflect the glory of her country's Fascist leaders. She is not a deeply political sort, but designing these buildings of grandiose beauty helps her forget about the pain she's felt since her husband was murdered years ago. One of her greatest accomplishments...

"When the Nazi occupation of Rome begins, two courageous young women join the Italian Resistance to fight for their freedom Rome, 1943 Lucia Colombo has had her doubts about fascism for years, but as a single mother in an increasingly unstable country, politics are for other people-she needs to focus on keeping herself and her son alive. Then the Italian government falls and the German occupation begins, and suddenly, Lucia finds that complacency...

"Chronicles the life of secret police functionary Marcello Clerici ... who is sent on a mission to assassinate his former teacher, Professor Quadri ... a leftist activist in exile in Paris. Clarici uses his honeymoon with new wife Giulia ... as a cover for the job. But he soon becomes entranced by Quadri's sensuous, haunted wife Anna ... and the fascist tenets he once accepted without question being to waver in his mind."--

Castellamare is an island far enough away from the mainland to be forgotten, but not far enough to escape from the world's troubles. At the center of the island's life is a café draped with bougainvillea called the House at the Edge of Night, where the community gathers to gossip and talk. Amedeo Esposito, a foundling from Florence, finds his destiny on the island with his beautiful wife, Pina, whose fierce intelligence, grace, and unwavering love...