Armchair travel around the world!
Start your reading adventures with our FREE Reading Atlas.
- Around the World in 14 Books
- 7 Thrilling Book Series
- 6 Audiobooks That Are Like Theater For Your Ears
Do you ever feel like Italy is just showing off just a bit? It’s literally got the best of both worlds, surrounded by the sea _and graced with mountains (hello, Italian Alps, Dolomites, and Apennines), woodlands, and hills, including the famous seven of Rome.
The climate is ideal for growing lovely things like figs, almonds, olives, grapes, and… romance. What’s more romantic than sweethearts riding a Vespa under the moonlight? Or a spritz sipped under a beach umbrella on the Italian Riviera? A dip in the Adriatic, a stroll in the Tuscan sunshine, a run down a slope in the Italian Alps — these are the things of which dreams are made.
Which leads us to this fact: Italy has the third highest life expectancy in Europe: 83.5 years of living la dolce vita, the sweet life. The food, the wine, the weather, the language, the history; it’s an embarrassment of riches, and we’re all the better for it.
In this episode, we discuss everything that makes Italy one of the most enchanting places on Earth. We get curious about the world’s largest rock band and a possibly cursed village, daydream about eating pasta carbonara in Rome, and cross the sea to Sicily. Then we recommend five great books that took us there on the page, including a love letter to Trieste, a history of Venice through food, a fresh look at Galileo’s life, a novel infused with sunshine and Gothic vibes, and a beautiful story of found family set in Florence. (show notes / transcript)
Top image courtesy of Christopher Czermak/Unsplash.
Want to keep up with our book-related adventures? Sign up for our newsletter!
Can you help us? If you like this article, share it your friends!
Strong Sense of Place is a website and podcast dedicated to literary travel and books we love. Reading good books increases empathy. Empathy is good for all of us and the amazing world we inhabit.
Strong Sense of Place is a listener-supported podcast. If you like the work we do, you can help make it happen by joining our Patreon! That'll unlock bonus content for you, too — including Mel's secret book reviews and Dave's behind-the-scenes notes for the latest Two Truths and a Lie.
This is a weekly email. If you'd like a quick alert whenever we update our blog, subscribe here.
We'll share enough detail to help you decide if a book is for you, but we'll never ruin plot twists or give away the ending.
This 30-page Reading Atlas takes you around the world with dozens of excellent books and gorgeous travel photos. Get your free copy when you subscribe to our newsletter.
Content on this site is ©2024 by Smudge Publishing, unless otherwise noted. Peace be with you, person who reads the small type.
