# Recommend me some Italian stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092 "2005-06-13T15:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/1 "2005-06-13T15:48:07Z")
My daughter Pianola is heading off for several weeks in Firenze (Florence, to you) at the end of the month, and the Ukulele Lady is wanting to present her with some cultural artifacts to whet her appetite for the coming Euro-debauch. While I do eat a lot of spaghetti, I’m not really a connoisseur of Italian film or music. (When I want opera, I reach for Mozart or Wagner.) We’re getting DVDs of _La Dolce Vita_ and _Three Coins in the Fountain_, because those are the first things everyone thinks of when they think about Italy-set flicks. Yeah, I know, they’re set in Rome. I was thinking about _The Bicycle Thief_ and the recently restored _The Leopard_, but they’re not about Florence, either. Any Florence-fanciers out there, I would LOVE to hear about any geographically appropriate novels, movies, music (classical or popular) that would intrigue and entertain a fifteen-year-old, extremely intelligent (think Lex Luthor or Doctor Doom) girl. Molto grazie. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/2 "2005-06-13T16:48:33Z")
By a staggering coincidence, I just got back from a few weeks in Firenza with Ms. Tanstaafl and our 18 yo daughter. (It was her graduation present.) Daughter Tanstaafl had wanted to go to that part of Italy after seeing _Under the Tuscan Sun_ so you may want to pick up that one. The movie was filmed in Cortona, which is about an hour by train from Florence. (If you go, check out the Trattoria La Grotta; we had a very nice lunch there.) Another one you may want to track down is _The Agony and the Ecstacy_ which is a (fictionalized) biography of Michaelangelo. (His _David_ is at the Academia Gallery in Florence. You want to go see it when you are there. Really.) I can pass on some more details if you would like; let me know or pm me. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/3 "2005-06-13T16:55:35Z")
_A Room with a View_ (book and movie) and _Tea with Mussolini_ (sort of autobiographical Franco Zeffirelli movie) are set in Florence. I am almost, but not entirely, sure that Paolo Taviani’s _La Notte di San Lorenzo_ takes place in or near Florence. Kinta Beevor’s _A Tuscan Childhood_ is a classic. There’s a recent series of murder mysteries set in Florence, by Magdalen Nabb – as far as mysteries go, they’re pretty standard, but she does a good job with setting the scenes with Florentine landmarks. _The Light in the Piazza_, which I think is possibly the weirdest book ever, takes place in Florence, and it’s currently a Broadway musical. I don’t _think_ it will suck all the intelligence right out of her head, but Irving Stone’s _The Agony and the Ecstasy_ (book, I’ve never seen the movie) is surprisingly decent at conveying a sense of Medici Florence. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/4 "2005-06-13T17:32:23Z")
**Amacord** by Fellini ought to do the trick. Don’t recall where it is set exactly, but it doesn’t matter. Fellini is Fellini and is plenty weird enough to fascinate a teenage girl (its about growing up in a small, Italian town). As for music, if she hasn’t heard **Madame Butterfly** or **La Boheme** or **Turandot** or anything else by Puccini she’s being slighted (sorry, but German is just too guttural to listen to for any length of time, IMHO). I just got a copy of a mass he produced at 18 and which had been lost for decades and decades. Wonderful, beautiful, … too many adjectives. He lived at Torre de Lago, which is also in Tuscany and has the extra added benefit of being on a lake and having a resort atmosphere. You can rest assured that she’ll meet many fine, upstanding Italian young men who would love to show her the town and the finer points of Tuscan culture. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/5 "2005-06-13T18:07:29Z")
You might want to consider some of the comedies directed by Leonardo Pieraccioni (he’s Tuscan, and I think he’s from Florence), but it’s stuff for easy laughs. Not sure it is something a very intelligent girl might be interested. Franco Zeffirelli is also considered quite a good director, with many interesting movies (such as his rendition of _Romeo and Juliet_) but also a handful of stinkers. So my cinema-loving dad assures me. Allow me to second Fellini, not so much for its connection to Florence (next to zilch), but for his importance in the history of cinema. A good book on the history of Florence might also be a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/6 "2005-06-13T19:37:53Z")
I’m not Scared was one of my favorite movies last year, though it’s not that Italian. It is set in a rual village. The Talented Mr. Ripley? The original Italian Job. The Postman, (not the Costner movie) oh and one of my favorite movies of all time, Cinema Paradiso. ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/7 "2005-06-13T19:58:02Z")
Mary McCarthy (The Group, Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood) wrote a book about the art and architecture of Florence you may want to check out. You don’t mention how old your daughter is, but a nice wine is always appreciated. Perhaps a Barolo or Chianti? ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/8 "2005-06-13T22:58:31Z")
_La Vita é Bella_ (_Life is Beautiful_) is set in Tuscany. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/9 "2005-06-13T23:22:30Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Talented Mr. Ripley? The original Italian Job. The Postman, (not the Costner movie) oh and one of my favorite movies of all time, Cinema Paradiso. Ripley was good, but not for the Italian elements, which seemed to me to be very much added on as an extra. The Italian Job was good, but only for one reason, and that wasn’t Italian 🙂 On the other hand, definitely go for _Cinema Paradios_. Although not Tuscan, it’s simply a truly wonderful film. (Have the box of tissues ready 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/10 "2005-06-13T23:53:18Z")
Um, how about something about some of those painters in the [Uffizi?](http://www.arca.net/uffizi) \*\* Botticelli, Michaelangelo, Fra Angelico\*\*, **Piero della Francesco** - the Uffizi has a pretty amazing collection of paintings. You could go with something around [this](http://www.arca.net/uffizi/img/878.jpg), Bottecelli’s ‘Venus on the Half-Shell’ (not the real name of the painting.) Or **Michaelangelo** ’s _David_? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-italian-stuff/308092/11 "2005-06-14T14:43:58Z")
Thank you, everyone. UL reviewed the suggestions, hit the online shops, and ended up with The Agony and the Ecstasy (novel) Death in Venice (novella) Death in Venice (dvd) A Room with a View (dvd) Under the Tuscan Sun (dvd) 3 Coins in the Fountain (dvd) I quesion the validity of the _Death in Venice_ movie…German protagonist and Mahlerian soundtrack. If I’d wanted to spotlight Venice for some reason, I’d’a picked _Don’t Look Now_.