"Old Calabria" is a travelogue written by Norman Douglas. The book is an account of the author's journey through the rugged and remote region of Calabria, located in the southern part of Italy. In the book, Douglas vividly describes the landscape, culture, and people of Calabria, which at the time was largely unknown and undiscovered by tourists. He chronicles his travels through small villages and towns, sharing his observations and encounters with the locals, their customs, and their way of life. Douglas also delves into the history and mythology of the region, recounting tales of Greek and Roman gods, as well as the legendary bandits who once roamed the area. He discusses the region's food, music, and religious festivals, providing readers with a rich and immersive experience of Calabria's unique culture. Throughout the book, Douglas's writing is infused with humor and wit, as he shares his opinions and critiques of the region and its people.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

The first cookbook from this little-known region of Italy celebrates the richness of the region's landscape and the allure of its cuisine, featuring recipes for easily accessible, fresh-from-the-garden Italian food from a Calabrian native.

Calabrian Tales is a unique story of inexplicable injustice and poverty, avarice and survival based on true family incidents that were revealed to the author in his youth. The book's chief character is the author's great aunt, Marianna, who became the mistress of a wealthy noble. The lifestyle she adopted repeatedly shamed her relatives until living in Italy became unbearable for them. Eventually, the author's father, Raffaele, fled his beloved Italy in the face of constant shame, and settled in the U.S. His son, author Peter Chiarella, grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. There he heard the stories about life in Calabria from his grandmother, a principal character in the book. After her death, the stories kept coming, both from his father, also a character in Calabrian Tales, and from his mother, who had listened in on Nonna's recollections over a period of fifteen years. The stories of people who lived in what may have been Italy's poorest region, blend with the historical struggles of the times in a combination reminiscent of certain aspects of The Godfather and the ignoble humanity of Angela's Ashes. "Twenty-two unforgettable personalities interplay in this picaresque page turner. Each one will fascinate you uniquely." -- Anthony Kilgallin, author of Napa Valley Picture Perfect "Calabrian Tales evokes the memory of stories I heard growing up among elder Italian immigrants." -- James L. D'Adamo, author of The D'Adamo Diet "A most intriguing and compelling read." -- Joseph D. Sabella, MD

Calabria is one of the oldest civilised regions of Europe. In antiquity, the philosophy, science, literature and poetry of the Greek Pythagoreans flourished here; in the Middle Ages, the Norman Kingdom was the most cultured and opulent civilisation in the world. However, in modern times, Calabria has suffered from the almost complete neglect of its multi-facetted cultural legacy by dominant foreign ruling powers, declining into a third world region at the toe of the Italian peninsula. This book directs the attention of the world to those immense disregarded riches, through a collection of essays on the region’s history, arts and crafts, its philosophy and substantial intellectual legacy and especially its rejuvenation among the younger generations of today. Each of the 16 chapters was written by a scholar with unique experience in their field of research. They will be immensely useful for academics as well as students interested in Mediterranean culture.

An effortlessly artful blend of travel book, memoir, and affectionate portrait of a people Calabria is the toe of the boot that is Italy—a rugged peninsula where grapevines and fig and olive trees cling to the mountainsides during the scorching summers while the sea crashes against the cliffs on both coasts. Calabria is also a seedbed of Italian American culture; in North America, more people of Italian heritage trace their roots to Calabria than to almost any other region in Italy. Mark Rotella's Stolen Figs is a marvelous evocation of Calabria and Calabrians, whose way of life is largely untouched by the commerce that has made Tuscany and Umbria into international tourist redoubts. A grandson of Calabrian immigrants, Rotella persuades his father to visit the region for the first time in thirty years; once there, he meets Giuseppe, a postcard photographer who becomes his guide to all things Calabrian. As they travel around the region, Giuseppe initiates Rotella—and the reader—into its secrets: how to make soppressata and 'nduja, where to find hidden chapels and grottoes, and, of course, how to steal a fig without actually committing a crime. Stolen Figs is a model travelogue—at once charming and wise, and full of the earthy and unpretentious sense of life that, now as ever, characterizes Calabria and its people.