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 great books that took us there on the page:

The Invitation by Lucy Foley - https://bit.ly/3QYEd9l

Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere by Jan Morris - https://bit.ly/3QZu7Fp

Cinnamon and Salt: Ciccheti in Venice by Emiko Davies - https://bit.ly/3xFjJvI

Galileo's Daughter: A Drama of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel - https://bit.ly/3Lv5nDz

Still Life by Sarah Winman - https://bit.ly/3Sf2jxG

A Room with a View - https://bit.ly/3DOFhd5

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes at http://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2022-09-26-italy

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