| Part 1 | A Portrait | 1 |
| 1 | The Magic of Italy | 3 |
| Sibling Rivalry | 3 |
| Italy Yesterday and Today | 4 |
| Why Learn About Italy? | 6 |
| What Turns You On? | 7 |
| What's Hot in Italy Today? | 8 |
| How to Approach Italy and Her Story | 9 |
| 2 | Che Panorama! | 11 |
| The Boot | 11 |
| From Puglia to Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 12 |
| The City-States Within | 12 |
| Home Is Where the Heart Is | 13 |
| In the Middle of the Earth | 14 |
| Water, Water Everywhere | 16 |
| Natural Disasters | 17 |
| Festa Anyone? | 19 |
| 3 | Who Are the Italians? | 21 |
| What Makes an Italian? | 21 |
| A World of Italians | 22 |
| La Famiglia E Sacra | 25 |
| What's in a Name? | 25 |
| Can Anyone Be Italian? | 26 |
| 4 | From Shore to Shore | 29 |
| Searching for Something Better | 30 |
| They Came in Waves | 31 |
| The Italian Community | 32 |
| Spaghetti and Bullets | 34 |
| The Dream Lives On | 36 |
| 5 | The Sound of Music | 37 |
| Express Yourself | 37 |
| Kissing Cousins: Dialects | 40 |
| The Most Important Phrases You'll Ever | 40 |
| Gestures | 41 |
| What's in a Name? | 42 |
| When Speaking Italian Was a Crime | 45 |
| Part 2 | Tota Italia | 47 |
| 6 | Rome Wasn't Built in a Day | 49 |
| Your Mother Was a Wolf | 49 |
| Before There Was Rome | 51 |
| The Roman Republic | 53 |
| Built to Last | 56 |
| That's Entertainment, Folks | 57 |
| The Slaves | 57 |
| The Early Christians | 58 |
| You're Great, Constantine! | 59 |
| Rome Today | 60 |
| 7 | The Medieval Minestrone | 61 |
| The Middle of What? | 61 |
| An Architectural Primer | 62 |
| Know Your Parts | 64 |
| Family Feudalism | 66 |
| Apocalypse Then | 67 |
| All Roads Lead to Rome | 69 |
| St. Francis of Assisi | 70 |
| Santa Clara | 70 |
| 8 | Popes, Politics, and Power | 73 |
| Rome: Seat of the Vatican | 73 |
| Peter Picked a Pope | 75 |
| In Hoc Signo Vinces | 80 |
| Monasteries and Abbeys Become the Rage | 80 |
| Rites of the Church | 81 |
| Best to Conform | 84 |
| Pope John Paul II | 85 |
| Pope Trivia | 85 |
| 9 | Leaving the Middle Ages | 87 |
| Famine | 87 |
| Bigger Weapons, Bolder Warlords | 88 |
| Black Death and Bankruptcies | 88 |
| Let There Be Light | 90 |
| Ringing in the Renaissance | 91 |
| The Emergence of Tuscan | 92 |
| Dante | 93 |
| Bawdy Boccaccio | 95 |
| The Modern Man | 97 |
| Part 3 | Quantum Leaps | 99 |
| 10 | Can You Spare a Florin? Banking and Commerce | 101 |
| Banker's Hours | 102 |
| Break the Bank | 103 |
| Starving Artist--Will Work for Money | 105 |
| Power in Numbers: The Guilds | 106 |
| Funny Money | 107 |
| 11 | Strange Bedfellows | 109 |
| Cities? States? City-States! | 110 |
| Florence: The Medici | 111 |
| Florence: Art in the Square | 113 |
| Milan: The Sforza Family | 113 |
| Ferrara: The Este | 113 |
| Mantova: The Gonzagas | 114 |
| Urbino: The Montefeltros | 115 |
| A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words | 116 |
| Festivities | 117 |
| Cover Your Assets | 118 |
| Golden Age of Rome | 119 |
| Bedroom Politics | 119 |
| How to Be a Prince | 120 |
| Savonarola: Prophet of Doom | 121 |
| 12 | Putti, Painters, and the Arts | 123 |
| Bravissimo! The Renaissance | 123 |
| Humanists Are People, Too | 125 |
| The Platonic Academy | 125 |
| A Brief Renaissance Who's Who of Italian Artists | 132 |
| 13 | Great Discoveries: Here We Come! | 135 |
| We Like It Spicy | 135 |
| Marco Polo | 136 |
| Unsung Heroes | 137 |
| Christopher Columbus | 137 |
| Way to Go Amerigo | 139 |
| Giovanni Caboto | 140 |
| Verrazano Bridges the Gap | 140 |
| Read All About It: Native American Discovers Italy! | 141 |
| Galileo Figaro Magnifico | 142 |
| Other Italian Scientists | 144 |
| Copernicus | 145 |
| 14 | The Day the Music Died | 147 |
| Pope Paul III | 148 |
| The Holy Office | 148 |
| Baby Boom | 150 |
| The Beginning of the End | 151 |
| The Church Reigns Supreme | 152 |
| Cagliostro: Potion Maker | 154 |
| Giacomo Casanova | 155 |
| 15 | Violins and Lace: The Baroque | 157 |
| La "Dramma per Musica" | 157 |
| The First Operatic Giants | 158 |
| Opera Houses | 162 |
| An Opera Glossary | 163 |
| Highlights of Italian Music | 164 |
| An Idiot's Crash Course on the Players | 165 |
| An Explosion of Creativity | 166 |
| Part 4 | Redshirts, Blackshirts, and Greenshirts | 171 |
| 16 | Parlez-Vouz Francais? | 173 |
| The Napoleonic Empire | 173 |
| All in the Family | 176 |
| I Just Have to Have It! | 177 |
| Napoleon is Pastry | 177 |
| Red, White, and Green in the New World | 178 |
| 17 | Let's Call It Italia: A Nation and a Democracy | 181 |
| The Struggle for Unity | 181 |
| The Heroes of Italian Unity | 182 |
| A Hero Here, a Hero There | 185 |
| Opera: Political Voices Raised in Music | 188 |
| A Capital City, a National Language | 189 |
| You're Bringing Me Down | 191 |
| 18 | The Island of Tears | 193 |
| In Search of a Better Life | 193 |
| Help Wanted! Immigrants Welcome! | 196 |
| America Shuts the Golden Door | 199 |
| 19 | The World at War | 201 |
| The Big Picture | 201 |
| The Origins of Fascism | 203 |
| The Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini | 204 |
| The March on Rome | 204 |
| Mussolini's Italian Empire | 206 |
| On Making Baby Fascists | 208 |
| The Beginning of the End | 209 |
| Italian Americans: Divided Loyalties | 211 |
| Cinecitta | 212 |
| 20 | Myth and Magic | 213 |
| Rising Up from the Ashes | 213 |
| Italian Parliament | 215 |
| The Neorealists | 217 |
| The Italian Miracle | 219 |
| Married to the Mob | 221 |
| Part 5 | Pizza, Pasta, and Fantasia | 223 |
| 21 | Life Is a Carnevale | 225 |
| Carnevale | 225 |
| Italian Holidays and Important Dates | 227 |
| I'll Bet You I Win | 227 |
| Il Calcio | 228 |
| La Passeggiata | 228 |
| A Driving Passion | 229 |
| Italian Teatro | 231 |
| Italy at the Movies | 232 |
| Italian Movie Directory | 234 |
| 22 | Spaghetti Doesn't Grow on Trees | 237 |
| Buon Appetito! | 237 |
| Il Vino | 239 |
| Olive Olives | 241 |
| Favorite Foods: Pasta and Pizza | 242 |
| Il Caffe | 244 |
| Italian Food Facts | 244 |
| Good Health Comes First | 245 |
| 23 | Mamma and the Madonna | 249 |
| There's an Exception to Every Rule | 249 |
| Renaissance Women | 250 |
| Incredible Artist Types | 252 |
| Santa Caterina da Siena | 253 |
| Won't You Marry Me? | 254 |
| Women for Hire | 255 |
| You've Come a Long Way, Bambina | 257 |
| I Am Woman, I Am Forte | 257 |
| The Long March to Equal Opportunity | 259 |
| Mamma Mia! | 260 |
| 24 | Weeping Statues and the Blood of San Gennaro | 263 |
| L'onomastico: Saint's Day | 263 |
| Weeping Statues | 268 |
| Padre Pio | 268 |
| The Malocchio and Other Charms | 270 |
| Fairy Tales | 271 |
| 25 | Made in Italy | 277 |
| Art of a Different Sort | 277 |
| Historic Clothing | 279 |
| No Cutoffs or Exposed Shoulders Allowed | 279 |
| Commedia dell'Arte | 280 |
| Get Me Wardrobe | 280 |
| Clothing Makes the Politician | 281 |
| Street Fashion | 282 |
| Business Is All the Fashion These Days | 282 |
| Stendhal's Syndrome | 285 |
| Clothing Sizes | 286 |
| Part 6 | Italy's Exports | 289 |
| 26 | Follow Your Muse | 291 |
| Writers and Thinkers | 291 |
| Who's Who | 292 |
| The Italian Influence on Education | 295 |
| The Arts | 298 |
| 27 | Science and Medicine | 301 |
| Science and Medicine | 302 |
| Medicine | 305 |
| 28 | Circo Massimo | 309 |
| The Old-Timers | 309 |
| Rock My World, Bambino | 311 |
| At the Metropolitan Opera | 312 |
| Cinema | 314 |
| Actors | 316 |
| Let's Have a Festa | 318 |
| Sports | 319 |
| 29 | Friends and Favors: Powerful Players | 325 |
| Great Rulers, Now and Forever | 325 |
| Quite a Resume | 328 |
| Italian-American Power Women | 329 |
| Industry Leaders | 330 |
| Food Giants | 332 |
| What's Cooking? | 334 |
| Italian Americans Commemorate Italian Americans | 335 |
| Share Your Talents | 337 |
| Appendixes | |
| A | Glossary | 339 |
| B | Web Resources | 347 |
| C | Suggested Films and Books | 353 |
| D | Map of Italy | 359 |
| Index | 361 |
Format: Paperback, 408 pages
