Serpentine Books
Independent publisher of crime, thrillers, sci-fi, mysteries, romantic comedies and mash-ups.
View Rights PortalIndependent publisher of crime, thrillers, sci-fi, mysteries, romantic comedies and mash-ups.
View Rights PortalAbout E-planet E-planet Educational Services is an international organisation created by a dedicated and enthusiastic team of experts on education, marketing and development. Our goal is to provide our partners, students and customers with top-level services and products. That is why we have developed a unique, fully integrated company for ESL (English as a Second Language) educational services and business training. We combine traditional methods with cutting-edge technology to achieve a variety of purposes!
View Rights PortalIn Venedig unter vier Augen unternimmt Anka Muhlstein einen Streifzug durch die Serenissima, während Louis Begley dem Genius loci dieses einzigartigen Orts der Weltliteratur bei Henry James, Marcel Proust und Thomas Mann nachspürt und in einer meisterhaften Erzählung von einer erotischen Initiation und dem »einzigen Weg nach Venedig« erzählt.Seit vielen Jahren sind Anka Muhlstein und Louis Begley verheiratet und haben in diesem Band zum erstenmal gemeinsam ein persönliches Buch über ihre lebenslange Venedig-Passion geschrieben.
Das erste Mal, 1964, in Gesellschaft einer jungen Frau. Dann, 1982, mit dem Orientexpress. Erst beim zehnten Mal das Wagnis: eine Gondelfahrt. Und schließlich, 2018, kappt ein heftiger Sturm die einzige Landverbindung zwischen der Stadt und dem Rest der Welt und sorgt dafür, dass der Gast länger bleibt als geplant. Cees Nootebooms Liebe zu Venedig dauert nun schon über 50 Jahre an. Viele Male hat er die Stadt besucht, wohnt in prachtvollen Hotels und düsteren Apartments, huldigt den Malern und Schriftstellern, die hier lebten und arbeiteten, beobachtet den drohenden Ausverkauf Venedigs ebenso wie das Verhalten der Bewohner und Besucher: klug und selbstironisch, fast zärtlich. Der große niederländische Autor und Reisende Cees Nooteboom stellt sich die Frage: »Weshalb liebe ich diesen Ort mehr als andere Orte?« In seinen Texten aus drei Jahrzehnten gibt er die Antwort – und setzt Venedig, La Serenissima, ein Denkmal von ungeheurer Strahlkraft.
With the fall of the Serenissima (1797) and the French domination, later followed by the Austrian one, the most decadent period of its millenary history began for Venice: between the increasingly evident poverty and the upheaval of the sumptuous social customs that had characterised the city, even in the field of prostitution, the new oppressive climate was perceived with an increase in the rules of behaviour and health and hygiene controls, as well as the purely fiscal management of the wolves. Once the era of the cultured courtesans who had fascinated kings and travellers was over, that of the poor, maltreated and sometimes problematic women, often a step away from criminalisation or expulsion from the city, began. Elisabetta Tiveron, through the stripping of archive documentation, the analysis of the distribution of the houses of tolerance and the judicial events of some prostitutes, reconstructs a still little known area of 19th century Venetian history.
Autor Danilo Reato explains the history of traditional masks, used in Venetian carnival in historical times (such as "larva", "volto"), writes about certain figures, that turned up in the carnival of the "Serenissima", following the local tradition (such as the "Gnaga" - a man in womens clothes), but also explains society-masks (such as the "Bauta"), finally deals with all figures of the commedia dell'arte (such as Pantalone and Arlecchino), of equal interest in venetian carnival. The book ends with an 18th-century-list of 70 ways of getting costumated during the venetian carnival period (which was fairly long).
Shortly before and immediately after the Lockdown, venetian author Danilo Reato took his camera and photographed the "empty Venice", Lockdown-Venice, which granted free sight to important historical buildings, the canals. This Venice reminded the author of his childhood (as he wrote in his foreword), when the "Serenissima" was much more peaceful and even knew periods during the year without any tourists. An actual historical document. The book can also be seen as contribution to the future of the town in the Lagoon, which cannot sopport "overtourism" any more.
"From Altino to Venice" wants to present the first phase of the history of the Serenissima through its crucial knots: the birth of the Doge's Palace, the rise of Rivoalto, the cult of St. Mark and the formation of the city, the invasion of the Hungarians, the policy of Doge Peter II Orseolo and the domination of the Adriatic, the first Crusade, the birth of the Great Council, the policy of Frederick Barbarossa and the Lombard League, the peace of 1177.Franco Bordin analyses - through narrative sources, documents (treaties, wills, decrees...) and historians' interpretations - the life of the city through the complex plot of historical events and its continuous development in the political, constitutional, economic, urban, religious and artistic fields. It is a fundamental work both for the passionate reader of History and for the scholar.
Zanmaria Millevoi, the murderous tailor from Contrada di San Mattio; Elena Sciarles, the woman burned in her house in the Chiovere di San Girolamo; Vittoria Basadonna, the noblewoman killed in the Gritti palace in San MattioMoisé; Giovan Battista Bombonati, the hairdresser from Vicenza who thought up the scam of the pot of spirits; Chiara Pentarina, the cook accused of having put poison in her master's broth in San Paterniano; the nameless drowned man fished out on the edge of the Ponte della Panada... are the protagonists of some crime stories that happened in Venice in the second half of the eighteenth century and of which we have news through the documents preserved in the State Archives.Davide Busato, deepening the development of these emblematic cases, reconstructs the working methods of the police who investigated at the time of the Serenissima and the Magistrates who coordinated the investigations, giving ample emphasis to the many curious little details of daily life of the time that emerged from the reading of the interrogations.
In the fifteenth century, Venice was the first Italian centre to produce and disseminate books printed using mobile printing presses throughout Europe, thanks to the resourcefulness of many printer-publishers - such as Giovanni da Spira and Aldo Manuzio - and the prudence of the Veneto Senate, which immediately realised the importance (also commercial) of this new means of disseminating ideas. The Serenissima also played an important role in forming a different way of understanding gastronomy through the publication of cookbooks - some of which were famous, such as those by Cristoforo Messisbugo, Bartolomeo Scappi, Platina and Panunto - which introduced chefs and lovers of good food to the elaborate dishes that were served at the sumptuous court banquets of the major Italian princes: unusual recipes, faithful to the taste of the time, such as salt cod with black butter, capon in French fracassea, dried merlucce and eel cake from Lent... but also practical advice on how to order the dishes with grace and perfection or how to chop the meat by playing acrobatic games to leave the diners amazed.
A book dedicated to all that is typical of Italian gastronomy, with particular attention given to the concept of excellence: Italian delicacies, places and flavours, and above all, 150 of the best traditional recipes. The book is grouped into 10 geographic areas: for each, we present the most representative dishes, the best typical products and producers of excellence, as well as a selection of eateries and restaurants, which are often outside the “official” circuit but always characterized by great quality. A masterpiece that is a must-have for the bookcase of every gourmand, tourist and simple food-enthusiasts.
The temptation par excellence, that craving that suddenly arises and we cannot fight it unless we satisfy it: the desire for chocolate. Perhaps it is because of this power that it is called the most loved food on the planet. Or perhaps it is because its cultivation, production and consumption - which has been growing strongly in the last 10 years - are spread across all continents. Napoleon Neri tells its story, starting with the plant and its fruit, from the pioneers of chocolate, to the birth of confectionery factories in the 19th century and then the great modern industries. He describes in detail the processing and transformation of cocoa beans, their beneficial properties, the sensory characteristics of the finished product, and spices everything up with a thousand anecdotes and curiosities that only those who have lived and worked in this world for so long can know.