The holidays aren’t yet over in Rome!   Here in the Eterna, we stretch our our celebrations, making the Christmas feast last all the way until 6 January, the feast of Epiphany or Befana.  Thus, many Romans have not yet gone back to work and children have not returned to school.  There’s still a lot of eating and celebrating going on — though, in a brief walk through the city yesterday, we noticed that lots of people are getting cranky. It seems that it’s time to get back to the routine.

But not, of course, until today’s celebration is finished!  For those of you not in the know, Ephiphany or Befana is the day that the Three Wise Men visited the Baby Jesus and gave him such gifts  as frankincense, gold, and myrrh.  It’s also the day on which Italians have traditionally exchanged gifts (rather than on Christmas Eve or Day), though that practice is changing.

Just as American children are taught that they must behave in order to insure a visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Day, Italian children have traditionally been told that they must comport themselves nicely in order that Befana, the grandmotherly house frau who failed to accompany the Wise Men to Bethlehem (click here to read her story), might distribute gifts at their house on the feast of Epiphany.

What else does one do on Epiphany?  One eats, of course.  And one pays a final visit to the Christmas fair in Piazza Navona.  There, you might pick up a few creche figures, play some carnival games, ride the carousel, admire the manger scene, buy a Befana (like those in the photo above), or have one last sugary snack (a nutella-covered donut, perhaps?) before reforming your life in accordance with strict New Year’s Resolutions.

So, on this last day of the holidays, we wish you a Happy Befana!

The crazy looking broccolo romano becomes a Christmas tree on the window of a fabric store facing onto the archaeological site at Largo Argentina.

Sometimes called minaret because of it’s unusual shape, broccolo romano is actually a variety of cauliflower.  You’ll find it in every market in Rome.  Here at the eCool compound, we like to sautee it with olive oil, garlic, pepperoncino, and sometimes a splash of white wine.  We’ll admit that we never thought of using it as a Christmas tree, however.

On this Photo Friday (and the feast of Santo Stefano — a holiday in Rome), photographer Susan Sanders brings us a wonderful photo from Naples.

Shot on San Gregorio Armeno, the Neapolitan street lined with stores and stalls selling Christmas creche figures, the photo depicts a Pulcinella figurine sitting amongst boxes and boxes of Christmas ornaments.

Who is Pulcinella?  Called Punch in English, he’s a character in the Renaissance Commedia dell’Arte, a form of improvisational theater in which performances were unscripted, held outside, used few props, and were given by a troupe of ten people: eight men and two women.

Still performed today, conventional plot lines are written on themes of adultery, jealousy, old age, and love. Many of the basic plot elements can be traced back to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, though they can be easily adapted to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, while still using old jokes and punch lines.

In the Commedia, Pulcinella is portrayed as pitiable, helpless, and often physically disfigured. He usually has a hump, a distinct limp, or some other obvious physical deformity and wears a mask.  In some portrayals he cannot speak, and expresses himself in squeaks or other strange sounds. His personality can be foolish or sly and shrewd.

For more photos by Susan, visit her photo blog: Rome With A View.  And check out the 2009 Rome With A View calendars she’s created if you want to enjoy the Eterna every single day in 2009.

Time’s getting short!  If you’re still looking for the perfect gift for someone who loves Rome, we suggest you click on over to iTunes and buy the following songs.  Burn them onto a CD, call it the Roma Eterna Playlist, and you’ll have the perfect gift–without even leaving the house!

Some of the songs on the list are old classics, others are newer releases, but all are chosen for their ability to evoke some aspect of the Eternal City.  Happy Listening!

1)  Abba, Mamma Mia. 

We know, we know.  They’re Swedish, not Italian, and the song’s about almost nothing.  But you couldn’t ask for a catchier rendition of that emphatic expression one hears all over the streets of Rome.

2)   Morcheeba, Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day

A mellow contemporary tune by a British band that mixes influences from trip hop, rock, rhythm and blues and pop.

3)  Bruno Martini,  Bella Roma

Quanto sei bella Roma!  Ciao Roma.

4)  Ruth Wallis, Pizza

“I marry a nice young handsome fella, he don’t care much for moozzarella, he likes a little pizza every night.”  We fall on the floor with laughter every time we hear this song from Wallis’s album, Boobs.

5)  Bianca Morales, The Heart of Rome (Trastevere)

Jazz vocalist Morales is half Finnish and half Afro-Cuban but she obviously loves Rome like we do.

6)   Pink Martini, Aspettami

A lovely little ballad from the “little orchestra” from Portland, Oregon.  heir music has often been described as “vintage music”, a descriptive which reflects the content, style and period inspiring many of their songs.

7) Marilyn Rucker, Last Day of Pompeii

“On the Last Day of Pompeii, thought I heard some poor boy say, ‘Oh wow man, if I knew then what I know now’….Now Vesuvio’s come to call.  Arrivederci.  I had a ball.”

8)  Pink Martini, Una Notte a Napoli.

More from the always wonderful Pink Martini.  We love the little story told in this catchy tune.

9)  Bella Ciao, Pasta Song

Dare you to get this one out of your head:  “I think it’s nearly supper time.  I’m gonna pour myself some wine.  And sit down to a big plate of pasta tonight.  It doesn’t matter what it costs.  I gotta get some pesto sauce.  To put on my big plate of pasta tonight.”  You’ll be listening over and over!

10)  Rosemary Clooney, Botch-a-Me

Originally written in 1941 by Riccardo Morbelli and Luigi Astore. English lyrics were written by Eddie Stanley. But it was Rosemary Clooney who really made it popular in 1952.

11)  The Nelsonics, The Ruins of Rome

In 2005, The Nelsonics, Milwaukee’s foremost purveyors of surf and soul music, decided to get a little crazy and try something new–they added words to their songs and this was the result.

12)  Bella Ciao, Blue Italian Skies

A little accordian, a fabulous female lead, and a hit album called Legends of the Italian Lounge.  That’s Bella Ciao and we love ‘em.

13)  Dean Martin, Volare

What what a Rome mix be without blu dipinto da blu?

14) Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao

Get radical.  In World War II, Bella Ciao was sung by the left anti-fascist resistance movement in Italy comprised of anarchists, communists, socialists and other anti-fascist partisans.

15)  Rosemary Clooney, Mambo Italiano

Rosemary Clooney, hit the carts with this in 1954 in the United States and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart early in 1955.

16)  Castellina-Pasi, In Trattoria

‘Nuff said.  Who would want to be anywhere else but in a trattoria?

17)  Dean Martin, Arrivederci Roma

The song Pizza (number 4 above) may leave us rolling on the ground laughing, but this one leaves us in tears, every time.

A recent stroll through the Piazza Navona Christmas Fair left us giggling when we saw that one candy stand had filled a model Colosseum with their wares.

Though we loved the idea of a Colosseum full of candy, we liked even more the little pink candy pigs that are sticking out of the second-story arches where statues of Roman gods and heroes would have stood in antiquity.

While traditionally Italians have let La Befana (read her story here) bring holiday gifts on the feast of Epiphany, January 6th, Santa Claus has recently become popular.

On this Photo Friday, Susan Sanders shows us how the Santa craze has manifested itself in Naples.  Taken on San Gregorio Armeno, the street lined with stores and stalls selling creche figures, this the photo shows an orchestra of Santas playing merrily while the shopkeeper to whom they belong has his own fun playing games on his cell phone.

For more of Susan’s photos, visit her photo blog, Rome With A View.  And be sure to get yourself one of her 2009 Rome With A View calendars before the New Year gets underway.

We’ve put a little guide together that will help you celebrate your holiday Roman style.  Each of the items shown above is crucial to celebrating an Italian holiday season.  Working our way through from Christmas to Epiphany, here’s how to do as the Romans do:

1)  Begin by putting up a nativity scene–the more elaborate the better.

Some believe that the tradition of creating Nativity scenes originated with St. Francis of Assisi in 1223, when he constructed a nativity scene out of straw in a cave in Greccio in central Italy and used the scene as the site of his Christmas Eve mass.

Carving figurines for Italian nativity scenes started in the 13th century and it’s an art that’s still popular, especially in Naples, where presepe aren’t limited to the usual cast of characters, but include such everyday figures as pizza-makers, watermelon-sellers, fish mongers, blacksmiths, and even Roman soldiers.

2) Buy yourself some eel.

As with most Italian holidays, eating is a very important part of Christmas.  Traditionally, the Catholic Church asked Christmas Eve be kept as a day of fasting and abstinence (the Code of Canon Law eliminated this fast in 1983) and thus the traditional Christmas Eve meal in Rome is one of fish rather than meat. The prized Christmas Eve seafood treat is a capitone or eel. Shoppers in the know search for a big female eel and serve it roasted, baked, or fried (it’s also preferable to purchase it alive and and conveniently kill it in your own kitchen sink in order to insure freshness).

3)  Get a red tablecloth.

That’s the traditional color for table linen at the Christmas Eve meal.  We’re going with this one from Williams-Sonoma.

4)  Break out the tombola set.

Tombola is a game like bingo that’s popular with all ages.  In Italy, it’s traditionally played on Christmas eve before going to midnight mass.  Sometimes tombola boards are simply numbered, but each number also has a nickname, thus  boards are sometimes illustrated with images representing the nicknames–number 77, for example, is “legs of old women.”

Get yourself a tombola here.

5)  Buy a panettone (or make one).

Panettone is a typical bread of Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year.  Distinctively fluffy, panettone usually  contains candied orange, citron and lemon zest, as well as raisins, though many other variations are available such as plain or with chocolate . It is served in slices, vertically cut, accompanied with sweet hot beverages or a sweet wine, such as Asti or Moscato.

You can get a panettone at Williams-Sonoma too.

6)  When New Year’s rolls around, put on some red underwear:

At New Year’s, the color red is of great importance is the color red, for it’s a symbol of life and prosperity, and therefore the luckiest of all colors.  Across the Italian peninsula, New Year’s Eve tables are set with red decorations, red napkins, and red place markers. And though less immediately apparent, it’s worth knowing that many of those sitting around New Year’s Eve tables will be sporting red undergarments! Meant to insure love in the new year, red underwear and red lingerie adorn store windows in the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Of course, Victoria’s Secret is just a starting point in the quest for the perfect red underwear. (Guys, you’ve got to get some too.)

7)  Uncork the prosecco:

That’s what you should be drinking when the bell chimes midnight.   If you need a sip or two even before midnight, we’re OK with that.

If you need some prosecco, click here.

8)  Shoot off fireworks:

Nope, they’re not safe but everyone’s doing it.  Fireworks  light up Rome’s sky on New Year’s Eve as they’re set off from every rooftop, bridge, and piazza (this in addition to the city-sponsored firework extravaganza). But along with such explosive “Roman candles” it’s absolutely necessary that your New Year’s table be lit with candlelight, for the use of candles insures a bright future. And because the New Year’s holiday falls in the very chilliest and darkest days of winter, there’s yet another light-producing tradition that survives in Italy – the burning of a Yule log during the twelve long nights between Christmas and Epiphany.

We’re not telling you where to get fireworks; you’ll have to figure that out yourself.

9 & 10)  Eat some lentils and zampone:

Since we are what we eat, the Italians also have traditional foods that are eaten on New Year’s Eve. Legend suggests that the eating of lentils will insure prosperity, perhaps because of their suggestive coin shape. In Rome, long and elaborate New Year’s meals end with a serving of lentils that is accompanied by boiled zampone (stuffed pig’s foot). It’s also a good practice to eat a pomegranate on New Year’s Eve as the hundreds of seeds inside the fruit means an association with fertility and abundance – a symbol that is often seen in Renaissance painting.  Buy a zampone here and get some fabulous lentils from Castellucio here.

11)  Be good for Befana:

After New Year’s, the next big holiday is Epiphany on January 6th.  Epiphany, of course, is celebrated as the day that the Three Wise Men visited the Baby Jesus, bestowing upon him gifts such as frankincense, gold, and myrrh. Thus, Italians have traditionally given one another gifts on Epiphany rather than on Christmas Day (though that practice is changing).

Just as American children are taught that they must behave in order to insure a visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Day, Italian children have traditionally been told that they must comport themselves nicely in order that Befana, the grandmotherly house frau who failed to accompany the Wise Men to Bethlehem (click here to read her story), might distribute gifts at their house on the feast of Epiphany.

What does Befana bring to children who haven’t been good? She brings Carbone Dolce (sweet coal), a type of black candy that looks ominous but is sugary and sweet like rock candy and delights children by leaving teeth and tongue a frightening shade of black.

Sometimes Befana figures are really ugly but we’re digging these cute ones from 9 Mile Schoolhouse.  Get yours now.

12) Make Rome a part of your life every single day in 2009:

You can do that with a Rome With A View calendar featuring photographs by Susan Sanders, of eCool Photo Friday fame.  There are three different calendars to choose from.  Get one now or get them all.

Susan Sanders recently spotted this fabulous holiday shop window in which a sexy Mrs. Santa’s gone domestic.

If you’re in town cruise by for a look.  It’s the window of the oh-so-stylish Fattorini on the corner of the Lungotevere and the Via Arenula.

Still looking for gifts for the Italophiles in your life?  Wondering what to get the Roman foodie in your life?  We’ve got a few suggestions that might tickle their tastebuds:

1)  If the foodie in your life has a green thumb or is on a budget, stuff their stocking with arugula seeds.  They’ll be savoring one of the quintessential tastes of Rome for months and won’t have to buy that expensive supermarket arugula!

2)   If, however, your foodie is a movie buff with a sense of humor, you’d better go for the Godfather Spaghetti Measuring Device.  It’s hard to imagine a pasta lover who wouldn’t want want of these!  Designed by David-Louis and shaped like a knuckleduster, the Godfather S.M.D. has holes to measure child-sized portions, adult portions and dinner party portions of spaghetti.

3)  If you and your foodie love the Italian custom of stopping in a bar for a quick panino and wish you could replicate the experience at home, then Tiffany Collins’ 200 Best Panini Recipes is the cookbook for you.  And if you’re feeling like a big spender, you might want to throw in #9 as well–the panino grill.

4)  Does your foodie disdain that pre-grated Parmesean Cheese that comes in a green can?  (Who could blame them?)  Then nothing will win them over like iGourmet’s three Parm collection. They’ll smile and say cheese as they nibble on three varieties of parmiginao, noting how both age and the uniqueness of individual farms alter the cheese flavor.

5)  It’s the ultimate Italian junkfood and we’ve discovered that even people who purport to hate the stuff secretly dip their fingers in the jar when they think that no one’s looking.  So, if your Italian foodie is in need of a chocolate-hazelnut fix (or you want to test their willpower) order up a 5 pack of 13oz jars of Nutella.  If you have Amazon prime, the shipping’s free. Woohoo!

6)  Your foodie’s a reader too?  Then they’re probably dying to get their hands on Marcella Hazan’s new memoir, Amarcord: Marcella Remembers.  Hazan wrote and published The Classic Italian Cookbook in 1973 and her memoir is a terrific history of the expansive, postwar period when Americans were still learning the difference between linguine and Lambrusco, and an engaging chronicle of professional perseverance, chance and culinary destiny.

7)  Looking for something really unique?  Nudo, an olive grove in Italy’s Le Marche region, allows you the unique opportunity to adopt an olive tree for a year and thereby to enjoy the fruits of the Italian harvest while supporting small scale farming.  By means of the Nudo website, would-be adopters pay a virtual visit to each of the 7 olive groves on the estate, deciding which one suits their fancy, and then paying to support the needs of a tree for a year.  And, when you adopt a tree in the name of someone you love (that could include yourself) you’ll enjoy the fruits of the harvest as Nudo will send you olive oil and other olive-related products.

8)  Your favorite foodie can’t decide whether to dine in Rome, Venice, Florence or Milan? We had the same dilemma until we discovered these Italian Dinner Map Placemats. Now you can eat in (or at least on) all four cities. Comes as a book of fifty (50) paper placemats or as we like to call them placemaps. Now you can explore Italy without having to leave your dining table

9)  Already picked up the Panino cookbook shown in #2.  Go ahead and spring for the DeLonghi Retro Panini Grill.  Then tell your beloved foodie to stufff two slices of of rustic Italian bread with mozzarella, prosciutto, fresh basil, roasted red peppers, and whatever else takes their fancy, brush with olive oil, then press between the hot plates of this grill for the best panini outside Italy!

10)  A little music to go with the holiday prosecco?  Pick up a copy of Prosecco Party, a two-disc compilation, if you want to seem ultra mod.

11)  You’ll be on their good side forever if you arrive at the Christmas party with a whole prosciutto under your arm.  Volpi prosciutto is the product of a long, unhurried drying process lasting a minimum of 210 days. Each ham is carefully inspected and hand-trimmed by a master Salumiere. It is then carefully rubbed and salted to ensure an air-dried, even cure. The result is a soft, sweet flavor.

12)  You and your foodie are planning a little trip to Rome?  And you’d like to learn a bit about wine while you’re here.  Sign up for a guided wine tasting with superstar sommelier Hande Leimer.  Read an interview with Hande here or visit her website.

We all know people who love to read about Rome, whether they’re actually in the Eternal City of not.  It can be challenging to buy gifts for such experts–those who seem to know everything about Rome but who are always in search of a bit more knowledge.

So, if you’ve got a Rome-antic Reader on your Christmas list (or if you’re looking for a book to enjoy yourself over the holidays), here’s our 2008 list of best books about Rome.  Some of these are newly published, others are old classics.  And there’s something for readers of every age:

1)  Mary Beard & Keith Hopkins, The Colosseum, Harvard University Press, 2005.  Over and over we recommend this book to friends, relatives, students, and visitors, and so it earns the #1 place on our list.  If you haven’t got a copy yet, make sure someone puts one in your stocking this year.  As Robert Harris, author of Pompeii and Imperium said, it’s “a wonderful book, worthy of its subject: horrifying, impressive, blood-soaked, occasionally very funny and always entertaining.”

2)  Gillian Riley, The Oxford Companion to Italian Food, Oxford University Press, 2007.  Admit it.  One of the reasons for visiting Rome (or even for living here) is the food. Settle onto the couch with a glass of wine, open this mega-reference book (at some point you’ll start to smell the compelling scent of bucatini all’amatriciana or some other Italian favorite wafting through your house) and you’ll everything you ever wanted to know about Italian food.

3)  Mirslav Sasek, This is Rome, Universe, 2007.  This is Rome, first published in 1960 (and now updated), traces the history of Roman civilization to bring the city to life. Sasek navigates Rome’s busy, winding streets to visit such glorious historical landmarks as the statues of Michelangelo, Vatican City, the Pantheon, and the Fontana di Trevi-and to show us the eccentricities of modern Roman life, from its colorful trains, trams, and taxis to its chic espresso bars and pasta houses.  (For more about his book, see our blog entry from last year).  Great for ages 4-8.

4)  Amara Lakhous, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, Europa Editions, 2008.   Lakhous’s prize-winning second novel is a social satire and murder mystery concerning an immigrant-filled apartment complex in Rome. After the murder of a man known as Gladiator in the building elevator, each occupant of the Piazza Vittorio apartment building—among these, Parviz Mansoor Samadi, an Iranian chef who detests pizza; Benedetta Esposito, an aging concierge from Naples; Iqbal Amir Allah, a Bangladeshi shopkeeper—gets a chapter to relate the truth as he or she knows it (or wants it known), apparently to the police. The odd man out, and the main suspect, is Amedo, a man believed by his neighbors to be a native Italian. The tenants are by turns outraged, disillusioned, defensive and afraid, and their frequently wild testimony teases out intriguing psychological and social insight alongside a playful whodunit plot, exposing the power of fear, racial prejudice and cultural misconception to rob a neighborhood of its humanity.

5)  Mary Beard, The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found, Belknap, 2008.   In a grand synthesis, one of our most distinguished classicists relates all that we know–and don’t know–about ancient Pompeii, devastated by a flood of lava and volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Beard splendidly recreates the life and times of Pompeii in a work that is part archeology and part history. She examines the full scope of life, from houses, occupations, government, food and wine to sex, and the baths, recreation and religion…Beard’s tour de force takes the study of ancient history to a new level.

6)  William Murray, City of the Soul.  A Walk in Rome.  Crown, 2003. “Rome is so many things, but most of all, perhaps, a city of ghosts, of memories, of visions, of time remembered and faithfully honored,” writes Murray in this highly evocative, largely personal guide to the Italian capital.

7)  David Maraniss, Rome 1960.  The Olympics that Changed the World.  Simon & Schuster, 2008.  The same Games that announced the greatness of icons like Cassius Clay, Wilma Rudolph, and Rafer Johnson, also exposed a growing unrest between East and West, black and white, and male and female. Even the host city of Rome, Maraniss recounts, was “infused with a golden hue…an illuminating that comes with a moment of historical transition, when one era is dying and another is being born.”  For more on this book and photos of the 1960 Olympics in Rome, click here.

8)  Angela Nickerson, A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome, Roaring Forties Press, 2008.  From St. Peter’s Basilica to the Capitoline Hill, this unique resource—part biography, part history, and part travel guide—provides an intimate portrait of the relationship between Michelangelo and the city he restored to artistic greatness.

9)  Roberto Pazzi, Conclave, Zoland Books, 2003.   A rodent infestation of biblical proportions overcomes the Vatican City at the start of this hilarious, sophisticated  novel by renowned Italian poet and novelist Pazzi, just as cardinals from around the world are assembled in an isolated conclave at the Vatican to choose a new pope. While different factions plot to elect their own favorite or political ally, a limousine with Vatican diplomatic plates cruises Rome’s seedy alleyways searching out the solution to the rat problem-the Eternal City’s notorious feral cats. But what will happen when they can no longer be controlled? Pazzi deftly straddles the genres of fantasy and verismo, laying a meticulously researched foundation for a plot with twists and turns as serpentine as those of any Roman catacomb.

10)  Anthony Majanlahti, The Families Who Made Rome, Random House UK, 2006.  Rome is famous for its buildings and architecture, but just who built its noted and beautiful structures? This distinctive account—part history and part travel guide—explores the families and individuals who built Rome from the ground up. Each of the districts dominated by the fabulously rich families of the Popes—including the Colonna, della Rovere, Farnese, Borghese, Barberini and others—are explored and paired with a vivid account of the family’s history, including their scandals and intrigues as well as their relationships with artists like Bernini and Michelangelo. An itinerary with maps and engravings provides a detailed guide to each family’s monuments. Famous sites such as the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and St. Peter’s Cathedral take on new significance as the history of the Roman nobles who placed their stamp on the city is unveiled.

11)  David Hawacock, Peter Riley, and Dr. Opper Thorston, The Pompeii Pop-Up Book, Universe 2007.  The Pompeii Pop-Up is a sumptuous, six-spread pop-up book that builds a three-dimensional picture of Pompeian life before the disaster; it examines the events of that fateful day and the resultant destruction; and it shows how the innovative archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli unveiled the hidden city. Pop-ups include a bustling Pompeii street scene, a reproduction of a Roman villa with a cutaway to its interior, Mount Vesuvius in full eruption, and a view into how an excavation is conducted. Booklets, gatefolds, and a pull-out tray of Pompeii collectables and recreations, such as a wearable gladiator mask and a Roman amphitheater allow the reader to enjoy the intriguing aspects of Ancient Roman culture, and Pompeii and its political, commercial, and cultural climate under Roman rule.

12)  Janet Pederson, Pino and the Signora’s Pasta, Candlewick, 2005.  The cats roaming around Rome have one thing in common–they all love the Signora’s pasta. Each day she brings it, fresh and spicy. But Pino is bored with the pasta. How about some fish? A chop? Some stew? Taking a literal leap, he lands in a cafe, but the waiter shoos him away. He gets a few crumbs at a pizzeria; at a trattoria, he knocks over a bowl of stew that he gobbles before he is pushed out. As Pino wanders through the lonely alleyways, he realizes that, despite all his efforts, he is not full and he is not content. Then he catches the aroma of the Signora’s pasta and winds his way home.   Great for Rome lovers ages 4-8.

13)  John Bemelmans Marciano, Madeline and the Cats of Rome, Viking Juvenile, 2008.   The Paris skies are gray, so Miss Clavel and the twelve little girls are leaving for brighter weather— spring in Rome. Rome has wonderful sights to see and delicious things to eat, but Madeline also finds an unexpected adventure, involving a thief, a chase, and many, many cats. The first all-new Madeline book in close to fifty years combines a lively story with luminous gouache and watercolor illustrations. Beloved Madeline returns, as brave and irrepressible as ever!

14)  Elsa Morante, History: A Novel, Zoland Books, 2000 (first published in 1974).   History was written nearly thirty years after Elsa Morante and Alberto Moravia spent a year in hiding among remote farming villages in the mountains south of Rome. There she witnessed the full impact of World War II and first formed the ambition to write an account of what history – the great political events driven by men of power, wealth, and ambition – does when it reaches the realm of ordinary people struggling for life and bread.  The central character in this powerful and unforgiving novel is Ida Mancuso, a schoolteacher whose husband has died and whose feckless teenage son treats the war as his playground. A German soldier on his way to North Africa rapes her, falls in love with her, and leaves her pregnant with a boy whose survival becomes Ida’s passion.   Around these two other characters come and go, each caught up by the war which is like a river in flood. We catch glimpses of bombing raids, street crimes, a cattle car from which human cries emerge, an Italian soldier succumbing to frostbite on the Russian front, the dumb endurance of peasants who have lived their whole lives with nothing and now must get by with less than nothing.

15)  Steven Saylor, The Triumph of Caesar, St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008.  At the start of bestseller Saylor’s stellar 10th novel in his Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder, Gordianus is at first reluctant to accept a commission from Julius Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, to discover which of the general’s many enemies may be plotting her husband’s assassination soon after his victory in the Roman civil war. When Calpurnia reveals that the first man she’d hired for the job, Hieronymous, was murdered, the sleuth agrees to help because Hieronymous was an old friend of his. The suspects in Hieronymous’s death, who include such prominent figures of the period as Cleopatra and Marc Antony, may well be the ones seeking to kill Caesar. Since the action takes place two years before Caesar’s actual death in 44 B.C., there’s little suspense about the outcome, but Saylor ably rises to the challenge. The convincing backdrop of daily life in ancient Rome helps make this compelling whodunit a triumph.  To read our interview with Steven Saylor, click here.

16)  Tracy Barrett, On Etruscan Time, Henry Holt and Company, 2005.  Eleven-year-old Hector would rather spend the summer in Tennessee with his friends, but, as usual, no one listens to him. Instead, with the rest of his family involved in different projects, Hector will travel to Italy with his mother, an ancient-language specialist invited to assist an archaeological dig of an Etruscan village. Hector becomes more enthusiastic once he is allowed to apprentice on the dig, where he unearths a mysterious stone that propels him, through dreams, to Etruscan times. Through terrifying time-warp trips between now and then, he meets and tries to save a young boy from possible execution. Some readers may get bogged down with the time-travel logistics and the sophisticated background history, but Hector’s frustration about being “invisible” to grown-ups will reverberate with most kids, and Barrett’s vivid details, particularly the day-to-day work of archaeologists, will capture readers interested in ancient civilizations.  Great for archaeologists in grades 5-8.