Showing results by author "Martin Gani" in All Categories

This is more than an account of my relationship with Italian, it's more like a linguistic as well as cultural journey. Learning a new language is indeed an awesome experience, realisation that you can effectively communicate in an idiom other than your mother tongue is an elating sensation; in the case of Italian, you suddenly realise you can talk to some 60 million people in Italy and an additional 25 million around the world equally proficient in Italian. Delving into the details of the language, its history, how it functions, its peculiarities, how it compares to English, how much it's ...

This is a visual guide to the best of Italy's Veneto region illustrated with over 200 photos, however, Venice is not included as the unique city has already been published by the author as a separate book, Venice Today, illustrated with over 120 photos. Veneto is set in the north-east of Italy bordering with Lombardy to the west, Emilia-Romagna to the south, Friuli-Venezia Giulia to the east, Trentino - Alto Adige to the north even Austria in its northernmost corner. Around 57% of Veneto's territory is situated in the Po Valley, some 30% is made up of mountains in the north and the ...

Experiencing France is the result of numerous trips to this fascinating country in search of art, culture, breathtaking landscapes, culinary delights, eco-beaches and more. Included are over 120 photos, 95% of them by the author himself, that will help appreciate to the full what's being described. The book isn't meant to cover every inch of France but does take in the best of what the country offers: Paris, Provence, Loire Castles, Alsace-Lorraine, Bordeaux among them. There's also a chapter on learning French which is not as hard as it seems, there are some 4,000 words French and English ...

A novel approach to poetry employing mostly rhyming but also freestyle writing to compose portraits, life stories of people from all backgrounds and social classes as imagined by the poet. What distinguishes the poems is the lightness, ease of language and surprising finale. After the very first poem the reader looks forward to the unexpected, entertaining at times moving, thought provoking, quirky endings. Alongside describing individuals through their jobs, be it a writer, filmmaker, busker, bartender, chef or factory worker, personality traits we'd expect of an optimist, pessimist, ...

A book for language lovers, 32 chapters focusing on topics like how the English language has become the lingua franca of the world today spoken by over two billion people; closely monitored by Oxford English Dictionary, it now counts some 60 million words with new ones added every year. How does UK English differ from US English and does this hinder communication between the Brits and Americans? How do learners perceive informal American English? A chapter deals with the verbification phenomenon, another questions the custom of creating acronyms like NIMBY and BAME, familiar to some but not...

This is an informative, visual guide to the best of Piemonte illustrated with some 190 photos. It covers the capital Turin, the Savoy royal palaces Stupinigi and Venaria, the Le Langhe region famed for its scenic vineyards and just as famed wines like Barolo, truffles and great food in general. The city of Asti, the western shore of Lake Maggiore including Stresa, Arona, Verbania, gardens of Villa Taranto nearby, Lake Orta, rice fields of Vercelli, Novara, and more...

25 Years in Italy is an informative, insightful and entertaining account of life in contemporary Italy. It sheds light on daily life, culture, food and language of this fascinating country as observed from the inside by the author over a quarter of a century of uninterrupted stay. Through 20 information-packed chapters we get answers to questions like, why did George Clooney come to live by Lake Como? Why is Grana Padano the most popular cheese when there are 820 types to choose from? Why do Italians lace their language with English/American terms? What do they watch on TV? Why did Leonardo...

This is a visual guide to the best of Italy's Liguria region illustrated with some 275 photos. Liguria is a fashionable, highly popular maritime region extending 350 km from Ventimiglia in the west bordering with France to La Spezia in the east. It occupies a fairly narrow strip of land barely 7.5 km at its narrowest to 36 km at its widest. Third smallest region in Italy after Val d'Aosta and Molise, Liguria is home to just over 1.5 million (Jan. 2024) and is one of the most densely populated regions in Italy. This is a land of mountains, hills and valleys, Ligurian Alps host peaks rising ...

Few cities are as cosmopolitan as Amsterdam where some 180 nationalities peacefully live side by side. The Venice of the north, as it's sometimes called due its picturesque canals, Amsterdam is famed all over the world for its freedom loving lifestyle, a beautiful capital, tolerant city where everyone instantly feels at home. The book explores Amsterdam as it is today through some 120 photos illustrating the city's main tourist attractions, canals, flower market, red-light district, street life, museums like the ever popular Van Gogh art gallery and much more

This is a visual guide, illustrated with over 240 photos, to Emilia-Romagna region, home to some 4.5 million inhabitants set in central-north Italy with Bologna acting as regional capital. Romagna confined to the south is where all the beaches are, with at least 30 resort towns from Casal Borsetti in the north to Milano Marittima, Cesenatico, Rimini, Riccione to Cattolica in the south, strung along the Adriatic coast on a sandy stretch topping 90 km. Romagna also has fascinating cities like Ravenna, Cesena, Forlì, Faenza, and Rimini which is not only famed for its beaches and nightlife, it...

A visual guide to the best of Lombardy, one of the northernmost regions of Italy bordering with Switzerland, illustrated with some 280 photos. All 12 provinces making up Lombardy are dealt with but more space, and photos, are given to Milan, the regional capital, and Lake Como, the two prime attractions. Just as interesting are the cities of Bergamo and Mantua with their ancient churches, palaces and art galleries. Pavia has one of the oldest universities in Italy, Monza-Brianza has the largest fenced park in Europe. Sondrio and its mountains, vineyards, ski resorts draw many. Cremona is ...

A personal account of a road trip from Lake Como in the extreme north of Italy to Matera in the deep south, in the company of my wife and a couple of friends we've known for over three decades. I tried my best to narrate the car journey with uncompromising realism, what we see and experience is what you'll read, good or bad with entertaining anecdotes, interaction with the locals, detailing food experiences, nearly always good, often excellent. We drove for some 2,400 km there and back across seven regions, stopping in the cities: Bologna, Pescara, Matera, Ascoli Piceno, Arezzo, Barletta ...

This is a photo essay, a picture story for adults, on the southern Italian region of Campania with Naples serving as capital. It is an attempt to highlight the vast cultural, artistic, architectural, archaeological treasures of the area blessed with a beautiful, varied countryside and scenic cities and townships dotting the coastline millions of tourists flock to see in all seasons. In 140 original photos aided by some 8,000 words the author gives a succinct, accurate account of this fascinating region exploring Naples, Salerno, the island of Capri, the archaeological sites, Pompeii and ...

Cyprus Revisited is part memoir, part travel literature and part solid journalism explaining the current issues in Cyprus regarding politics, lifestyle and economy but most of the book is focused on the cultural wealth of this fascinating Mediterranean island boasting a history that stretches back 12,000 years; Cyprus can easily be defined a cradle of civilisation.

Turkish Odyssey narrates a cultural journey through Turkey. The author travelled to all of this fascinating country’s main tourist sites giving a ‘like being there’ account of what visitors experience and enjoy there. We get detailed information, entertaining anecdotes as well as feel the atmosphere at prime tourist destinations like Istanbul’s exotic bazaars, prim and ordered Ankara (the capital), Cappadocia’s otherworldly landscapes, the holy city of Konya and world famous archaeological sites such as Ephesus, Aphrodisias and Troy. Fluent in Turkish, the author was able to get ...

This is a collection of 30 short stories with a decidedly Italian flavour, most are actually set in Italy but a few also unravel elsewhere, in London, New York, Istanbul and Cyprus to be precise, nevertheless maintaining a connection with Italy. It is a sequel to Violin-Maker's Secret that contained 25 stories; here most continue with the same characters but some new ones are also introduced such as the brilliant, and attractive, detective Leyla Leone based in Como and Luisa Dolce, a tour guide living in Milan. In this new series, the tales of mystery, romance and travel not only continue ...

Haiku, three-line poetry, emerged in Japan in 16th century. Traditionally it is made up of 17 syllables divided into 5-7-5 parts and focuses on depicting nature. As the title implies, this compilation of 300 haiku does not follow this pattern nor does it only focus on nature but also philosophy, reflections on modern society, and includes a good dose of humour. Enjoy!

A visual guide to the best of Tuscany

The focus of this book is contemporary Cyprus, a visual exploration of the island's main cities both in the Turkish-speaking north and Greek-speaking south, namely capital Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, Famagusta and Kyrenia as well as outstanding monuments, castles, monasteries and churches in their vicinity. In the prologue a brief history is given and why the island is still politically divided and physicallly separated into Turkish and Greek-speaking territories, explained

Celebrities narrates the lives and works of 40 filmmakers, actors and writers the author has met over the last 20 years. Through interview-based, inter-linked profiles of these world-renowned personalities, the reader takes a cultural tour around the globe. The journey kicks off with charming Juliette Binoche of France and continues to Iran to meet two of Iran’s most prominent filmmakers. Briefly we return to France to listen to the vicissitudes of superstar Gérard Depardieu and call on Chiara Mastroianni to discover what it’s like to be the daughter of two superstars: Marcello ...