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287th out of 332 books
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148 voters
War in Val D'Orcia 1943-1944: A Diary (Nonpareil Books, No 13)
by
Iris Origo
A classic of World War II, here in its first American edition. War in Val d'Orcia is Iris Origo's elegantly simple chronicle of daily life at La Foce, a manor in a Tuscan no-man's land bracketed by foreign invasion and civil war.
With the immediacy only a diary can have, the book tells how the Marchesa Origo, an Anglo-American married to an Italian landowner, kept La Foce a...more
With the immediacy only a diary can have, the book tells how the Marchesa Origo, an Anglo-American married to an Italian landowner, kept La Foce a...more
Paperback, 239 pages
Published
July 16th 2010
by David R. Godine, Publisher (Nonpareil Books)
(first published January 1947)
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When it comes to things like World War II, I prefer to read about the daily life of hoi polloi rather than battles won and lost and the big doings of world leaders. If you want a clear and unflinching picture of life for the Italian people late in the war, this book will serve better than any novel or formal history book.
Iris Origo was an English woman who married an Italian. She kept a diary of her life in Tuscany during a time of constant uncertainty, privation, and senseless violence; but al...more
Iris Origo was an English woman who married an Italian. She kept a diary of her life in Tuscany during a time of constant uncertainty, privation, and senseless violence; but al...more
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It's hard for us Americans to put ourselves in a position to feelingly comprehend the experiences of more traditional societies, societies in which life and choices operate only within an inherited social, family and personal framework. What is it like to be born in a place and a family where one is expected simply to fill the positions previously held by one's parents, one's grandparents and one's great-grandparents, extending farther and farther into the distant past before just disappearing i...more
Fantastic! I picked this book up while visiting Tuscany back in 2001 or 2002. It's the wartime diary of an expat (she was of US/UK citizenship) who married an Italian and lived on a villa in the Val d'Orcia, the region of Tuscany around Pienza and Montepulciano. During the war, Origo and her husband took in @ 30 war refugee children (I can't remember the exact number; it kept increasing as the war went on), and kept them safe as the war front moved through nearby villages and ultimately to their...more
I enjoyed this journal of a British woman married to an Italian in the countryside during WWII. The Facists are unforgivably evil, the Germans a sporadic mix of good and bad, and the populace downhearted but resilient. I am not sure what i expected, but I was surprised by how dominated the book is by the actual events of the war. There is little in the way of character development. At first, the war is far away, but come closer and closer and then rages right at their home. The pace of the book...more
It stands and falls on being a diary. On the one hand, you get a perfect sense of the pace of life in wartime Italy -- the false rumors, the constant pushback of the Allied arrival, the constant worsening of the situation. On the other, it's repetitious in places, empty in others.
Really, it felt like a book that should be fictionalized by Kazuo Ishiguro. Origo clearly isn't telling everything about herself, even to her secret and personal diary (somehow, partisans know to come to her farm, but...more
Really, it felt like a book that should be fictionalized by Kazuo Ishiguro. Origo clearly isn't telling everything about herself, even to her secret and personal diary (somehow, partisans know to come to her farm, but...more
I first read this book nearly 30 years ago, and it's every bit as good as I remember. These are the unedited diaries (with a few footnotes added later) kept by the Marchese Iris Origo as the Allies invaded Italy, the Fascist government fell and was reestablished by the Germans, and then the front lines approached and passed through Tuscany when the Germans retreated north. It is a minor masterpiece showing how world historical events impact the lives of isolated peasant farmers -- and, in the Or...more
After visiting La Foce, the home of Iris Origo and a "character" in the book, I finally picked up this short 200 page memoir. Iris and her husband Antonio were real heros, gave aid and shelter to the many people caught in the war, regardless of their political affiliation. Very interesting view of Tuscany under Fascist Italian then German rule. Innocent civilians and partisans caught in the invasion then retreat of the Germans after Italy left the war. Allied forces also caused significant damag...more
The diary of Iris Origo, an Anglo-American married to an Italian landowner, is a wonderful account of life in the Tuscan countryside during World War II. It starts quietly enough, with the war a safe distance away, but nonetheless always in her thoughts. As the war approaches the Val D'Orcia, the tone of her writing remains calm even as the magnitude of the devastation reaches unbelievable levels. Through Origo's diary, you get the sense that there were good Germans and bad Germans, good Fascist...more
Engaging story of life for the inhabitants of a rural Tuscan estate during the confusing 1943-44 war years near Lake Trasimino. The Allied invasion of Sicily, the (first) fall of Mussolini, the 6-week lull before the German's step in and restore him, the creaping advance of the Allies north toward Rome and the Po Valley - all overlay the fight a few brave women & men to keep the children and residents living for a better day they knew was coming. Good small history.
The author and her husband sheltered refugee children in their Tuscan villa during World War II. They also hid partisan fighters, British POWs, and Italian deserters on their estate, under the noses of German officers and local fascist militia. The book is a diary. Every day brings new dilemmas and a new moral calculus. Recommended for anyone interested in Italy, Tuscany, WWII, and in complex issues of history and ethics.
This book was recommended to me while I was visiting the Val d'Orcia as a more accurate portrayal of the region than that found in "Under the Tuscan Sun." I'm not sure the last two years of WWII could be a typical portrayal of any area or people, but Iris Origo's diary does characterize all the participants -- German, Italian and Allied soldiers, peasants and landowners, bureaucrats, fascists, partisans and refugees, with honesty, calm and insight. In her preface, she emphasizes that she resiste...more
I loved this book, despite not liking memoirs in general. It provided both fascinating history of a very specific area of Italy during World War II and also insight into the really amazing life of Iris Origo and what she did for her region of Tuscany in wartime.
The diary of an American living (and giving birth) in Tuscany as the Germans invade Italy--non fiction. A quiet read. You can pick it up, read a bit, set it down and come back later. It gave me much to think about. Fascinating!
"Iris Ortigo, a British-American writer married to a titled Italian landowner, was a legendary wartime figure around Tuscany during the German military occupation of Italy. Her estate was a refuge for children, peasant families and escaped Allied airmen. A humanitarian who somehow managed to keep up the pretense of normalcy and decency while battles raged around her farmlands, the Marchesa Origo kept a diary in 1943-44 that is now published here as ''War in Val d'Orcia.'' It is a remarkably movi...more
Interesting daily diary of Iris Origo who took in many wounded soldiers and children at her home in rural Tuscany. This book did a good job describing the horrors of living through WWII.
This book was really well written. It gave me a fresh perspective on World War II, a war I thought I already knew a bunch about. It reminded me how sad and tragic and wrong war is and also how some people are brave and good and kind in the face of great evil.
Jul 09, 2011
Milde
added it
This novel changed my whole perspective on WWII, Italy, and the possibilities for the human spirit.
I'm a little obsessed with this period in Italian history so I found this book fascinating.
tells a personal tale of a woman living in Tuscany, helping soldiers during WWII
One woman's diary gives a fascinating look at the impact of war on rural Italians
This diary tells the interesting story of how the author and her community navigated many daily difficulties during this period of the war. I didn't feel that I really connected with the author, but I appreciated her straightforward, clear descriptions.
Iris Origo's diary paints a vivid picture of Italian life in the mid-40s. We read this book prior to a trip to Tuscany and we were able to visit her home at La Foce. It was so awesome to see it in person. The only thing I did not appreciate were the few instances of racial prejudice in her diary. Otherwise, this is a compelling read for anyone interested in Italy during the war.
I read this book because I stayed at La Foce, the setting for this book. It's an interesting story, we often forget this side of WWII. So many innocent people, children... and how they survived.
Wonderful "as it was happening" war diary, covering the last days of Mussolini through the Allied invasion and eventual German retreat. I happened to read it not long after I had read Suite Francaise, and the two made for very interesting reading about WWII.
I heard about this book while visiting La Foche in October 2012. It is difficult to imagine the Tuscan countryside as anything other than the beautiful place I visited. Imagining the horrors that took place there is almost impossible.
I had to read this for school and I thought it was really good. Now I have to write a 10 page analysis of "her take" on the war and how I could use this book to teach about WWII. we'll see how I feel about it once I finish that...
A short, beautifully-written, and quite wonderful diary of an Englishwoman's life in a rural Italian farm during WWII. A rare clear-eyed view of war's impact on civilians.
Very interesting as halfway through I realized I was reading what my Dad and aunts/uncles had gone through in their little town in Italy.
such a great read about life in Tuscany toward the end of WWII, from the perspective of an American woman living there with her Italian husband.
The war comes to Italy... but not necessarily to Italians.
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