La Bella Vita: Live and Love the Italian Way

by Aminda Leigh, Pietro Pesce

Carla Bruni. Giorgio Armani. Luciano Pavarotti.
Giada De Laurentiis. Sophia Loren. The Leonardos (Da Vinci e DiCaprio).

From fettucine to fashion and back again, nobody does La Bella Vita like the Italians. Whether preparing a meal or sculpting the David, singing an aria or seducing a lover, Italians take their time, and do it right-- adagio ! In this bellissimo primer, Romans Aminda Leigh and Pietro Pesce show you how to achieve that sensual perfection in everything you do, leading you on a smolderingly hot journey through each of the five

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2010

Reviews

[Daryl Zamora · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cringe-y stereotypes were a given, but some were borderline absurd and chauvinistic. There are gems here and there, though, like how you should be enjoying life in near-slow-mo and how we actually add to that bellezza in the world by being ourselves beautiful. Overall, this book made me want to visit Italy again -- longer and slower this time!

[Niki Mohajer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my good God I hated this book. I read it because I'm going to Italy in a few weeks and I just wanted to learn a little about the culture. I have to say after reading this, I'm scared to meet Italian people. They seem shallow and narcissistic. This book began basically bashing anyone who doesn't look their best 100% of the time. Italians seem incredibly self-indulgent and I am not happy about it. The book even teaches you how to say "put some makeup on" in Italian. I get it, it's different (in some ways/for some people) from America but really? This can't be how all Italians are. I did get some useful tips out of it here and there... but overall, wow.

[Lestari Hairul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book, but I suppose if you fancy treating a culture like pseudo anthropological studies (with highly covetable lifestyles nonetheless), this book fits right in the shelves that was previously teeming with adoration of the French. Buy this for the ones trapped in a dead-end job, preferably in a cold city, possibly with stuffy people. I quite like the list of films suggested however, those are always welcome.