One is transported. Even if you have never visited Tuscany and will never cook Tuscan, this beautiful book will take you on a trip and fill your senses with the essence of Tuscany. If you have visited Tuscany, it will bring back exquisite memories of this unbelievable region of our world through some of its greatest attractions: eating, drinking, and living well.

When you're an American expat living in Tuscany, your native friends and neighbors generally think that you can't cook worth beans, and your microwave must be your best friend. This is a beautiful book with characteristic food photographs taken in luscious Tuscan villas, or rustic farmhouse terraces, surrounded by wisteria blossoms, and always an inviting glass of white or red wine. It also an excellent cookbook, providing truely authentic recipes and precise instructions, enabling me to cook (almost) as well as my mother-in-law!

If the housever catches fire, this book will be grabbed on my way to save the dog. Fabulous photos and recipes. Great reading pleasure

I suspect this is out of print or buried in some backroom at Random House somewhere (despite Amazon's contention that it is simply unavailable), yet it brings historical Tuscan life, to--ahem--life. The recipes work. The artwork is delicious. The size, shape, tone are just right. Its hidden charms remain a loss to anyone planning a trip to Tuscany who is not able to tap them.

I found a paperbook copy of this book in Florence, but the publisher was Pavilion Books Limited (London) and not Random House. This book contains still-life paintings, descriptions of Renaissance feasts and other food related writings of the 17th century, and interesting recipes, with commentary.

Giovanna Garzoni's Late Renaissance still life paintings are beautiful. She was truly an independent woman, who earned her living by art. She had patrons all over Italy.

One could just sit and read this lovely book. Too bad it's out of print.

I love to cook, love italian,and love this book. The beautiful photographs are very inspiring and the unique recipes are motivating!

I have dozens of Italian cookbooks. This is one of the best... and maximizes the simple style and ingredients of Italy's best flavors. The photography and writing are equally good.

When I first received this book I pretty much read it from cover to cover. It's a delight. Each recipe has a corresponding full-page photo. Further, a pertinent, and what I found to be enlightening, piece of information is included as a sidenote with each recipe. I wrote down 11 recipes that I plan to try -- more typically two, maybe three, is the number of recipes that I will make from any one cookbook. Anyhow, I have made the bolognese sauce w/ fresh egg pasta and it was excellent. The entire family loved it! The sections are well thought out and can be used as a guide to what you need. Want something fast? Quick Suppers. Something tried & true? the Classics. There were several terrific sounding recipes under Elegant Entertaining. Great to look at, fun to read, and well-chosen recipes. It's a keeper.

.....but to use this book regularly you must be rather adventurous!!! I've made several of the more "standard" pizza recipes in this cookbook: Pizza Margherita, Potato Onion and Rosemary Pizza, Pizza Marinara, Black Olive Pizza, and Marinated Zucchini Pizza, all of which were excellent. There are also numerous calzone recipes that look scrumptous that I have yet to try. However, be prepared to try some "pizzas" you may never have heard of: tuna and egg pizza, sausage and apple pizza, curried fruit and cream pizza, banana and ricotta pizza with ham, orange and Grand Marnier pizza among others!!! Let's just say I'm waiting for the right mood to strike me before I try any of the latter category.

Some lovely added components of the cookbook include recipes for a variety of different doughs and instructions on how to make calzones. If variety and adventure appeal to you in particular - go for this cookbook.

Who doesn't love pizza? But spend a few minutes with Lorenza De' Medici Stucchi's Pizza cookbook and you will be craving this all-time favorite for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Beyond the traditional tomato and cheese pizza recipes this fabulous cook book contains simple instructions for making from-scratch crust, hearty calzone recipes, and instructions for desert pizzas. Many of the more unusual recipes, like the Eggpland and Smoked Trout Pizza or the Gorgonzola and Walnut Pizza would make a wonderful first course for a special dinner. Uncork your favorite wine, this is pizza like you've never seen it before!

I ordered this book and purchased a pizza stone as a birthday gift for my father... a gift idea I plan to duplicate for many different occasions!

I own and love my Mexico the Beautiful Cookbook, so I decided to invest, and at 50 dollars it IS an investment, in the Italian edition. I was severely dissapointed in it. The photography is indeed as beautiful as the Mexico book, but the recipes are rather blah. I greatly prefer my books by Marcella Hazzan, especially her Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking.

After using Hazzan's books, this one left me cold. I gave it away, and that is rare, as I collect cookbooks. Save your money.

I own and love my Mexico the Beautiful Cookbook, so I decided to invest, and at 50 dollars it IS an investment, in the Italian edition. I was severely dissapointed in it. The photography is indeed as beautiful as the Mexico book, but the recipes are rather blah. I greatly prefer my books by Marcella Hazzan, especially her Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking.

After using Hazzan's books, this one left me cold. I gave it away, and that is rare, as I collect cookbooks. Save your money.

An excellent book with easiy to follow recipies. Very authentic recipes, I know I have lived in Europe for 11+ years.

Well I read this book cover to cover and I upset that this book doesn't help with any problems that I needed help with. I then tried their websites that they said to use and those sites are not around anymore. This book was written by the Microsoft Press and unfortunately just like other M$ books they have a catchy title, but little inside. Oh well now I must continue my search for my computer problems.

I work with computers for a living, and have to admit that I knew most of this stuff. But, I read the book cover to cover and discovered some hints, tips, and tricks I didn't know.

Unfortunately, as with most Microsoft publications, it can be difficult finding exactly what you are looking for, and Microsoft seem to be in denial regarding common problems like "Your Computer Has Performed An Illegal Operation," so you'll have to look for these answers elsewhere.

Still, I think even experienced users will find something useful here, and the book will probably pay for itself many times over for the novice or intermediate computer user.

This is one of the most useful books I've ever bought. I bought it because of its title and because it's from Microsoft so I thought it would have good inside information. Even though I'm somewhat experienced I still have Windows problems I can't solve. It's already been very helpful, solved numerous problems, and I've gotten rid of errors without having to hire an expensive "consultant" for advice. I appreciate that its so clearly written, unlike a lot of books that jump into throwing around technical terms, and it's very easy to follow, unlike other computer books I've used. Also, the problems it covers are very commonplace so I can easily see sending one to everyone I know who asks me computer questions! I think they'd find it just as helpful. Thank you for this great book. I recommend it highly.