One of Italy’s brightest literary lights reinvents travel writing with a seductive, intoxicating celebration of the magical saltwater city
“Venice is a fish,” writes Tiziano Scarpa. “It’s like a vast sole stretched out against the deep. How did this marvelous beast make its way up the Adriatic and fetch up here, of all places?” Paying homage to his native city in a lyrical and evocative style, he guides...

Haven to Nazis, smugglers' paradise, home to some of the earth's oddest wildlife and most baroquely awful dictatorships, Paraguay is a nation waiting for the right chronicler. In John Gimlette, at last it has one. With an adventurer's sang-froid, a historian's erudition, and a sense of irony so keen you could cut a finger on it, Gimlette celebrates the beauty, horror and-yes-charm of South America's obscure and remote "island surrounded by land."

"Presents 500 off-the-beaten-path travel destinations around the world that are notable for their vistas, wildlife, and historical and cultural significance"--Provided by publisher.

"A Darth Vader grotesque on a church, a giant chair, the longest escalator in the western hemisphere, a fence forged from War of 1812 muskets, a yet uncracked cryptographic sculpture, the world's oldest continuously operating airport, the only Civil War battleground within the District border, go "behind the curtain" to see the work of an art conservator, have a "close encounter" with one of cinema's most beloved spaceships ... Far from the crowds...