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Italy Out of Hand: A Capricious Tour
With its genius for art and culture, there is no country in the world as wonderfully civilized (and civilizing) as Italy. But seething below this surface is a long and shadowy history of corruption, cruelty, and the generally bizarre. For centuries it has been overrun by waves of invaders, all contributing their own questionable bits of culture, and all wantonly adding to the confusion. So, how is a poor visitor supposed to make sense of this anarchic place? Co-creator of the cult favorite Paris Out of Hand , Barbara Hodgson has neatly brushed away the chaos and assembled an eclectic treasury of forgotten and overlooked long-lost popes, bloodthirsty mercenaries, tempestuous artists, and inexplicable follies. Italy Out of Hand is not a traditional guidebook, with hotel addresses and hours of operation. Rather, it is an idiosyncratic tour of a country that is too overwhelming and extravagant for most of us to comprehend without a little guidance. Illustrated with an equally eclectic selection of photographs, portraits, and art, Italy Out of Hand is the perfect companion for those who like their truths to be stranger than fiction.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2005
6 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hodgson
26 books78 followersBarbara Hodgson is a book designer with a degree in archeology and a diploma in graphic design. She began her career in book design by working for Douglas & McIntyre, moving from freelance designer to art director prior to taking on freelance work for other publishers and ultimately forming the book-packaging company Byzantium Books with Nick Bantock in 1993.
Designing books led to writing books: Hodgson is the author of No Place for a Lady, Dreaming of East, and Italy Out of Hand, all published by Greystone Books, and several other highly praised non-fiction books. She is also the author of four acclaimed illustrated novels Lives of Shadows, Hippolyte’s Island, The Sensualist, and The Tattooed Map.
Hodgson’s books are unique in that they combine her writing with a multitude of illustrations of various types drawn from a wide range of sources, including engravings, lithographs, photographs, stereo-cards, postcards, movie stills, and pulp magazine and novel covers. These days, the flea market is the consummate collector’s primary source of research and inspiration.
Barbara Hodgson lives in Vancouver.
Designing books led to writing books: Hodgson is the author of No Place for a Lady, Dreaming of East, and Italy Out of Hand, all published by Greystone Books, and several other highly praised non-fiction books. She is also the author of four acclaimed illustrated novels Lives of Shadows, Hippolyte’s Island, The Sensualist, and The Tattooed Map.
Hodgson’s books are unique in that they combine her writing with a multitude of illustrations of various types drawn from a wide range of sources, including engravings, lithographs, photographs, stereo-cards, postcards, movie stills, and pulp magazine and novel covers. These days, the flea market is the consummate collector’s primary source of research and inspiration.
Barbara Hodgson lives in Vancouver.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 8, 2020
I wasn't expecting this to be a useful planning guide for even a "capricious" tour, but having read Hodgson before I was expecting more visual interest. Disappointing.
March 7, 2011
Every land in the world has a caliginous history, but Italy stands out. Its sense of melodrama; romance and passion boost a background of feudal fights, papal wars, bloody tortures, rapes, pillages and plenty of plundering. Author and designer Barbara Hodgson uses the format of a tour book filled with quirky illustrations, quick anecdotes, interesting places and fun or grisly facts to show us this.
It’s a choice unlike her first book; when Hodgson wrote and illustrated Paris Out of Hand, she took an entirely fictitious, absurd bent. She made up places and histories for the City of Light, playing into the historical absurdists Genet and Duchamp. In Italy, I think Hodgson found no reason to supplant the natural truths. She just found some of the most interesting, funny or horrifying tidbits and recorded them with a light, sensibly dry humor. Her illustrations skip around times periods and style, creating a sense of something that is old and yet timeless – like Italy itself.
Here is her mucky section on the Visconti family and their political continuation in Milan:
There is a lot of this kind of Italian history to cover, and Hodgson attacks her subject with a skimming, breezy style both in prose and in art. And perhaps this is the sort of dry humor combined with bloody passion some tourists want, to bolster their study of Catholic commissioned art, a pantheon of architecture, rococo and a Renaissance works, and such. In my opinion, it’s not an inaccurate picture - stories and graphics like Hodgson’s - mixed with the food, the psychic bond of family a knowledge of Fascism and a wink to a current government full of infidelity and under-the-table dealings.
The previous paragraph, however, is my way of saying that I feel there is a lot in Italy she cannot cover. The book is too short, readers have an exhaustible patience, and the author only shows the stories she finds interesting. It’s not a bad start, and it’s an enjoyably frothy, wry read with a fun visual style. However, I’d still suggest – whether you’re armed with Hodgson’s knowledge or not – you go to Italy and find your own favorite stories. Hodgson is as good a place as any to start, but you shouldn’t end your journey with her opinions and visions alone.
It’s a choice unlike her first book; when Hodgson wrote and illustrated Paris Out of Hand, she took an entirely fictitious, absurd bent. She made up places and histories for the City of Light, playing into the historical absurdists Genet and Duchamp. In Italy, I think Hodgson found no reason to supplant the natural truths. She just found some of the most interesting, funny or horrifying tidbits and recorded them with a light, sensibly dry humor. Her illustrations skip around times periods and style, creating a sense of something that is old and yet timeless – like Italy itself.
Here is her mucky section on the Visconti family and their political continuation in Milan:
The Visconti were known as the Vipers of Milan and not just for their emblem, an enormous snake swallowing a man. The family’s rule began in 1262, but became ill-fated with Matteo I, who lost his will to live when excommunicated. His son, Galeazzo I, died in prison; Stefano was poisoned; Marco was tossed out of a window; Lucchino was poisoned by his wife; Matteo II shared the rule with two brothers, who stabbed him. One of those brothers, Bernabó, was staggeringly ruthless and fecund; atone point he had 36 children and got 18 women, including his wife, pregnant concurrently. He died of poison in a dungeon after being arrested by Gian Galaezzo.
There is a lot of this kind of Italian history to cover, and Hodgson attacks her subject with a skimming, breezy style both in prose and in art. And perhaps this is the sort of dry humor combined with bloody passion some tourists want, to bolster their study of Catholic commissioned art, a pantheon of architecture, rococo and a Renaissance works, and such. In my opinion, it’s not an inaccurate picture - stories and graphics like Hodgson’s - mixed with the food, the psychic bond of family a knowledge of Fascism and a wink to a current government full of infidelity and under-the-table dealings.
The previous paragraph, however, is my way of saying that I feel there is a lot in Italy she cannot cover. The book is too short, readers have an exhaustible patience, and the author only shows the stories she finds interesting. It’s not a bad start, and it’s an enjoyably frothy, wry read with a fun visual style. However, I’d still suggest – whether you’re armed with Hodgson’s knowledge or not – you go to Italy and find your own favorite stories. Hodgson is as good a place as any to start, but you shouldn’t end your journey with her opinions and visions alone.
November 10, 2013
As noted in the subtitle, this is NOT a Fodor’s/Frommer’s book. Arranged by major city, it presents the ‘fun’ stuff to see in each location. Fortunately, what’s fun for Hodgson sounds fun to me too: lots and lots of history, not so much warfare and so forth, but art and some basic understanding of how the city got to be where it is. For instance, I’ve never quite understood what the doge in Venice was all about. Now I (sort of anyway) get it.
This is also a good book if you are a fan of the Grand Tourists of the 19th century: Byron, James, etc. They are scattered about liberally. Almost every page has a quote from someone literary.
Hint: it also helps to have read Dante.
But one of the totally best parts of the book is the ribbon book mark. I love these things. If I were in charge, every book would have one so you wouldn’t constantly be looking for some paper to shove in to mark your spot. And don’t they make you feel so...literary, too?
Oh, and restaurants and coffee shops that have been famous for centuries. Forget Starbucks when you can drink at a place that, when ordered not to serve anyone on premises (because a lot of revolutionaries plotted and schemed there), cut a hole in the wall and served carryout.
This is also a good book if you are a fan of the Grand Tourists of the 19th century: Byron, James, etc. They are scattered about liberally. Almost every page has a quote from someone literary.
Hint: it also helps to have read Dante.
But one of the totally best parts of the book is the ribbon book mark. I love these things. If I were in charge, every book would have one so you wouldn’t constantly be looking for some paper to shove in to mark your spot. And don’t they make you feel so...literary, too?
Oh, and restaurants and coffee shops that have been famous for centuries. Forget Starbucks when you can drink at a place that, when ordered not to serve anyone on premises (because a lot of revolutionaries plotted and schemed there), cut a hole in the wall and served carryout.
January 2, 2023
3.5 stars. A different type of travel book, but a good read for italophiles.
February 29, 2008
This is a great book to [give|receive] as a gift [to|as] a person planning to visit Italy. It never covers any particular subject in great depth, but it touches lightly on an array of interesting tidbits. There is a bit of history, a bit of art, a bit of literature. Some politics, a couple of recipes, some information for tourists. The result is a unique kind of perspective on the country, formed from a collage of individually adorable scraps, which together are more informative than the sum of their parts.
The book is also quite funny. Here are a couple of typical bits, from pages 81 and 82. The chapter is on Padua; Page 81 is about "An Eccentric Visitor: Edward Wortley Montagu, 1713-76." We find that he was the son of the "extraordinary" Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and then:
"Lady Mary, a woman of the world, epistolarian,
and energetic commentator on life, was a phenomenon.
Edward was a phenomenal lunatic: gambler, rake,
dilettante, linguist, liar, revolutionary, and
possibly author."
"Possibly author," indeed. And, isn't "linguist, liar" a bit redundant? Anyway, page 82 is about the home of Petrarch, which is near Padua. Here we learn that:
"If you go, you will be joining a long line of
admirers, Petrarchisti. Mozart and Byron, among
others, signed the guest book and saw his
embalmed, stuffed cat. W.D. Howells noted in
1864 that it had lost its fur."
Uh. Sweet? It's just this penchant for weird facts and unexpected perspectives that makes the book endearing.
The book is also quite funny. Here are a couple of typical bits, from pages 81 and 82. The chapter is on Padua; Page 81 is about "An Eccentric Visitor: Edward Wortley Montagu, 1713-76." We find that he was the son of the "extraordinary" Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and then:
"Lady Mary, a woman of the world, epistolarian,
and energetic commentator on life, was a phenomenon.
Edward was a phenomenal lunatic: gambler, rake,
dilettante, linguist, liar, revolutionary, and
possibly author."
"Possibly author," indeed. And, isn't "linguist, liar" a bit redundant? Anyway, page 82 is about the home of Petrarch, which is near Padua. Here we learn that:
"If you go, you will be joining a long line of
admirers, Petrarchisti. Mozart and Byron, among
others, signed the guest book and saw his
embalmed, stuffed cat. W.D. Howells noted in
1864 that it had lost its fur."
Uh. Sweet? It's just this penchant for weird facts and unexpected perspectives that makes the book endearing.
June 30, 2008
I liked the graphic format and the eclectic collection of things and stories Italian.
September 22, 2021
Fun little collection of travel-related trivia organized by city in a good-looking volume but otherwise unremarkable. Everything in it could be found in Atlas Obscura or websites like it, without adding another item to your backpack. Still, makes me want to see more of Italy.
August 25, 2019
I would best describe it as a surreal POV tour of Italy the tourist may or may not ever see or be aware of.
April 22, 2022
3.5 This is a physically cute little book...sort of a travel guide but most a miscellany of oddball information .
February 9, 2024
A lot of interesting facts here, but probably not the only guide you should have if you are actually planning a trip to Italy.
Read for a reading challenge: guide
Read for a reading challenge: guide
July 12, 2015
This is not a travel guide but reading it may inspire you to visit Italy. The author introduces us to travelers, artists, writers, and political figures in her excursion through Italy. Don't read this book on Kindle. This is a case where the physical book adds to the pleasure of reading. It is a beautiful object in itself.
March 10, 2011
A lot of interesting and intricate details that you won't be able to find in traditional tour/travel books. Truly insightful if you are planning to take a trip there. I wish I had known of this beauty while i was still living in Italy.
July 25, 2013
I don't remember how I happened to pick this book up - might have been prompted by a review from Powell's? - but it made me jones for an immediate trip to Italy. Still haven't made it, but if I do, you can bet this quirky little gem will be front and center for my trip planning!
February 1, 2008
Reveals the beautiful and surprising history of Italy's towns and cities.
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April 23, 2009travel
April 16, 2013
What a "beautiful" read!
June 17, 2012
I enjoyed this read, just a meandering tour of Italy.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews