Saving Italy

By Robert M. Edsel,

Book cover of Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis

Book description

When Hitler's armies occupied Italy in 1943, they also seized control of mankind's greatest cultural treasures. As they had done throughout Europe, the Nazis could now plunder the masterpieces of the Renaissance, the treasures of the Vatican, and the antiquities of the Roman Empire.

On the eve of the Allied…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Saving Italy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Edsel tells the very dramatic story of how Allied art experts, known as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) or Monuments Men, raced through Italy to rescue art masterpieces and to secure endangered monuments during the Nazi retreat in 1944. A special focus on the cities of Naples, Rome, Florence, and Pisa’s treasures.

I was especially fascinated by the story of Frederick Hartt, who loved Florentine art and risked his life to reach the city then pursued the lost artworks in a race across Italy into Austria to return them. Many of the artworks the Monuments Men saved are…

If you love Saving Italy...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Saving Italy?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Saving Italy.

Browse books like Saving Italy

Book cover of The Venus Fixers: The Remarkable Story of the Allied Monuments Officers Who Saved Italy's Art During World War II
Book cover of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Book cover of Contemporary Perspectives on the Detection, Investigation and Prosecution of Art Crime: Australasian, European and North American Perspectives

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,888

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Saving Italy, you might also like...

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

Book cover of No Average Day: The 24 Hours of October 24, 1944

No Average Day by Rona Simmons,

October 24, 1944, is not a day of national remembrance. Yet, more Americans serving in World War II perished on that day than on any other single day of the war.

The narrative of No Average Day proceeds hour by hour and incident by incident while focusing its attention on…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in art theft, protecting cultural treasure, and Italy?

Art Theft 48 books
Italy 417 books