This novel by Feodor Dostoevsky is often cited as one of the “supreme achievements in the world literature” for its intricate portrayal of the mental state of its protagonist before and after he commits a grisly and unnecessary murder. St. Petersburg emerges in this story as intricately connected to the main character’s troubles and anguish, depicting poverty, crowded squares and streets, noise and smells, against the backdrop of a hot summer day in a city carved from granite and washed by the Baltic Sea. This is not a love letter to Saint Petersburg, but you will still want to visit the narrow streets and busy corners near Sennaya Square, look…

The Italian Party by Christina Lynch is a great easy read ahead of traveling to Sienna. It describes both the city and its environment beautifully, details the famous Palio, Sienna’s horse race in late August, pokes fun at the CIA, and satisfies your run-of-the-mill craving for a textbook romance in Italian coutnryside. Wink, wink. I would say this book accomplishes quite well the task of giving its reader a sense of place. From the book jacket: Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany’s famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of Italy, America,…

I highly recommend reading Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King before arriving in Florence. This national bestseller about the design and construction of Florence’s main jewel, cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore, immerses the reader in 14th-15th century life in the city, its citizens, customs, and its brilliant, courageous, irreverent artists, architects and statesmen. My favorite passages in the book included a scene where cathedral construction workers sat high atop the scaffolding in the summer winds drinking wine for lunch; descriptions of the processes involved with casting of the bronze doors of the Baptistry; and scenes of daily life of the citizens of the Florentine Republic.