Italy out of Hand is not a traditional guidebook with hotel addresses and hours of operation. Rather, it is an idiosyncratic tour of a sometimes overwhelming and extravagant country. Seething below Italy’s wonderfully civilized surface is a mass of macabre stories, salacious goings-on, and decidedly strange personalities and bizarre behavior. There is also a long and shadowy history of corruption, cruelty, and waves of invaders.

Barbara Hodgson has assembled an overflowing treasury of forgotten and overlooked oddities and presents them here in a stunning collection. She offers up lost popes, bloodthirsty mercenaries, tempestuous artists, and inexplicable follies.

Colorfully and artfully 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.