<b>A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, <i>La Bella Lingua</i> is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman’s personal quest to speak fluent Italian.</b><br><br> For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In <i>La Bella Lingua</i>, she brings the story of her decades-long experience with the “the world’s most loved and lovable language” together with explorations of Italy’ s history, literature, art, music, movies, lifestyle and food in a true <i>opera amorosa </i>— a labor of her love of Italy.<br><br>Over the course of twenty-five years, she has studied Italian through Berlitz,  books, CDs, podcasts, private tutorials and conversation groups, and, most importantly, time spent in Italy.   In the process the Italian language