by Laura Pearson

When we think of Italian interior design, several images come to mind: romantic hillside villas decorated with rustic, old-world charm (a la the Cortana fixer-upper in "Under the Tuscan Sun"); iconic furniture designs by Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass; and bright, airy living spaces with terra-cotta tiled floors and distressed walls.

"La Vita e Bella," by Jill Foulston, is a new book that deepened our understanding of Italian style and aesthetic principles. Amid recipes, short articles on Italian customs and wistful quotes printed on vellum (we admit to kinda skipping over that stuff), the book looks inside 15 stunning homes, from an 18th-century palazzo to a stone farmhouse to a modern Palermo apartment.

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Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/