While on a mission to prove to Merlin that they can use magic wisely, Jack and Annie travel to seventeenth-century Venice, Italy, to save the city from disaster. With the help of some new friends, a research book, and a mysterious rhyme from Merlin, the heroes will save the beautiful city from a flood! As Jack and Annie wander among the costumed crowd, no one is who they seem to be, the clocks all tell different times, and water is mysteriously rising...

Their magic tree house takes Annie and Jack to Pompeii just as Vesuvius is about to erupt, and they must find a Roman scroll before everything is covered with burning ash.

Tired of the pasta that the Signora brings him and the other cats of Rome every day, Pino sets out to sample other delicacies.

Jack and Annie travel 500 years back in time to Florence, Italy, and spend a day helping Leonardo da Vinci in the hope of learning another secret of happiness.

Grandma Concetta heals everyone with her remedies and advice, and when she retires, she leaves Nona her magic pasta pot with its secret ingredient. Caldecott honor book: 1976.