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A Reading List for Italophiles

· Updated · BootsnAll

Not everyone can travel to Italy every year, or be in Italy whenever they want, so for some of us the next best thing is reading about it. A book about Italian culture, or one set in an Italian city, is a lovely temporary escape. It’s also planning ammunition: plenty of Italy itineraries started with a novel.

Here are some of my personal favorite books about or set in Italy, the books other Italophiles keep recommending, a batch of newer books that belong on any list, and a few picks for would-be expats. What Italy books do you love? Are there any you read over and over again, or used to plan a trip? Let us know in the comments.

Personal Favorites

I have to admit that most of the Italy-related reading I’ve done over the years is non-fiction, so my personal favorites aren’t as strong in the escapist category. I’ll have to work on that, no?

  • Aurelio Zen mysteries (Michael Dibdin). This series of mysteries is something of a tour of Italy. Each book is set in a different Italian city, and Dibdin masterfully weaves the personality of the place and Italian cultural notes into every story. Ratking (1988) is the first book, and if you’re anything like me you’ll be addicted instantly. There are 11 in all; Dibdin died in 2007, so the series ends with End Games. Find Ratking on Amazon; see all the Aurelio Zen books
  • The Dark Heart of Italy (Tobias Jones). One of my favorite Italy-related books ever, despite its somber overtones. Jones lived in Italy in the early 2000s and writes about the country’s checkered recent past and what kind of country could give rise to a leader like Berlusconi, but it’s not all doom and gloom. He spends the end of the book on why he loves Italy despite its flaws. A great read if you think you’re ready for the flip side of the “Tuscan sun.” Find The Dark Heart of Italy on Amazon
  • A Season With Verona (Tim Parks). Enjoying this one requires at least an interest in soccer, but what I especially love are the insights into Italian culture that come when Parks follows his team, Hellas Verona, to every game of a season. Find A Season With Verona on Amazon, or read our full review.
  • An Irreverent Curiosity (David Farley). This was one of my favorite reads of 2010, and an unexpected delight. Farley spends a year living in Calcata, a strange hilltop town near Rome where the “church’s strangest relic,” the holy foreskin of Jesus, was kept before it disappeared. His quest becomes yours, and he teaches you a lot of history along the way. Find An Irreverent Curiosity on Amazon
  • The Agony and the Ecstasy (Irving Stone). This classic historical novel about Michelangelo is a great way to absorb history without being bored by it. It’s a huge book, but it’s easier to digest than a classroom. Find The Agony and the Ecstasy on Amazon
  • Brunelleschi’s Dome (Ross King). The story of how the dome of Florence’s cathedral was built, and it will give you a new appreciation for the building when you visit (or climb it). King also wrote Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, about the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Find Brunelleschi’s Dome on Amazon
  • Venice Observed (Mary McCarthy). I have a thing for Venice (you know this by now), but it’s a city that’s hard to describe without sliding into sappy cliches. That’s what makes this book great: it’s an honest, critical and loving look at the city. First published in 1956, it stands the test of time beautifully. Find Venice Observed on Amazon
  • A Room With a View (E.M. Forster). Another classic, published in 1908. It won’t paint an accurate modern picture of Florence, but it’ll have you imagining the turn-of-the-century city as you wander its streets. Find A Room With a View on Amazon
  • The City of Falling Angels (John Berendt). You may know the author’s more famous book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but his second book is all about Venice: the 1996 fire that destroyed La Fenice opera house, the investigation that followed, and the rebuilding of the theatre. As in his first book, the characters (all real Venetians) are sometimes too good to be believed. Find The City of Falling Angels on Amazon
  • Pomodoro! A History of the Tomato in Italy (David Gentilcore). Many of us assume the tomato has always been part of Italian cooking. Gentilcore shows how recently it arrived, in the grand scheme of things, and traces it back and forth across the Atlantic. Find Pomodoro! on Amazon

Italy Books Often Recommended to Me

These come highly recommended by other Italophiles, including friends of mine. And yes, I know. The first one on the list is a doozy.

  • Under the Tuscan Sun (Frances Mayes). The 1996 memoir about restoring a farmhouse near Cortona that sent a generation of Americans to Tuscany. Find it on Amazon
  • The Leopard (Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa). The great Sicilian novel of the Risorgimento, published after the author’s death in 1958. Netflix turned it into a series in 2025, so now is a good time to read it first. Find it on Amazon
  • The Italians (Luigi Barzini). The 1964 classic on the Italian national character. Dated in places, still sharp. Find it on Amazon
  • My Cousin the Saint (Justin Catanoso). An American journalist traces his family back to Calabria and a relative on the road to sainthood. Find it on Amazon
  • A Thousand Days in Venice (Marlena de Blasi). Find it on Amazon
  • Guido Brunetti mysteries (Donna Leon). Venetian detective novels, starting with Death at La Fenice (1992). Leon writes in English and has asked that they not be translated into Italian, so Venetians mostly haven’t read them. Find Death at La Fenice on Amazon; see all the Brunetti books
  • Death in Venice (Thomas Mann). Find it on Amazon
  • Too Much Tuscan Sun (Dario Castagno). A Chianti tour guide’s very funny answer to all those Tuscan memoirs. Find it on Amazon
  • Extra Virginity (Tom Mueller). The 2011 exposé of fraud in the olive oil business. You’ll never shop for olive oil the same way. Find it on Amazon
  • Beyond the Pasta (Mark Leslie). Find it on Amazon

Newer Italy Books Worth Your Time

Plenty of great Italy books have come out in the last fifteen years, and a few older ones deserve a spot too. If you only add three to your pile, make them Ferrante, Beard and Hooper.

  • My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante). The first of the four Neapolitan Novels, published in Italian in 2011 and in English in 2012. Two girls grow up in a poor Naples neighborhood after the war, and the city is as much a character as they are. HBO and RAI adapted all four books as a series. Find it on Amazon
  • SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (Mary Beard, 2015). The best single book on ancient Rome for a general reader. Read it before you go and the Forum stops being a field of broken columns. Find it on Amazon
  • The Italians (John Hooper, 2015). A longtime correspondent in Rome explains everything from bella figura to why nobody queues. The modern answer to Barzini, and the first book to hand anyone moving to Italy. Find it on Amazon
  • The Pursuit of Italy (David Gilmour, 2011). A history of Italy told through its regions, which explains why a Venetian and a Neapolitan can feel like they live in different countries. Find it on Amazon
  • Rome: A History in Seven Sackings (Matthew Kneale, 2017). Rome’s history told through the seven times the city was sacked, from the Gauls to the Nazis. Gripping, and great for understanding why the city looks the way it does. Find it on Amazon
  • Beautiful Ruins (Jess Walter, 2012). A novel that starts in a tiny fishing village on the Ligurian coast in 1962, during the filming of Cleopatra, and ends up in modern Hollywood. The best beach read on this list. Find it on Amazon
  • Italian Ways (Tim Parks, 2013). Parks rides Italy’s trains from Milan to Palermo and uses them to explain the country. Useful and funny if you’re planning a rail trip. Find it on Amazon
  • The Land Where Lemons Grow (Helena Attlee, 2014). Italian history told through citrus, from the Medici gardens to the bergamot groves of Calabria. Find it on Amazon
  • Taste: My Life Through Food (Stanley Tucci, 2021). Tucci’s memoir of growing up Italian-American and eating his way around Italy. Pair it with his TV series Searching for Italy. Find it on Amazon
  • Four Seasons in Rome (Anthony Doerr, 2007). The author of All the Light We Cannot See spends a year in Rome with newborn twins. Short, beautifully written, and the best book about actually living in Rome. Find it on Amazon
  • Christ Stopped at Eboli (Carlo Levi, 1945). Levi’s memoir of his fascist-era exile to a remote village in Basilicata. Read it before you visit Matera and the south will make much more sense. Find it on Amazon
  • Midnight in Sicily (Peter Robb, 1996). Art, food, the Mafia and politics in Sicily and Naples. Dark, brilliant and still the book to read before a Sicily trip. Find it on Amazon
  • Inspector Montalbano mysteries (Andrea Camilleri). Sicilian detective novels starting with The Shape of Water (1994 in Italian, 2002 in English). Camilleri died in 2019, but there are more than two dozen to get through, and the food descriptions alone are worth it. Find The Shape of Water on Amazon

Italy Books for Would-Be Expats

Besides The Dark Heart of Italy and John Hooper’s The Italians, people thinking about a move should browse a practical guide or two at the library before buying the one they like best. Check the publication date before you trust anything about visas, residency or taxes: the rules have changed a lot (Italy added a digital nomad visa in 2024, for example), and even a two-year-old edition can be wrong. Use the book for the big picture and your nearest Italian consulate’s website for the rules.

  • Culture Shock! Italy: customs and etiquette more than paperwork. Find it on Amazon
  • Moon Living Abroad in Italy: the practical side of moving, from finding an apartment to health care. Get the newest edition. Find it on Amazon
  • La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind (Beppe Severgnini). An Italian journalist explains his own country to outsiders, with affection and plenty of jabs. Find it on Amazon

For more on the practical side, see our page on expat resources for moving to Italy and our post on finding a job in Italy.

Italy Book Reviews and Book Articles on WhyGo Italy

Other Italy Book Recommendation Lists

This thread on the Fodor’s forums about books set in Italy is outstanding, but it’s daunting because it goes on forever. Read through it until you can’t handle it anymore, and no matter how long that is, you’ll leave with a long list for your library.

photo by pppspics