The best books on Italy: we've asked novelists, academics and one chef to recommend which books to read to learn more about Italy, its food, its culture, its art and its history.
Books on notable Italians include Julius Caesar, Marco Polo, Isabella de’ Medici, Christopher Columbus, Galileo, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Verdi, and Elena Ferrante.
Italian authors frequently recommended on Five books include: Natalia Ginzburg, Umberto Eco and Primo Levi.
We also have sections on some of the most popular Italian cities; Venice and Ancient Rome.
Due to Italy's enviable geographic position it's historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures that have all contributed to its culture and literature.
The Best Italian Literature, recommended by Dacia Maraini
One of Italy’s greatest living authors, Dacia Maraini, nominates her choices for the best works of Italian literature.
Massimo Carlotto recommends the best Italian Crime Fiction
Journalists are no longer able to properly investigate organised crime in modern Italy — leaving it to crime fiction writers to pick up the slack, says the acclaimed Italian novelist, Massimo Carlotto. Here he chooses five noir novels that explore the reality of Italian corruption in highly original ways.
The best books on Italian Food, recommended by Ruth Rogers
A culinary tour of Italian food, with co-founder of the acclaimed River Café restaurant Ruth Rogers. She tells us about the books that have inspired her, including the one she asks all her chefs to read!
The best books on Venice, recommended by Matthew Rice
Venice once ruled an empire that stretched across the eastern Mediterranean, but by the early modern period was already evolving into a city whose greatest claim to fame was as a tourist destination. Here Matthew Rice, author and illustrator of Venice: A Sketchbook Guide, recommends books to read about Venice and its history and architecture, as well as a couple of crime thrillers to read while you’re there.
The Best Italian Renaissance Books, recommended by Kenneth Bartlett
If you’re going to look at the past, you have to understand the people who were living there and see the world through their eyes, says historian and Renaissance specialist Kenneth Bartlett. He picks the best books written during the Italian Renaissance.
The Best Italian Novels, recommended by Tim Parks
In the decades following Italian unification, its authors started writing in the new common language: Italian. Italy-based novelist Tim Parks introduces us to some of the best novels by some of Italy's greatest writers.
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1
The Nation of the Risorgimento: Kinship, Sanctity and Honour in the Origins of Unified Italy
by Alberto Mario Banti -
2
The Antiquity of the Italian Nation: The Cultural Origins of Political Myth in Modern Italy
by Antonino De Francisco -
3
Risorgimento in Exile: Italian Emigrés and the Liberal International in the Post-Napoleonic Era
by Maurizio Isabella -
4
Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero
by Lucy Riall -
5
Monarchie et Identité Nationale en Italie (1861-1900)
by Catherine Brice
The best books on Italy’s Risorgimento, recommended by Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti
The best books on Italy’s Risorgimento, recommended by Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti
Italian unification was one of the great political dramas of 19th century Europe, transforming a patchwork of territories speaking different languages into the nation-state of Italy. Here, historian Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti discusses the people and ideas that brought it about and how its disputed legacy continues to impact Italy today.
The Best Elena Ferrante Books, recommended by Sarah Chihaya and Merve Emre
From her early novellas to the Neapolitan quartet, the elusive Elena Ferrante has achieved deserved superstar status for the compulsively readable, addictive quality of her writing. Two of the authors of The Ferrante Letters, Sarah Chihaya and Merve Emre, introduce us to Ferrante and recommend what to read next after My Brilliant Friend.
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1
Discourses on Livy
by Niccolo Machiavelli, trans. Harvey Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov -
2
The New Science of Giambattista Vico: Unabridged Translation of the Third Edition (1744)
by Giambattista Vico, trans. Max Harold Fisch and Thomas Goddard Bergin -
3
The History of European Liberalism
by Guido De Ruggiero, trans. R. G. Collingwood -
4
Prison Notebooks
by Antonio Gramsci, trans. Joseph A. Buttigieg and Antonio Callari -
5
Liberalism and Democracy
by Norberto Bobbio, trans. Martin Ryle and Kate Soper
The best books on Italian Political Philosophy, recommended by Guglielmo Verdirame
The best books on Italian Political Philosophy, recommended by Guglielmo Verdirame
Italy has a rich tradition of political philosophy, producing a number of thinkers with both practical experience and a cosmopolitan outlook. Here Guglielmo Verdirame, Professor of International Law at King’s College London, talks us through the five most important Italian political philosophers, and the best books to read to understand their work.
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1
The Two Mafias: A Transatlantic History, 1888-2008
by Salvatore Lupo -
2
Men of Honour: the Truth about the Mafia
by Judge Giovanni Falcone -
3
La Sicilia e gli Alleati: Tra Occupazione e Liberazione
by Manoela Patti -
4
Mafia Life: Love, Death and Money at the Heart of Organised Crime
by Federico Varese -
5
Mafia Women
by Clare Longrigg
The Best Books on the Mafia, recommended by John Dickie
The Best Books on the Mafia, recommended by John Dickie
The three biggest Italian mafias remain a powerful presence, with tentacles reaching deep inside Italian business and politics, but our understanding of them is marred by myths and misconceptions. Professor John Dickie of University College London, author of three books on the mafia, recommends what to read to get a better understanding of what the mafia really is.
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1
Condizioni politiche e amministrative della Sicilia
by Leopoldo Franchetti -
2
Men of Honour: the Truth about the Mafia
by Judge Giovanni Falcone -
3
History of the Mafia
by Salvatore Lupo -
4
Men of Dishonor
by Antonio Calderone & Pino Arlacchi -
5
La Mafia in Casa Mia
by Anna Puglisi and Umberto Santino
The best books on The Best Books on the Sicilian Mafia, recommended by Diego Gambetta
The best books on The Best Books on the Sicilian Mafia, recommended by Diego Gambetta
‘If you go to Palermo and say, “I’m researching the Mafia,” they laugh a lot. First of all they laugh a lot, and then they kill you.’
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Venice: A Documentary History 1450-1630
by Brian Pullan & David Chambers -
2
The Military Organization of a Renaissance State: Venice 1400-1617
by John Rigby Hale & Michael E. Mallett -
3
Venice: A Maritime Republic
by Frederic Chapin Lane -
4
Venice: the Hinge of Europe
by William McNeill -
5
The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage
by Jan Morris
The best books on The Venetian Empire, recommended by Georg Christ
The best books on The Venetian Empire, recommended by Georg Christ
The Venetian Republic was one of the mightiest empires of early modern Europe, with its Terraferma dominions on land and a maritime empire, the Stato da Màr, that stretched across the Mediterranean. Its unique strength lay in long-distance trade and, as historian Georg Christ explains, in some ways, it resembled a company more than a state. Here, he recommends books to better understand the Venetian empire, what it was and how it grew.
The best books on Dante, recommended by Nick Havely
Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy has inspired countless thinkers and writers since it was first published almost 700 years ago. Here, Dante scholar and author Nick Havely picks the best five books on how one medieval poet had such a lasting impact on world literature, and how Dante’s vitality transmits into modern culture.
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1
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri -
2
Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation
by E.H. Gombrich -
3
Leonardo da Vinci: i documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee
by Edoardo Villata -
4
The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci
by Jean Paul Richter -
5
Leonardo da Vinci
by Kenneth Clark
The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp
The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp
Every generation has its own Leonardo, and for many he remains a man of mystery. Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor in Art History at Oxford and the author of the recently published Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting, helps us identify the non-mythical Leonardo. What might Leonardo be doing were he alive today, in our own digital age?
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Life of Galileo
by Bertolt Brecht -
2
Galileo’s Telescope: A European Story
by Franco Giudice, Massimo Bucciantini and Michele Camerota, translated by Catherine Bolton -
3
Letters to Father: Sister Maria Celeste to Galileo
by Suor Maria Celeste (Virginia Galilei) and Dava Sobel (editor and translator) -
4
On Trial for Reason: Science, Religion, and Culture in the Galileo Affair
by Maurice A. Finocchiaro -
5
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
by Galileo Galilei & Stillman Drake (trans.)
The best books on Galileo Galilei, recommended by Paula Findlen
The best books on Galileo Galilei, recommended by Paula Findlen
The trial of Galileo by the Roman Inquisition was one of the most public confrontations between the new science emerging in the 17th century and the Catholic Church but, nearly 400 years later, there’s still a lot of scope to argue what it was about. Here historian of science Paula Findlen, a professor at Stanford University, explains the endless fascination of Galileo Galilei, the Renaissance man who turned a telescope to the sky and took the world by storm, and recommends the best books to start learning more about him.
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1
Catiline’s War, The Jugurthine War, Histories
Sallust (trans. AJ Woodman) -
2
Res Gestae Divi Augusti: Text, Translation, and Commentary
by Alison Cooley (editor) & Augustus -
3
Rome's Cultural Revolution
by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill -
4
The Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome
by J. Bert Lott -
5
Augustan Culture
by Karl Galinsky
The best books on Augustus, recommended by Peter Wiseman
The best books on Augustus, recommended by Peter Wiseman
Is it possible that Augustus was not the first Roman emperor, but the last of Rome’s great populist champions? That’s what classicist Peter Wiseman argues in his book, The House of Augustus: A Historical Detective Story. Drawing on a lifetime of research and writing on this period, the emeritus professor of classics and ancient history gives a brilliant overview of the Augustan age, and recommends what to read to better understand the adopted son of Julius Caesar, who found Rome in brick and left it in marble.