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I’ve decided to switch things up a bit around here.  Along with travel, I’m going to be doing more book posts.  Don’t worry, the focus and priority will still be travel and the outdoors, but I love reading just as much and want to share that too, so expect some book posts interspersed in the future.

For my first book post, I want to share some of the best books set in Italy that you definitely need to read if you’re going there.  Or if you need a little inspiration to start planning a trip.

There are 20 regions of Italy to explore and these books will let you experience some of them right from home. Or maybe you’ll find one to bring with you set in the region you’ll be visiting!

This list is run by Frances Mayes and Marlena de Blasi, and for good reason.  They have both lived all over Italy for years and know it very well.  These Italy books will take you on an unforgettable journey without even leaving home.

And hey, maybe you’ll find yourself buying a plane ticket to spend a few days in Venice, a week in Tuscany, some time in Rome enjoying all Italy has to offer.  All of the book titles are links directly to the book on Amazon if you want to read more.

This is the best Italy book list the Internet offers.  Or at least I think it is, you know, since I made it.  Anyways, I hope some of these books about Italy inspire you to visit someday. 

I certainly know writing this moved it up on my bucket list! If you want to switch things up, consider a movie set in Italy to read along with some of these books!

On this list you’ll find some of the best books about Italy ranging from historical fiction set in Italy to books about Italian culture and novels set in Tuscany to books set in Rome. There is even a fantasy book set in Italy on here (loved that one!)

If you’re interested in trying Audible, you can get your first month free!  This is a great option if you want to listen to books more.  If you’re on more of a budget, try Scribd!  You can get your first two months free there.

Books set in Florence

Love and Gelato

Lina’s mother is dying and all she wants is for Lina to get to know her father.  In Italy.  But Lina is only sixteen and she really doesn’t want to go.  However, she goes and is given a journal her mother wrote when she lived in Italy. 

Lina meets her charming neighbor, Ren, and they follow her mother’s footsteps around Tuscany and Florence uncovering more than she ever knew about her parents while learning about herself.

I Found Myself in Tuscany

Like many other, Lisa Condie finds herself on a trip to Italy after her marriage and the following relationship disintegrated.  he felt invigorated wandering the streets of Florence, admiring the famed architecture and spectacular galleries. 

She felt at peace in the rolling hills of Tuscany where she sought out wineries, olive groves, monasteries, and churches for answers and inspiration.  Florence didn’t just heal her, it became her muse.

Historical fiction set in Italy

Beautiful Ruins

While this may not entirely be set in Italy, the story does start there in 1962 where a young Italian innkeeper spots a beautiful young actress that he later learns is dying. 

The story picks up today when the innkeeper shows up on a studio lot in Hollywood looking for his long lost love.  We are brought into the tangled lives of assistants, army veterans, and even a novelist as we follow along.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky

I’m not actually sure if this book is set in Italy, but it is about a regular Italian teenager, Pino Lella, from Milan that wants nothing to do with the war on Nazis. 

Until his family home is destroyed by Allied bombs, that is.  He joins an underground railroad to help Jews escape over the Alps. His mother thinks enlisting as a German soldier will protect him, but after he is injured, he is recruited to be the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left-hand man in Italy. 

Now, he has the opportunity to spy for the Allies and is pushed on by his courage and hope for a life with Anna, the beautiful widow he fell for years ago.

This is another one on my TBR that’s been there for a few years now and perfect if you’re looking for historical fiction set in Italy.

The Tuscan Child

In 1944, Hugo parachuted from a plane and landed, badly wounded, in a field in Tuscany.  He finds refuge in a ruined monastery with Sofia Bartoli. 

Joanna goes on a trip to Tuscany after finding a startling unopened letter to Sofia when she returned to England to arrange her estranged father’s funeral.

Books about Italian Culture and life in Italy

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home

Tembi met Sar, a professional chef, on the streets of Florence where they fell in love.  Unfortunately, his traditional Sicilian family didn’t approve, but they forged on. 

They build a happy life, adopting a daughter, in Los Angeles and reconcile with his family before Saro faces a battle with cancer.  This is the story of the three summers Tembi and her daughter Zoela spent in Saros tiny hometown, finding solace with his family.

A Thousand Days in Tuscany

An American chef and food writer married a Venetian banker rather quickly.  Now they’re taking another leap of faith to live in a roughly renovated stable in Tuscany. 

Barlozzo, the village mago, takes them to local festivals, teaches them to gather chestnuts and search for truffles, and most importantly shows them how to enjoy the simple pleasures of every day.

If you’re interested in the Italian countryside, this book set in Tuscany is a good choice.

Mezza Italiana: An Enchanting Story About Love, Family, La Dolce Vita and Finding Your Place in the World

Zoe Boccabella grew up in Brisbane, but never quite fit in.  She couldn’t find a way to merge her Australian and Italian heritage until years later when she traveled to her family’s ancestral village, Fossa, and discovers it’s like right out of a fairytale. 

Sprinkled with stories and laced with love, she begins to enjoy and appreciate her heritage, the stories, the recipes, and the traditions.

The Lady in The Palazzo

Marlena de Blasi, the author of A Thousand Days in Tuscany and A Thousand Days in Venice, brings us to Orvieto in Umbria this time. 

She and her husband are searching for a house on a hill and find one that happened to be a ballroom of a dilapidated 16th-century palazzo.  She cooks her way into the hearts of her new neighbors and we meet a colorful group of characters along the way.

The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club

Once a month on a Thursday, a group of Italian women get together for dinner in a derelict stone house above Orvieto in Umbria. 

Along with their friend Marlena, they get together for delicious dinner and wine.  They share stories about their lives growing up, loves lost, mafia grudges, and family recipes, everything good and bad.

Under the Tuscan Sun

Frances Mayes summers in Tuscany and eventually decides to buy a house there.  This is the story of her cooking a lot and restoring an abandoned villa. 

We follow along as she discovers hidden frescos and a bramble-covered vineyard.  It has pretty mixed reviews on Good Reads, but it’s come to be a classic book set in Italy.  I mean, it was made into a movie.

This is one of those classic Italian books that everyone knows. And hey, maybe you’ll find yourself renovating your own Italian villa.

Not in a Tuscan Villa

What starts as a dream for a retired New Jersey couple quickly turns into more of a nightmare. 

The Petralias live in two different Italian cities and share their experience navigating the Italian roads and the healthcare system, all while making friends, discovering art, food, and customs. 

Part memoir, part commentary, their adventures recapture their youth and rekindle their romance.

Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

This is the story of Doerr and his family’s life in Rome, Italy.  They visit piazzas, temples, and ancient cisterns, take their twins to the Pantheon in December to wait for snow, and attend the vigil of the dying Pope John Paul II. 

He and his family are embraced by everyone in their neighborhood, whose stories are almost as compelling as the city itself. If you want a book set in Rome, look no further.

All the Way to Italy: A modern tale of homecoming through generations past

Little always thought of herself as a Californian but after her father died, she finds half a letter, a symbol she can’t quite remember, and writer’s block and ends up in Italy, where she was born.  With the help of the aunt who raised her, friends, and the country itself, she finds the answers she needs.

Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy

Michael and Jill were on vacation in Italy after sending their last child off to college when they found a small cottage in the Umbrian countryside.  The 350-year-old home was surrounded by an olive grove and fruit trees of every kind, perched on the top of a hill. 

It was love at first sight and they purchased it without checking the water pressure or for signs of termites.  They immersed themselves in their new Italian culture, learning the language and trying to understand the nuances of Italian culture.

Times New Roman: How We Quit Our Jobs, Gave Away Our Stuff & Moved to Italy

Martha met John when she overheard him talking about quitting his job and living in a box on a beach in Mexico.  Two years later, they’re on their honeymoon in Mexico, but not in a box. 

They decided to move to Italy and this is the story of how they did that.  We find out how they decided where to go and how they funded it.  We follow along s they move to Rome and adapt to the city living as the Romans do.

Bella Tuscany

Bella Tuscany brings us back to Frances Mayes villa in the Tuscan countryside.  This time we get to experience primavera, an Italian spring.  She returns to Bramasole just as the first green appears on the hillsides. 

Now that she is more settled in Cortona, she is able to enjoy the food, art, and wine while getting to know her local friends more.  We get new recipes from her Tuscan kitchen as explores the different regions of Italy.

I’ve also had this one, I think from a used book store, for quite a while that I need to read, too. I’ve been in a non-fiction slump, though, so probably not too soon.

Every Day in Tuscany

Every Day in Tuscany is a continuation of her two-decade experience in the countryside.  It’s almost like a combination journal and cookbook as she continues to get to know Tuscany, the food, and Italy altogether.  Here she shares what it’s like in her day-to-day life in a Tuscan Villa.

An Italian Journey

First, it was a girl, then it was the food.  James goes on a mission to find out why Italians are the way they are and he figured the best way to do this is to eat with them in their very own kitchens. 

He began to feel like family after picking their olives day after day and he began to see their unique human quality, what attracts people to Italy, and what keeps them coming back.

A Thousand Days in Venice

This is the beginning of Marlena de Blasi’s story in Venice.  She is an American chef that only speaks food-based Italian.  Fernando see her across the Piazza San Marco then again a year later in a cafe and knew it was fate. 

A few short months after meeting, she packs up her home in St. Louis and marries Fernando, “the stranger.”  This is the story of their new life together in Venice.

That Summer in Sicily

The summer following her whirlwind of a love story in A Thousand Days in Venice, Marlena accepts a writing job to write about the interior regions of Sicily. 

She is accepted by the Sicilians with skepticism until she met Tosca.  This is the story of Tosca and life in Donnafugata on Sicily.

Seeking Sicily

Seeking Sicily explores the soul of the island, looking into the history, the mafia, the food, the archaeology, and the politics.  We get to see a side of the island that isn’t populated by the tourists visiting.

Finding Myself in Puglia: A Journey of Self-Discovery Under the Warm Southern Italian Sun

Like a lot of Italian memoirs, Laine gave up everything at home to go live out her dreams of writing a book, painting a picture, and climbing a mountain in Italy. 

She spent the next four years in a house she only spent a week in the year prior with her dog Basil, where she knew no one and the journey of a new life began.

Italy is My Boyfriend

Over the three decades Anette has spent in Italy, she has learned it must be experienced in full to really be appreciated. 

She always leaves and always returns and this memoir of life in Italy will take us along on her journey of finding love, life, and a sense of home a world away from her actual home.

Naked (in Italy): A Memoir About the Pitfalls of La Dolce Vita

In her late twenties, M.E. Evans hopped on a plane to change her life, and change it did.  If you think this is your average travel memoir, think again. 

Naked includes the beauty of Italy, but it can be found between stories of grief, anxiety, depression, and the quirks of Italian life, like a boyfriend with following chest hair and a mother-in-law that forcibly irons your underwear.  It’s the perfect mix of tragedy and humor in this wonderful Italian memoir.

Revamp: A Memoir of Travel and Obsessive Renovation

Want another book about moving to Italy?  I gotchu!  Pamela, a big-city journalist quit her dream job to move to a remote Italian island for love where she discovers a whole new life beyond the romantic ideas of Italy normally seen in books and movies. 

Struggling to adapt to a new culture, she buys a quirky house in the Sardinian countryside and becomes obsessed with the renovation.

If you like books about moving to Italy, this is another good one for you. It’s also good for fans of memoirs and travel books.

A Small Place in Italy

Eric Newby and his wife Wanda fulfilled their dream of returning to life in the Italian hills in 1967 where they met for the first time during World War II.  A Small Place in Italy returns twenty years later.

The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian

Phil Doran worked on a string of sitcoms and now found himself being pushed out by the new guys and he was not having it. 

His wife decided it was time for a change after twenty-five years of losing her husband to Hollywood and bought a 300-year-old, run-down farmhouse for them to restore. 

This is the story of a transition from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood to rediscovering himself and his wife in Italy while finding happiness in the last place he expected.

A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance

Fernando falls in love from afar when he sees Marlena across the Piazza San Marco then knows it’s fate when he sees her two years later at a cafe in Venice. 

He knows little English and she is a divorced American chef traveling through Italy and only knows food-based Italian. Marlena thought she was done with love but within months of their first meeting, she quits her job in St. Louis, sells her house, and moves to Venice to marry Fernando. 

This is the story of their love of each other and the delicious flavors of Italy. If you want non-fiction and a romance book set in Italy, look no further!

Il Bel Centro: A Year in the Beautiful Center

Michelle always dreamed of living in Italy and imagined her family would be the way it was in Virginia, just surrounded but ancient cobblestone alleys and the ringing sound of Italian. 

What she didn’t expect was how Italy would work to change them all.  Experience authentic village life through this enchanting tale of life in the heart of Italy.

Books about travel in Italy

Eat, Pray, Love

Everyone knows the Elizabeth Gilbert classic.  After a divorce, another failed romance, and crippling depression, she took a drastic step and decided to take a trip. 

Over the course of a year, she goes to Italy to experience pleasure, learning Italian and gaining the 23 happiest pounds of her life, India to experience devotion where she had four months of spiritual exploration, and finally Bali to find the balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

Pasta, Pane, Vino: Deep Travels Through Italy’s Food Culture

If you’re looking for a cookbook, keep looking.  This is more of a travelogue and patient investigation into Italy’s food culture and the people pushing it in new directions: three globetrotting brothers who became the mozzarella kings of Puglia, the pizza police of Naples, and the Barolo Boys who turned the hilly Piedmont into one of the world’s greatest wine regions.

The Other Side of the Tiber: Reflections on Time in Italy

The Other Side of the Tiber shows us Italy in a whole new light with each place having its own distinct history, subject, and geography bound together through a shared sense of life. 

The story begins with hitchhiking to Rome as a student in England, followed by earthquakes, volcanoes, a hundred-year-old man, refugee camps, walled cities, realism, the Slow Food movement, and more.

Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera Where Every Month is Enchanted

In 1983, Annie Hawes and her sister leave England for the sun-drenched town of Liguria, Italy.  They agree to a job of grafting roses, a job they have no knowledge of, on the Italian Riviera with a place to live included and dreams of handsome, tanned men and swimming in the sea.

Too bad none of them seem to be under 40-years-old and swimming outside of July and August is almost as bad as drinking cappuccino after noon! 

However, they become captivated by San Pedro and what started as a few weeks turns into years as they are accepted into their adopted home.

Head Over Heel: Seduced by Southern Italy

Chris wasn’t expecting his life to change forever when he traveled from Sydney to Dublin, but then he met Daniela and it was more at first sight. 

Before he knew what was happening, he was following her to her hometown of Andrano in the heel of Southern Italy.

While the cobblestone lanes, white-washed houses, and olive groves are the things of dreams, he soon had to face the infuriating bureaucracy, anarchic roads, and Daniela’s mamma who was determined to convert him to the Catholic faith.

Solo in Salento

Donna is desperate to break out of her life, haunted by a wretched past of lost faith, toxic relationships, a stressful career, and a slow sink into domestication.  She craves time away from everything and everyone, including her loving husband.

So she lies to everyone and says she has to travel alone to research a novel she plans to write.  While in Otrano, she masters the recycling system in a language she doesn’t speak and realizes this can be applied to her own life.  You can join her on her journey in this part personal growth, part travel memoir.

Return to Glow: A Pilgrimage of Transformation in Italy

Chandi is determined to embrace life and follow her heart after a divorce and traumatic illness so she decides to do Italy’s historic pilgrimage, the Via Francigena, and walk forty days to Rome. 

Even though she was weakened by her illness, she carries a nineteen-pound pack, two journals, and three pens over the Apennines and through the valley of Tuscany as she traces the ancient pilgrim’s route. This one also sounds very interesting!

Eating My Way Through Italy: Heading Off the Main Roads to Discover the Hidden Treasures of the Italian Table

Elizabeth Minchilli has spent a lifetime living and eating in Rome making her an expert on the city’s cuisine and while she’s proud of everything she can share about Rome, she wants to show her readers that the rest of Italy is a culinary wonder waiting to be explored.

Each region of Italy has it’s own specialties and this shows us all the different aspects of Italian food culture from pizza in Naples to deep fried calamari in Venice, anchovies in Amalfi to hunting for truffles in Umbria. Each chapter is full of anecdotes, personal stories, practical advice, recipes, and more.

This is a great option for anyone looking for a book about Italian food that is also part adventure, not just food.

Mystery novels set in Italy

A Death in Tuscany

While this one may not have you hopping on a plane, it’s still a great read if you’re looking for a book set in Italy.  What first appears to be a drug overdose, is uncovered to be a murder in the Tuscan town of Scandicci. 

The further into the case they get, the more it appears to have sinister connections to Tuscany’s very foundation.

I’m very excited to read this one. I got it at a library book sale years ago and had my parents bring it out on their latest visit. This is perfect for anyone looking for a mystery novel set in Italy.

Midnight in Sicily

This is perfect if you’re looking for a mystery book set in Italy. Just off the southern coast of Italy is the island of Sicily, home to stunning coastlines, treasure troves of art and archaeology, and the mafia: La Cosa Nostra. 

Peter Robb, who lived in Sicily for 14 years offers a mix of crime, travel, and food writing in this book.  He shares the mafia’s roots and it’s current place in Italian politics right alongside the origins of pasta and strength of Neapolitan espresso.

The Villa in Italy

Think House on Haunted Hill, but less murdery.  Four very different people are named in a will and summoned to Villa Dante. 

Delia, George, Marjorie, and Lucius have all gone to great lengths to hide their troubles, but the villa with its magical frescos, gardens, and medieval tower slowly begins to change that.

Murder in Matera: A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy

If you’re looking for a true-crime book set in Italy, this is for you.  Helene was determined to set the record straight about events that happened nearly a century ago, so she sets off with her children in tow to get to the bottom of things.

Over ten years and with numerous trips to Basilcata, she finally found out the rumors were true: a murder occurred in her family that roiled 1870s Italy.  Through her investigation, she finds out she isn’t who she thought she was and weaves her life story with Vita’s tragic story as well. I know this isn’t a mystery book set in Italy, but it’s close enough for me.

Romance books set in Italy

The Secrets of Villa Rosso

Ellie Maddison is sent to Southern Italy on a business trip and is reminded why she loves her job.  She meets the estate director of Villa Rosso, Max Johnson and instantly feels a connection, which was very unexpected. 

She soon finds herself entangled in the history of the place while trying to figure out the effect Max has on her.  Her life will forever be changed by a simple work trip.

That Month in Tuscany

On a flight to Italy, Lizzy Harper, whose husband stood her up on a long-planned anniversary trip, literally fell unto Ren Sawyer’s, a rock star with a secret he can no longer live with, lap.

It was the last thing Lizzy imagined happening to anyone like her, but they discovered an undeniable pull between them.  They spend their time exploring the streets of Florence and the hills of Tuscany, changed forever.

This one and the next one are two wonderful choice for books set in Tuscany and non-fiction books about Italy. You’ll be packing your bags in no time after these.

Contemporary novels set in Italy

My Italian Bulldozer

Paul Stewart is going to the idyllic Italian town of Montalcino to finish an already late book when things quickly turn worse upon landing. 

It turns out his rental car is missing and there is no other car available, but a stranger offers him an unexpected alternative: a bulldozer.  He accepts and so begins a series of hilarious adventures through the Italian countryside.

Summer at The Lake

Floriana receives a wedding invitation to watch the one true love of her life get married at Lake Como and she definitely doesn’t want to go.  She was distracted thinking about the invitation and gets in a car accident. 

Esme and Adam come to her aid and she finds the courage to attend the wedding.  The lake revives memories of the first time Esme visited at 19 years old when she fell in love for the first time.

Women in Sunlight

This is a work of fiction by Frances Mayes, featuring Kit Raine, an American writer living in Tuscany.  She is writing a biography on her close friend when she meets three women that recently developed a spontaneous friendship. 

They rent a large house in Tuscany launching themselves into Italian life and pursuing their passions.

Fiction set in Italy

Kingdom of the Wicked

Emilia and Vittoria are streghe, witches secretly living among humans. Vittoria missed dinner one night and Emilia ends up finding her twin desecrated beyond belief. Emilia is on a mission to find her killer at any cost, even if it means using forbidden dark magic.

Then she meets Wrath, one of the Wicked princes of Hell she has been warned against her entire life. He claims to be on her side but when it comes to the wicked, nothing is as it seems.

This is the fantasy book set in Italy and I loved this one! I read it in September of this year and can’t wait to read the next book that came out in October.

Well, I hope you were able to choose one or ten of these books to read before traveling to Italy that get you even more excited about visiting. And if you’re not going anytime soon, hopefully they’ll make it feel like you’re there.

Other book posts you may like:

Have you read any of these?  What is your favorite book set in Italy?