Italian Escape: 24+ Books Set in Italy You Should Read
Dreaming Of Italy?
Italy is (rightfully) a dream destination for many people; it has delicious food, rich wines, a long fascinating history, well-known artists, gorgeous coastlines, scenic hills, and stunning fashion. And each area of the country offers something different—up North there are mountains with stunning Alpine views while down South there are soft sandy beaches. The big cities have ancient ruins and smaller towns have farms and pastures. The people can be loud and talk fast, but are kind and romantic and so proud of their country.
I moved to Italy for the third time in March 2025 (I also lived here as a child), and I love sharing the books that best capture its spirit.
If you’re ready to be transported to cobblestone streets, rolling vineyards, and sun-drenched coastlines, these are some of the best books set in Italy to add to your reading list. I’ve tried to include a variety of genres so everyone can find something to transport them.
I’m also working on more location-specific lists, so if you’re looking for a certain location, you might find them here:
- Books Set in Venice
- Books Set in Rome (coming soon!)
- Books Set in Sicily (coming soon!)
- Books Set in Florence & Tuscany (coming soon!)
- Books About Moving to Italy
But, if you’re just looking for some of the best books set in Italy, then one of the below is a good choice. (And, of course, if you’re looking for Movies Set in Italy…I have those, too.)
Want this list as a one-page checklist you can print and work your way through?!? Just click here!
Books that Cover All of Italy
La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
Author: Beppe Severgnini
Genre: Nonfiction, Humor, Culture
Location(s) Featured: Italy
La Bella Figura is Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini’s witty exploration of what makes Italians…well, Italian. Blending humor, insight, and cultural anecdotes, Severgnini takes readers on a journey through the quirks of Italian life, from traffic and bureaucracy to fashion, food, and family. At the heart of it all is the concept of la bella figura—the art of making a good impression and living with style. Through sharp observations and (affectionate) satire, he reveals both the frustrations and the charm of Italy, offering a lively insider’s guide to understanding a nation can be frustrating…and very enchanting.
The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and Its Citrus Fruit
Author: Helena Attlee
Genre: Nonfiction, Food & Wine
Location(s) Featured: Italy
This one is an interesting one and a little bit different than many of the other books included on this list: it’s about the history of citrus crops in Italy. Yes, that’s a very specific topic. And, yes, it’s a little random, but it’s surprisingly captivating and you will certainly find yourself wishing you were sitting on the Amalfi coast with a small glass of Limoncello made from the sweet tart juicy lemons of Italy. Helena Attlee makes the history of citrus fruit in Italy fascinating—from bitter oranges in the north to those famous Amalfi lemons. It’s part history, part travelogue, part food writing.
Take your lemon lessons on the road with an Amalfi Coast lemon and limoncello experience.
Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy
Author: Michael Tucker
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography/Memoir, Food & Wine
Location(s) Featured: Umbria, Italy
I love a good expat story and this one was especially fun: actors Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry (yes from LA Law) live out pretty much everyone’s dream by buying a house in the Umbrian countryside, diving into food, wine, and Italian life. Surrounded by vineyards, olive groves, and welcoming neighbors, the couple discovers the rhythms of Italian living — from long dinners and local markets to the challenges of language and renovation. Blending humor, food, and romance, Tucker captures the joys and stumbles of reinventing life abroad, savoring every meal, and finding home in another culture.
The Robert Langdon Series (Angels & Demons and Inferno)
Author: Dan Brown
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Location(s) Featured: Rome, Florence, Venice, and Vatican City, Italy
Dan Brown’s thrillers are fast-paced puzzle hunts through famous landmarks (find out more in my Robert Langdon Series Overview) and they really are a great way to learn about a destination since the setting is always an important part of the plot. Two in the six-book series predominately take place in Italy: Angels & Demons sees Langdon racing through Rome and Vatican City to stop a secret society. In Inferno, he follows Dante’s Divine Comedy through Florence and Venice. Each can be read on their own.
Note from Jen: I really enjoy this series and I have several posts about them—check out my book reviews for specific lists of locations featured in each book and then also check out my discussion guide on each to get even further into the story. (Angels & Demons: Book Review & Discussion Guide)
Vroom with a View: In Search of Italy’s Dolce Vita on a ’61 Vespa
Author: Peter Moore
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography/Memoir
Location(s) Featured: Italy
If you have any interest in Vespas–the little scooters that zip around Italian cities–you’ll really enjoy this book, but even if you don’t have an interest in Vespas, you’ll still enjoy this book. Peter Moore is an Australian travel writer known for his humorous writings about his adventures around the world. Vroom with a View is about his trip from Milan to Rome on an unreliable–but memorable–Vespa. It’s funny, it’s interesting, and it’s an easy read. (And, you would also probably enjoy the sequel Vroom by the Sea: The Sunny Parts of Italy on a Bright Orange Vespa.)
Experience your own Vespa adventure on your next visit to Italy.
Books Set in Northern Italy
A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Genre: Fiction, Romance, War & Military, Classic
Location(s) Featured: Tuscany, Italy
It’s hard to put together a list of books set in Italy without including this classic by one of America’s most famous authors. A Farewell to Arms tells the story of an American ambulance driver and an English nurse he meets while serving on the Italian front during World War I. It’s typical Hemingway—lyrical, poetic, sometimes spare, sometimes wordy—but it’s also beautiful, descriptive, and a haunting reminder of the pain war leaves behind.
Call Me By Your Name: A Novel
Author: André Aciman
Genre: Fiction, Romance, LGBTQ+
Location(s) Featured: Lombardy, Italy
This tender love story follows a curious 17-year-old American-Italian boy spending the summer with his family in a fictional town in the Lombardy region of Italy and the 24-year-old scholar who comes to stay with them. Their romance is set in the 1980s so secrecy is a part of their story, blending passion with uncertainty. Aciman’s prose is lush and evocative, capturing the beauty of first love and the sensory pleasures of Italian summer.
Note from Jen: The 2017 film adaptation was nominated for multiple Academy Awards and is included in my list of Films about Italy, too.
Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti #1)
Author: Donna Leon
Genre: Fiction, Crime/Mystery
Location(s) Featured: Venice, Italy
Donna Leon’s first Commissario Brunetti mystery (there are now more than 30!) introduces readers to her beloved Venetian detective, his family, and the politics of his city. The story begins with the poisoning of a German opera maestro during a performance at Venice’s famed La Fenice opera house. As Brunetti unravels the case, readers get a feel for the city’s canals, food, and rhythms of life.
Note from Jen: I found the story a little slow compared to American detective novels, but once I settled in with the more Italian pace, I loved the character development and insight into Venetian life. (The book is also included on my list of Books Set in Venice.)
Explore the opera house or Brunetti’s world with a Venice walking tour.
The Birth of Venus: A Novel
Author: Sarah Dunant
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Romance, Art & Architecture
Location(s) Featured: Florence, Italy
Set during the Italian Renaissance, this novel tells the story of Alessandra, a gifted young woman from a wealthy Florentine family. When a painter comes to decorate her family’s chapel, Alessandra falls in love—despite her parents’ disapproval. The novel explores art, religion, family duty, and personal desire, all within Florence’s vibrant history. Dunant’s writing captures both the grandeur and the repression of the time, painting Florence in vivid color. If you love historical fiction, especially tied to art and culture, this one belongs on your list.
A Room with a View
Author: E.M. Forster
Genre: Fiction, Classic, Romance
Location(s) Featured: Florence, Italy and the English Countryside
Taking place in the early 1900s A Room With a View is about how young Lucy Honeychurch’s trip to Florence changes her life when she meets George Emerson, whose free spirit challenges her conventional upbringing. Back in England, she must choose between the safety of tradition and the passion she discovered in Italy. Forster weaves humor, romance, and satire into this enduring classic, with Florence’s art and streets serving as a vivid backdrop. It’s a reminder of how travel can transform not just what we see, but how we see ourselves.
Beautiful Ruins
Author: Jess Walter
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Location(s) Featured: a fictional town located near Cinque Terre, Italy, and Los Angeles, California
In 1962, a young innkeeper in a remote Cinque Terre village encounters an American actress hiding out from Hollywood. Decades later, their story resurfaces in Los Angeles, weaving together lives across time and continents. Jess Walter’s novel is witty, heartbreaking, and layered, capturing the beauty of Italy and the messiness of love and ambition. It’s set around the making of the movie Cleopatra, so if you’re a fan of Elizabeth Taylor and/or Richard Burton, you’ll especially enjoy that part!
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
Author: Lori Nelson Spielman
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Location(s) Featured: Tuscany and Venice, Italy
The Fontana family believes second-born daughters are cursed never to marry. Emilia, her cousin, and their eccentric Aunt Poppy journey through Venice and Tuscany to test the family legend. Along the way, family secrets come out and Emilia begins to see herself in a new light. This heartwarming story celebrates family, love, and self-discovery. Spielman’s descriptions of Tuscany’s vineyards and Venice’s canals make it a perfect armchair trip.
Note from Jen: Although I read this a few years ago and admittedly have forgotten some of the plot lines, I will always consider it one of my favorite books as I thought it was so well done. Might be time for a re-read…
The English Patient
Author: Michael Ondaatje
Genre: Fiction, Historical, War, Romance
Location(s) Featured: Tuscany, Italy and the Saharan Desert, North Africa
Set at the end of WWII, four strangers (a mysterious burn victim, a nurse, a thief, and a Sikh combat engineer) take refuge in a Tuscan villa. Their lives intertwine in a haunting story of love, betrayal, and survival. Ondaatje’s prose is poetic and layered, moving between Italy and the North African desert. The novel won many awards, was adapted into a movie that also won a lot of awards (included on my list of films about Italy), and is deeply atmospheric and emotional.
Extra Virgin: Amongst the Olive Groves of Liguria
Author: Annie Hawes
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography/Memoir, Food & Wine
Location(s) Featured: Liguria, Italy
Extra Virgin is Annie Hawes’ witty memoir of moving with her sister Lucy from England to a small Ligurian village in Italy. What starts as a short-term gardening job turns into an unexpected adventure when they decide to buy a crumbling farmhouse. Immersed in olive groves, eccentric neighbors, and the rhythms of rural life, the sisters discover the quirks, hardships, and joys of Italian culture. It’s a vivid picture of village life and what it means to be an outsider and a charming tale of resilience, humor, and finding home abroad.
Note from Jen: I’ve had my eye on this one for awhile and I even bought a copy when I saw it a used bookstore…but admit that it’s still sitting on my shelf. I guess it’s time to book an Italian reading retreat.
The Enchanted April
Author: Elizabeth von Arnim
Genre: Fiction, Classic, Romance
Location(s) Featured: Italian Riviera, Italy
The Enchanted April follows four very different English women who escape their dreary London lives by renting a medieval castle on the Italian Riviera for a month (sounds amazing!). Lotty, practical and optimistic, initiates the plan, joined by the cautious Rose, the aristocratic Lady Caroline, and the stern Mrs. Fisher. Amid blooming wisteria, Mediterranean sunshine, and breathtaking views, the women shed their inhibitions, heal old wounds, and rediscover joy. Both humorous and poignant, the novel celebrates the restorative power of beauty, nature, and stepping outside one’s routine.
The Marriage Portrait
Author: Maggie O’Farrell
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Location(s) Featured: Florence and Ferrara, Italy
In this novel that was a Reese’s Book Club pick, Maggie O’Farrell reimagines the life of Lucrezia de’ Medici, the 16th-century Italian duchess from that family. At just fifteen, Lucrezia is wed to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, and swept from her Florentine home into a world of power, politics, and suspicion. O’Farrell paints Lucrezia as a spirited young woman struggling to assert her identity amid the stifling confines of court life. Lushly written and deeply atmospheric, the novel blends historical fact with psychological insight, exploring themes of art, autonomy, and survival in Renaissance Italy while bringing its heroine vividly, poignantly to life.
Get the real story of the Medicis on your next visit to Florence.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Author: Frances Mayes
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography/Memoir, Food & Wine, Self-Discovery/Change
Location(s) Featured: Tuscany, Italy
When it comes to books set in Italy, Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes is a classic—this memoir follows Mayes as she throws herself into small-town life in Tuscany: navigating local markets for fresh produce and wine, wrestling with Italian bureaucracy, and tackling the overwhelming task of restoring a crumbling villa. Her writing is full of rich, sensory details—descriptions of sun-soaked landscapes, flavorful meals, and the charm (and chaos) of Italian living. While the book is quite different from the romanticized movie version (which I still enjoy!), it offers a more grounded, personal, and often humorous look at what it really takes to build a life in Italy.
Note from Jen: I would definitely put this one on my personal list of favorite travel books. Find out more in my Under the Tuscan Sun book review, movie review, and book/movie club discussion guide.
Books Set in Southern Italy
My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels Book 1)
Author: Elena Ferrante
Genre: Fiction
Location(s) Featured: Naples, Italy
My Brilliant Friend is the first of four Neapolitan Novels that follow Elena and Raffaella (Lila), two girls growing up in a poor neighborhood outside Naples. Their friendship is fraught with rivalry, admiration, jealousy, and deep loyalty. This first book explores their childhood and teenage years, setting the stage for the decades-long saga. Ferrante’s writing is raw and intimate, with Naples as much a character as the two women. The series divides readers—some find it slow, while others swear it’s one of the most profound explorations of female friendship ever written.
Note from Jen: There’s an HBO adaptation that brought the gritty Naples streets to the screen in 2018, but I admittedly haven’t seen it yet.
The Leopard
Author: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Classic
Location(s) Featured: Sicily, Italy
Often hailed as one of the greatest Italian novels (despite it being denied by two publishers before actually being printed), The Leopard tells the story of Prince Fabrizio of Salina, an aristocrat watching his world crumble during Italy’s unification in the 19th century. The novel blends family drama, political change, and a melancholy reflection on the passing of time. Lampedusa’s prose is lyrical and the story is a little controversial, but the book is considered “essential” for understanding both Italian history and Sicilian identity.
Note from Jen: Netflix released a miniseries adaptation in March 2025, but I haven’t seen that one either.
One Italian Summer
Author: Rebecca Serle
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Magical Realism
Location(s) Featured: Amalfi Coast, Italy
Katy, grieving the death of her mother, takes the trip they had planned together to Positano. Once there, she meets her mother—not as she knew her…but actually as a young woman. This magical realism tale explores grief, identity, and love in one of Italy’s most breathtaking settings. Serle’s descriptions of the Amalfi Coast are lush and evocative—it’s both a moving family story and an ode to Positano’s beauty.
Note from Jen: I’m just not a fan of magical realism or fantasy or science fiction—my brain just can’t go there for some reason, but I will still give it a chance once in awhile and I did like this book. The emotions and feelings of the mother/daughter relationship were excellently captured.
Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
Author: Anthony Doerr
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography/Memoir, Travel
Location(s) Featured: Rome, Italy
In Four Seasons in Rome, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anthony Doerr recounts the year he and his family spent in the Eternal City after receiving a fellowship at the American Academy. Newly arrived (also with newborn twins!), Doerr balances the chaos of parenting with the challenge of writing, while absorbing the wonders of Rome. From crowded piazzas to quiet churches, ancient ruins to daily routines, he reflects on history, art, language, and the fleetingness of time.
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home
Author: Tembi Locke
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography/Memoir, Food & Wine, Romance
Location(s) Featured: Sicily, Italy
From Scratch is a story of many kinds of love: Tembi Locke’s romance with a Sicilian chef, the bond they shared with their daughter, and the love she found again with his family…after his death. This heartfelt memoir is full of food, grief, healing, and rediscovery. The Netflix adaptation (which Tembi and her sister helped write) starring Zoe Saldaña introduced the story to even more readers, but the book remains deeply personal and moving.
Note from Jen: I admit that I haven’t watched the series yet…I just don’t think my heart can handle it as the book certainly had me sobbing. It’s just so well done. The book (as well as a few others on here) is also included in my list of travel books about love.
Sicilian Splendors: Discovering the Secret Places That Speak to the Heart
Author: John Keahey
Genre: Nonfiction, Travel, History
Location(s) Featured: Sicily, Italy
Travel writer John Keahey goes off the beaten path in Sicily, exploring villages, ruins, and hidden corners. Keahey explores the island’s rich history, layered cultures, and enduring traditions. He weaves in encounters with locals, reflections on art and architecture, and the rhythms of daily life that reveal Sicily’s unique character. With an eye for overlooked details and a love of storytelling, Keahey shows how Sicily is both timeless and surprising. This intimate portrait invites readers to slow down, savor, and experience the island with all the senses. (He also has a book called Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean which is also highly recommended—just a little older.)
The Sicilian Inheritance
Author: Jo Piazza
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Historical
Location(s) Featured: Sicily, Italy
The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza (who is becoming a must-read author for me) is a gripping historical mystery that shifts between past and present. After her great-aunt Rosie dies, Sara Marsala discovers a letter hinting at a family murder in Sicily generations earlier. Traveling to the island, Sara unravels a web of secrets tied to her ancestor Serafina, a headstrong young woman navigating love, betrayal, and survival in early 20th-century Sicily. As Sara’s journey collides with Serafina’s story, themes of resilience, justice, and the weight of inheritance emerge. Rich with Sicilian atmosphere, food, and tradition, the novel blends family drama with suspense and cultural history.
Note from Jen: This one was one of my favorite books of 2024—Piazza did an amazing job at capturing the emotion and the mystery in an unputdownable way.
Final Thoughts on Books Set in Italy
Italy has a way of staying with you—whether you’ve strolled its cobblestone streets in person or only visited in your imagination and, thankfully, through books (and movies!) you can revisit Italy’s beauty anytime from anywhere.
These books set in Italy showcase the country’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and unforgettable culture through the eyes of novelists, memoirists, and travelers. From timeless classics to modern love stories and travel memoirs, each book offers a unique perspective on what makes Italy so special.
Want this list as a one-page checklist you can print and work your way through?!? Just click here!
Note from Jen: Because I couldn’t let this list get too out of hand, a few books I enjoyed were left out. Check out my full book reviews of:
- Will There Be Love? (book set in Rome)
- To Sicily with Love (book set in Sicily)
- A Wedding in Lake Como (book set around Lake Como)
- Eat, Pray, Love (the Italy portion of the book is mostly set in Naples)
- A Thousand Days in Venice (book set in Venice)
I hope this list inspires your next read (or even your next trip!).
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