The Italian Experience Reading Room - Books About Life In Italy

List of Books about Italy

Generations of people have taken the leap that many of us only dream of by moving to Italy and emerging themselves in a completely new culture and way of life! These books encompass many different regions if Italy and the experiences that are born of living there, but there is a common thread among all of them. All of these authors are people who have developed a true love of their adopted homeland and couldn't imagine living anywhere else!

By Frances Mayes:

• Under The Tuscan Sun
• Bella Tuscany
• In Tuscany
• Bringing Tuscany Home

Frances Mayes has done for Tuscany what Peter Mayle did for Provence! Her first book, Under The Tuscan Sun, chronicles her purchase, with her husband Edward, of Bramasole,  17 room villa in the hills of Tuscany. The book is a fond look at the labor of love it takes to restore an ancient home and its sweeping gardens while making a new life in a completely new culture. She chronicles life as an expatriate in Cortona with grace and humorâ - from learning the Italian language to making new friends. 

Her second book, Bella Tuscany, finds Frances and Edward finally at the point of renovations being complete enough to truly enjoy their new home and then they are descended on by constant visitors! Their escape plan benefits the reader however. Their travels to Venice and other exquisite areas of Italy leave us wanting more.

I've included In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home on this list because, despite being marketed as coffee table books, Frances is a writer first and foremost. Filled with lush photos and delicious-sounding recipes, these books continue to tell Frances and Edward's story. The olive harvests, travels, and the refurbishment of their second Tuscan home are a wonderful companion to the pages of eye candy!

By Ferenc Mate:

• The Hills Of Tuscany

Ferenc and his wife Candace, world travelers are residing in New York when they visit Tuscany in the late 1980s and decide this is where they are meant to live the rest of their lives. Unlike many books in this genre that start with the protagonist falling in love with an Italian villa, this is the story of the country first and the struggle to find the perfect house to match it. A good portion of the book chronicles their search for the perfect farmhouse, which they finally find in La Marinaia, which is located in Montepulciano, in the hills outside of Siena. Because they live in a true working farm community, the book is replete with stories of tilling gardens, hunting mushrooms, and learning how prosciutto is really made! Ferenc and Candace are a fun couple, and unlike some travel books which make you feel like you are being told a story, Ferenc makes you feel like you are truly along for the ride!

By Annie Hawes:

• Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers The Italian Riviera, Where Every Month Is Enchanted

A young Annie Hawes convinces her sister Lucy to escape the miserable English winter to work grafting roses in the Italian Riviera. They arrive in Liguria, which is two miles away from the Riviera by road but about 2000 miles away by lifestyle! Annie and Lucy, young and broke, build their lives in the small town of Diano San Pierto through hard work, and eventually buy and restore an old farmhouse surrounded by 50 olive trees. Their neighbors are bemused by the idea of two single women running a farm on their own, and somewhat horrified when Annie takes the advice of a government agricultural expert and bucks the olive farming system! As a bonus, a little reading between the lines exposes a blossoming romance between Annie and a fellow olive farmer!

By Lisa St. Aubin de Teran:

• A Valley In Italy: The Many Seasons of a Villa In Umbria

Lisa St. Aubin de Teran is an English woman whose life experiences are enough to fill the days of at least 10 more people! This book recounts her first year living in Italy, restoring a decrepit villa in the hills of Umbria. De Teran and her artist husband Robbie Duff-Scott are not your typical restrained Brits. They are a bohemiam team of the "act first, figure out the details later" variety. Shortly after purchasing their dream villa, they find out that the house needs a little work - like running water, window panes and a roof. Stories about De Teran and her teenage daughter camping out at the villa site and boiling pasta in bottled sparkling water are both abysmal and thrilling. You will be glad you are along for the ride from the comfort of your own home!

By Tim Parks:

• Italian Neighbors
• Italian Education

The only writer on the list who isn't residing in a decades old villa or farmhouse, Tim Parks and his wife settle in Montecchio near Verona. This is a fun account of apartment living with nosy neighbors and customs that seem quirky to the staid Brit, despite having Italian-born wife Rita to help him find his way! His second book, Italian Education, focuses on raising his two children Michele and Stefania surrounded by Italian family and friends concerned with Tim and Rita's decision to have more than one child at all! Tim's humorous-but-honest accounts of being tangled in the red tape that comes with working outside the country of your birth is a must-read for anyone considering doing the same!

By Daphne Phelps:

• A House In Sicily

Unlike the rest of the books on this list, Daphne Phelps tells the story of a different generation of Italian life. In 1947, the 34-year-old "British Spinster" inherits her uncle's Sicilian home, Casa Cuseni, in Taorima, Sicily. She goes to Italy with the intent of selling the property and ends up spending the next 50 years of her life living there! Daphne writes with a terse, acerbic wit and the book is at its best when she retells the stories of all the famous Casa Cuseni visitors, which include Roald Dahl, Henry Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams. A wonderful reminder that the current generation didn't invent the romantic idea of living abroad!

More books about Italy ( Italy out of hand )

By Faith Harper