Italy - BOOKS by Italian Authors (or set in Italy)

[Pauline]

Post with your favorite books by Italian authors (including by expats living in Italy).

True Vines by Diana Strinati Baur. "After the sudden death of her Italian winemaker husband, Meryl Michelli flees to her small hometown in Pennsylvania, looking to slam the door on heartache and trudge forward." Set in both Italy and the US and written by a US expat living in northern Italy. A little chick-lit, a little feel-good, with nice details about life in Italy.

The Virgin and The Griffin by Sandra Cordon. "In 1504 Perugia, an ancient Umbrian city in central Italy, is a place of great art, great violence – and a great many secrets. Isabella Bevilacqua, a young weaver in her family's small workshop, understands this very well." Good historic novel with lovely details about Perugia and life at that time. Written by a Canadian expat living in Rome.

 

[Sandrac]

A Kitchen with a View - Seasonal recipes from Alla Madonna del Piatto, by Letizia Mattiacci. "Use good quality ingredients in simple combinations. Embrace the rhythm of the seasons. Respect the balance of flavours and textures." Excellent cookbook by an Italian native, written in English. But the book is much more than recipes, although these are well-tested and excellent. Also memoir about life on the side of an Italian mountain above Assisi, lessons about food and life from family and friends, as well as gorgeous photos throughout.

 

[Pauline]

Thanks for posting this @Sandrac . I am going to order my copy this week. I thought it was "just" a cookbook - now I want it even more!

This page on @Madonna del Piatto 's website describes the book. It looks like you order by emailing Letizia. (I just emailed her and will report back.)

 

[Sandrac]

Hi Pauline. I just got my copy and am loving all the photos as well as stories about her family and friends, and tips on telling good olive oil from scary industrial products!

You can order it from Letizia and I think it will soon be available on Amazon.

 

[Madonna del Piatto]

Thank you for the mention my friends, my book is now finally available on Amazon, both in Europe and in the USA.

 

[Pauline]

I ordered my copy but it got delayed in the mail and then went to my US address instead of my UK address (my fault - I confused everything by giving two addresses)! So a lucky US friend got it as a present. When we get back from Switzerland I will order it from Amazon - can't wait to see it!!

 

[Madonna del Piatto]

Pauline, thanks to our awful postal service, you have patiently waited for so long. If you decide to wait again until September I will give you a personally signed copy for free!

 

[Karen Frerichs]

I'm looking forward to reading "Kitchen with a View"! I read cookbooks sometimes, with or w/o added attractions.

Also liked "Songbirds, Truffles and Wolves" by Gary Paul Nabhan, an American naturalist who walked the Franciscan trail to Assisi, and chronicles what he sees and who he meets along the way.

Has anyone read "The Sixteen Pleasures" by Robert Hellenga? Not set entirely in Italy, but moves back and forth between Florence and a small town in Illinois. Hellenga has written other books in the same way, not all set in Italy...this was my first of several, I like his work.

 

[Chris]

I like Hellenga too, although I'm having a little trouble getting into his latest, "The Confessions of Frances Godwin." I read "Sixteen Pleasures" years ago when it was first released, then re-read it earlier this year. I enjoyed it both times!

 

[Karen Frerichs]

Chris,

You have me thinking it's time to reread (Sixteen Pleasures"... I did do the Confessions of, and it was OK, just not in Italy... and he writes so well about Italy; he clearly loves it there. And now remember ing "The Fall of a Sparrow" (?).

Am now waiting for my requests of above from the library, but they've delivered requests from the French forum
first, so it's off to France for now.

 

[berliej]

Some great books by Annie Hawes on Italy.. she is an ex pat.
Also a couple of books by Isabella Dusi about Montalcino

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

I'm reading the first book in a series based in Naples. The series has received rave reviews. It is quite literary. It is about female friendship, growing up in Naples. It spans about 60 years from the 1950s to the present day and mirrors the changes Naples and Italy underwent during this period. The first one is My Brilliant Friend and after a slow start, I'm mesmerized. The author, Elena Ferrante, is a pseudonymn and no one knows who s/he is. although I think the author must be female of a certain age.

 

[Pauline]

I'm reading the first book in a series based in Naples. ... The first one is My Brilliant Friend and after a slow start, I'm mesmerized.

Me too! I am half way through and enjoying it.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

Pauline,
I plan on reading the rest of the trilogy. it's amazing. It's been a long time since I've discovered a new (to me) author. The story and the writing ....fantastic.
Funny that you're reading it as well. Definitely not a travelogue.

 

[Pauline]

I finished the first book and really liked it. I will be onto the second one soon.

 

[Chris]

I just started the first one. I'm completely fascinated.

 

[Pauline]

It is a fascinating story, I think, of two girls growing up in a Naples neighborhood. At the end of the first book they are only 16. Beautifully written and a detailed portrait of families and friends in a working class neighborhood.

There is one scene where some people who have become wealthy with their businesses take a group out to a restaurant. For some of them it is their first time in a restaurant and they are nervous, don't order much (thinking they might have to pay) and don't like it. For these young people, if they go out it is for pizza in the evening. They also talk about going out for gelato. All these details of life in the 1960s which are so much the same in Italy today.

 

[ellen]

I've read so many good reviews about the Ferrante books, I've got to try them.

I like mysteries, so I'm drawn to the David Hewson Nic Costa series (Rome), Conor Fitzgerald's Alec Blume books (also Rome), and of course Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti (Venice).

 

[Karen Frerichs]

...don't forget the Montalbano series, in Sicily, by Andrea Camillieri!

 

[Pauline]

Ann Reavis put together a list of novels set in Italy.
http://tuscantraveler.com/2015/ital...novels-to-read-before-going-to-italy-in-2016/