Survey - Reading List

Any of the "Masters of Rome" series by Colleen McCullough

For more contemporary reading, I suggest Eric Newby's "Love and War in the Appenines," which is about his escape from the Nazi's and the sancutary he found among the contadini in Tuscany. Here he met his future wife, Wanda. Fabulous story, to be followed by "A Small Palce in Italy" which tells the story of a fixer-upper farmhouse Eric and Wanda bought in Tuscany as a vacation home in the 1960s. Newby tells lovingly of the colorful characters that inhabit the rural area and how they live, farm, and embrace life. Newby was a travel-writer of note in Great Britain, but these are his personal stories. Will really get you in the mood, especially for Tuscany!

Another good WW2 era book is The Garden of the Fizzi-Contini, about the life of a Jewish familiy in Ferrara. It's out of print, but I purchased a copy 2nd hand on Amazon. If you're lucky, you're library will have a copy. It was also made into a film (Italian with English subtitles). Book is better than the film.

Also worth reading, if you like mysteries and are interested in Venezia, Donna Leon's "Guido Brunetti" novels. Great fun, great characters.

Check out this thread with lots of great suggestions:

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/43858/best-portable-readsbook-lovers-out-there.html

There are two mysteries by Grace Brophy that are very well done. One takes place in Assisi and one in Venice.

I love Donna Leon's books too. Also, Michael Dibdin's mystery/crime novels featuring Aurelio Zen are great. My husband and I have also read all of David Hewson's Italian crime novels with detective Nic Costa. Let's see, there's "Miss Garnet's Angel", by Salley Vickers, which is a little esoteric but gives lovely Venetian glimpses.

As for non-fiction, there's this one: "Travelers' Tales ITALY". This book of essays about various Italian towns and travelers' experiences is like a box of chocolates which I have been eating very slowly, but alas, just finished!

Oo, I loved "Miss Garnet's Angel"! Must re-read that one ...

I also enjoyed Paul Hofmann's books: "The Seasons of Rome" and "That Fine Italian Hand." An interesting one about the Vatican is "When in Rome" by Robert Hutchinson.