Books on Italy can be found through virtualitalia.com and Italy in a Flash (note: I am not in any way affiliated with, nor endorse, these sites, they were merely two convenient resources that seemed to take the subject matter seriously).

The following list of books were examined while travelling through Italy in late 2000, and are available from Amazon.

My trip began in the Lombardia of June 2000: Milano, thence via. Verona, Vicenza and Padova to Venezia in the Veneto - with a temporary 4 week return to the UK. From there, across Emilia-Romagna via. Ferrara, Ravenna, Rimini, Bologna, Modena, Reggio de Emilia, Parma, Piacenza to Milano (again) and Torino in Piemonte. From Torino to Liguria: Genova, Portfolio, and along the coast to San Remo, then back to Spezia and the Cinque Terra. Thence around Toscana, via. Pisa, Firenze, San Gimignano, and Siena. From there to Urbino in Marche (briefly) and back Perugia, Asissi, and Orvieto. Finally, reaching Lazio and the eternal city of Roma, and surrounds such as Tivoli. From Roma to Campania: Napoli, Pompeii, Amalfi, Salerno, Ravello, and Paestum along with their friends. By ferry to Sicilia: Palermo, Trapani, Segesta, Marsala, Agrigento, Enna, Ragusa, Siracusa, Catania, Taorimina and Messina: not to mention the excursion to Lipari. From Messina back to Roma - by then it was September 2000, and finally to Barcelona overnight.

During this journey, I collected and read these works (many book stores have an english language section, and there are speciality english stores in Roma). By the time of my return to Roma, I was carrying more than 20kg of additional load in the way of books that I parcel posted home. They are now a treasured part of my library.

It was a fantastic experience to not only see the real Italy, but to experience it through the eyes of others: especially those eyes that are more capable than I of sensing and capturing their experiences into the written form. I recall vividly the scenes from Midnight in Sicily, played out around me as I wandered Palermo and Napoli. I strongly recommend that any traveller to Italy choose a few of these works, and I await the day when technology will make this experience possible for all travellers in all places.