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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.

Books relating to Italy
The Golden Honeycomb
The Italian
On the Spine of Italy: a Year in the Abbruzzi
Venice
Villa Fortuna
Notes from an Italian Garden
The Land and People of Italy (The Land and People Series)
Italy : The Places in Between
A Valley in Italy : The Many Seasons of a Villa in Umbria
Red, White & Greens : The Italian Way With Vegetables
Rome : The Biography of a City
Summers Lease
A History of Contemporary Italy : Society and Politics, 1943-1988 (Penguin History)
Torregreca : Life, Death, Miracles
Women of the Shadows : A Study of the Wives and Mothers of Southern Italy
Within Tuscany/Reflections on a Time and Place
On Painting (Penguin Classics)
Pictures from Italy (Penguin Classics)
Italian Hours (Penguin Classics)
Italian Journey {1786-1788} (Penguin Classics)
The Lives of the Artists Volume 1
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Penguin Classics)
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (Penguin Classics)
D.H. Lawrence and Italy : Twilight in Italy, Sea and Sardinia, Etruscan Places (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
Stones of Florence
Venice Observed
The World of Venice (A Harvest Book)
Michelangelo : Life, Letters, and Poetry (Oxford World's Classics)
The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy
Sicily and the Unification of Italy : Liberal Policy and Local Power 1859-1866
Italian Cultural Studies : An Introduction
Italian Cultural Studies : An Introduction
Vidal in Venice
The Stones of Venice
A Literary Companion to Venice (1995)
The Italian House
The Antimafia : Italy's Fight Against Organized Crime
A Sweet and Glorious Land : Revisiting the Ionian Sea
North of Naples, South of Rome
Italy for the Gourmet Traveler
Recipes from Paradise : Life and Food on the Italian Riviera
Italian Journeys
Greene on Capri : A Memoir
A Tuscan Childhood
Midnight in Sicily (Vintage Departures)
An Italian Education : The Further Adventures of an Expatriate in Verona
The Sixteen Pleasures: A Novel
The Hills of Tuscany : A New Life in an Old Land
The New Italian Republic : From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi
Italian Neighbors Or, a Lapsed Anglo-Saxon in Verona
Desiring Italy
The Lessons of St. Francis : How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality into Your Daily Life
The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany
The Heart of Sicily : Recipes and Reminiscences of Regaleali, a Country Estate
A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge Concise Histories)
The Cambridge History of Italian Literature
In God's Name : An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I
The Prince
The Last Italian : Portrait of a People (Destinations Book)
Florence : A Portrait
A History of Venice
The Leopard
On Persephone's Island : A Sicilian Journal (Vintage Departures)
Italy in Mind : An Anthology (Vintage Departures)
Italians
The Secret Book of Grazia Dei Rossi : A Novel
The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall
Eating in Italy: A Traveler's Guide to the Hidden Gastronomic Pleasures of Northern Italy
As the Romans Do : The Delights, Dramas, and Daily Diversions of Life in the Eternal City
The new Italians
Mattanza: Love and Death in the Sea of Sicily
Under the Tuscan Sun : At Home in Italy
Bella Tuscany : The Sweet Life in Italy
In Tuscany
The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro
Siena Summer (Thorndike Large Print General Series) [LARGE PRINT]
A House in Sicily
A Garden in Lucca : Finding Paradise in Tuscany
A Garden in Lucca : Finding Paradise in Tuscany
The Etruscan Cities and Rome
Cento Citta : A Guide to the 'Hundred Cities & Towns' of Italy
That Fine Italian Hand
The Sunny Side of the Alps : Year-Round Delights in South Tyrol and the Dolomites
The City of Florence : Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings
The Umbria : Italy's Timeless Heart
My Venice
Living, Studying and Working in Italy : Everything You Need to Know to Fulfill Your Dreams of Living Abroad
The Seasons of Rome : A Journal
The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance
By the Ionian Sea : Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy (Marlboro Travel Series)
Old Calabria (Marlboro Travel)
Conversations in Sicily
The Hill Towns of Italy
The Italian Way : Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs of the Italians
On the Road Around Northern Italy : Driving Holidays and Tours in Tuscany, Umbria, the Italian Lakes and Riviera, Veneto and the South Tyrol
A Time in Rome
The Italian Guillotine
Enchanted Liguria : A Celebration of the Culture, Lifestyle and Food of the Italian Riviera
Hidden Tuscany : Unusual Destinations and Secret Places
Love And War in the Apennines
The Tuscan Year : Life and Food in an Italian Valley
Mother Tongue : An American Life in Italy
Italian Days
The Light in the Piazza and Other Italian Tales (Banner Books)
Pomp and Sustenance : Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food
Eating and Drinking in Italy
Venetian Life
Italian Hilltowns
Buying a Home in Italy (Buying a Home Series)
Italy Fever: 14 Ways to Satisfy Your Love Affair with Italy
The Golden Milestone: Over 2500 Years of Italian Contributions to Civilization (2nd Edition)
Culture Shock!: Italy
Sicilian Carousel
Ruskin's Venice : The Stones Revisited
Live & Work in Italy (Live & Work Abroad Guides)
About Sicily: Travellers in an Ancient Island
Rome and a Villa
Passport Italy : Your Pocket Guide to Italian Business, Customs & Etiquette (Passport to the World)
Travelers' Tales Italy
The Companion Guide to Sicily (Companion Guides)
Guide to Artistic Italy