Reading
The city bookshelf
Every book recommended in the city guides, in one list — a novel, a history and something practical for each stop on the network. Search it, filter it, and load your reader before the first Frecciarossa.
City
Region
36 books
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Mary Beard
The one history to read before the Forum. Sceptical, funny, and it makes the ruins legible.
Find a copyThe Woman of Rome
Alberto Moravia
1940s Rome from street level — the city behind the monuments.
Find a copyRick Steves Rome
Rick Steves
Still the most practical walking guide for a two- or three-day stop.
Find a copyThe Lives of the Artists
Giorgio Vasari
Gossip about the people whose work fills the Uffizi, written by someone who knew them.
Find a copyA Room with a View
E. M. Forster
Florence as the English discovered it. Reads in one Frecciarossa run from Rome.
Find a copyVenice: Pure City
Peter Ackroyd
A biography of the lagoon rather than a guidebook. Ideal for the causeway approach.
Find a copyThe City of Falling Angels
John Berendt
Modern Venice, the Fenice fire and the people who actually live there.
Find a copyDeath in Venice
Thomas Mann
Short enough for Milan–Venice, atmospheric enough to change the arrival.
Find a copyThe Betrothed
Alessandro Manzoni
The Italian national novel, set in Lombardy. Heavy going, wonderful company.
Find a copyLeonardo da Vinci
Walter Isaacson
Read the Last Supper chapters the night before your timed entry.
Find a copyMilan: The City of Fashion
Various
Design, Novecento architecture and where to look beyond the Duomo.
Find a copyMy Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante
The best possible preparation for arriving at Napoli Centrale.
Find a copyPompeii: The Life of a Roman Town
Mary Beard
Read it on the Circumvesuviana and the site stops being rubble.
Find a copyThe Moon and the Bonfires
Cesare Pavese
Piedmont's hills and its returning emigrant. Quiet and devastating.
Find a copyThe Periodic Table
Primo Levi
Turin, chemistry and survival, by the city's greatest writer.
Find a copyThe Food of Italy: Piedmont
Waverley Root
Why the truffles, the Barolo and the vermouth all come from here.
Find a copyThe Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco
Bologna's own professor, and the best medieval novel there is.
Find a copyBologna: Italy's Best-Kept Culinary Secret
Andrew Cotto
A food-first portrait of the city under the porticoes.
Find a copyThe Merchant of Venice & Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
Both Veneto plays in one volume, for the Arena interval.
Find a copyBarolo to Valpolicella
Nicolas Belfrage
The northern wine regions the Verona trains run through.
Find a copyThe Talented Mr Ripley
Patricia Highsmith
Trains, coastlines and menace. Perfect for the Ligurian run.
Find a copyGenoa: A Sonnet Written in Stone
Charles Fitzroy
The republic that outfitted Columbus, told through its palazzi.
Find a copyPesto: The Cookbook
Roberta Schira
Liguria on a plate, and why the basil is different here.
Find a copyMidnight in Sicily
Peter Robb
Food, art and the mafia, and how they turned out to be one story.
Find a copySicily: A Literary Guide for Travellers
Andrew and Suzanne Edwards
A place-by-place companion for island rail days.
Find a copyPalio: The Race of the Soul
Alan Dundes
The contrade, the horses and the rules nobody writes down.
Find a copyA Traveller in Italy
H. V. Morton
Tuscany in the classic mid-century mode, still hard to beat.
Find a copyUnder the Tuscan Sun
Frances Mayes
The book that sent everyone here. Worth reading on the bus up from the station.
Find a copyThe Sea and Sardinia
D. H. Lawrence
Southern crossings and short tempers. The right register for Puglia.
Find a copyBook links are Amazon affiliate links; they cost you nothing extra. For the country-wide reading list — history, food and phrasebooks — see the Italian bookshelf.