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Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXITL609. Buy these 5 items as a set for $101 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Eyewitness Guide Italy

Eyewitness Guide Italy

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 720 PAGES

This superb guide features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country's attractions. (ITL32, $30.00)

La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind

La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind

by Beppe Severgnini

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

Italians themselves love this guide to the Italian character, which addresses the apparently never-ending passion for beauty, disorder and high emotion. Severgnini opens the book with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa Airport, then moves on to Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. (ITL718, $14.00)

Italy, Monuments Past and Present

Italy, Monuments Past and Present

by R.A. Staccioli

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 2003
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 78 PAGES

This informative volume shows Italy's most important monuments as they look today and, via overlaid illustrations, as they were once upon a time. The book surveys the history and archeological highlights of Pompeii, Rome and Sicily. (ITL455, $25.00)

Biba's Italy

Biba's Italy

by Biba Caggiano

  • FOOD
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Caggiano focuses on regional, seasonal food in this omnibus cookbook (featuring 100 recipes), menu planner and travel guide to Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan and Venice. Nicely produced, this handsome sepia-toned book includes recommended restaurants, cafes and markets in each city. (ITL777, $29.95)

Italy Map

Italy Map

by Borch Maps

  • 2011
  • MAP

A handy, laminated map. (ITL19, $11.95)

 
Eyewitness Guide Naples & Amalfi Coast

Eyewitness Guide Naples & Amalfi Coast


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This superb guide features color photography, dozens of excellent neighborhood maps and a district-by-district synopsis of the region's attractions. (ITL107, $25.00)

Fodor's Florence's 25 Best

Fodor's Florence's 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map and essential information on the city's highlights, including sightseeing, restaurants and shopping. (ITL140, $11.99)

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best

Fodor's Rome's 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes a map of the city and essential information on its highlights. (ITL112, $11.99)

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best

Fodor's Venice's 25 Best


by Citypack

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket guide includes an excellent map of the city center and essential information. (ITL106, $11.99)

The Food of Italy

The Food of Italy


by Waverly Root

  • FOOD
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 750 PAGES

Evocative of Italy and its diverse cuisine, this classic book, organized geographically, offers a cook's tour of the country. It's a well-informed and wonderful culinary guide. (ITL75, $22.00)

The Tuscan Year, Tuscan Life and Food in an Italian Valley

The Tuscan Year, Tuscan Life and Food in an Italian Valley


by Elizabeth Romer

  • FOOD
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 182 PAGES
  • FAVORITE
  • OUT OF PRINT

An intimate portrait of life on a Tuscan farm as seen primarily through the robust food and a Longitude favorite. Romer captures the goings-on in the countryside, and especially in the Cerotti kitchen, where traditional Tuscan rural food is prepared with loving care. Every chapter includes concisely described recipes. (ITL131, $14.00)

A Traveller's History of Italy

A Traveller's History of Italy


by Valerio Lintner

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 287 PAGES

A brief history of Italy through the 1990s -- wide-ranging, accessible and necessarily condensed. With a useful chronology and historical gazetteer, this book marches confidently through the centuries. (ITL86, $14.95)

Italy, A Short History

Italy, A Short History


by Harry Hearder

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 294 PAGES

Elegantly written, generous and informative, this compact book takes in the sweep of Italian history from the Roman Republic through the Renaissance, World War II and up to the present. (ITL56, $29.00)

La Bella Lingua

La Bella Lingua


by Dianne Hales

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES
  • NEW

Inebriated with the sounds of Italian, lovesick for its phrases and enamored of its earthy idioms, Hales, "a sensible woman of sturdy Polish stock," dives into the Italian of the piazza, literature, movies and streets in this charming memoir. (ITA26, $15.00)

The City of Florence, Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings

The City of Florence, Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings


by R.W.B. Lewis

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 350 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A vivid tour of the city and its riches by the fine biographer of Edith Wharton and Henry James. Lewis has written what he calls "a partial biography of Florence," beautifully interweaving the personal and the historical. (ITL47, $21.99)

The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall

The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall


by Christopher Hibbert

  • HISTORY
  • 1982
  • PAPER
  • 364 PAGES

A well-written, entertaining history of the Medicis in Renaissance Florence. Great to read before going to Florence, where the influence of the Medicis and the artists they supported is still very much in evidence. (ITL135, $16.99)

Italia, The Art of Living Italian Style

Italia, The Art of Living Italian Style


by Edmund Howard

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1997
  • HARD COVER
  • 192 PAGES

A beautifully illustrated tour of Italy's most characteristic and striking architecture, landscapes and design, with accompanying essays on each photograph. (ITL398, $40.00)

Renaissance Florence, The Invention of a New Art

Renaissance Florence, The Invention of a New Art


by A. Richard Turner

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

A cultural and social history of the city focusing on the great art and famous monuments, featuring vivid color pictures and illustrations. (ITL50, $40.80)

The Art of the Renaissance

The Art of the Renaissance


by Peter Murray

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 286 PAGES

A classic, illustrated survey of the world of the Renaissance and its art. With chapters on Florence and its artists, the Netherlands, early illustrated books and many individual artists. (ITL14, $18.95)

Italian Days

Italian Days


by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 479 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Grizzuti Harrison writes with warmth and depth of her journey from Milan south to Calabria in this sprightly account of Italy and the Italians. (ITL02, $15.00)

The World of Venice

The World of Venice


by Jan Morris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 315 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Morris displays her talent for research, anecdote and well-wrought prose in this spirited history of a beloved city. (ITL12, $18.95)

Venice Is a Fish

Venice Is a Fish


by Tiziano Scarpa

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

The hugely popular Venetian novelist, poet and playwright makes his English-language debut with these marvelously digressive essays on the many moods and pleasures of La Serenissima. (ITL964, $12.00)

Italy, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Italy, A Traveler's Literary Companion


by Lawrence Venuti

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

Not just a literary companion, this anthology is also a who's who of contemporary Italian writers that captures the spirit, history and allure of the country. (ITL466, $14.95)

Cabal

Cabal


by Michael Dibdin

  • MYSTERY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 241 PAGES

Zen is called to the Vatican to investigate the death of Prince Ludovico Ruspanti, who plunged from the roof of St. Peter's Basilica. (ITL620, $13.95)

Cosi Fan Tutti

Cosi Fan Tutti


by Michael Dibdin

  • MYSTERY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 247 PAGES

Romantic entanglements complicate the investigation of a murder in Naples in this installment of the enjoyable series. (ITL623, $13.95)

Death at La Fenice

Death at La Fenice


by Donna Leon

  • MYSTERY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 270 PAGES

The first of the tremendously good Guido Brunetti mysteries, all set in the author's beloved Venice, in which a famous conductor is found dead at the celebrated theater of the title. (ITL555, $13.99)

The Volcano Lover, A Romance

The Volcano Lover, A Romance


by Susan Sontag

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 419 PAGES

A steamy and evocative historical novel by social critic Sontag, set in 18th-century Naples. The sweeping story focuses on the British Ambassador to the King in Naples, his passionate and notorious love, and her infatuation with Lord Nelson. (ITL143, $16.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.