Extended Top10 Italian Books
With a large contribution from the readers, I’m pleased to present an extended version of my Top10 Italian Books that lists some of the most rewarding Italian writers.
I have previously shared my favourite books set in Italy, and now I continue my listmania with some highly recommendable Italian reads. The list is extended regularly with reader’s suggestions, so don’t hesitate to chip in, if your favourite novel by an Italian author is not on the list. All titles contain Amazon links.
I still look forward to hearing your views and further recommendations.
Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy should naturally top this list due to its status in as one of the greatest works in Italian and world literature. The rhymed narrative poem was completed in 1320, it helped to shape the Italian language and preserve a medieval world-view for the afterlife. The Divine Comedy describes Dante’s travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. A true classic.
Alessandro Manzoni: The Betrothed
The first Italian novel is a 17 century love story of Renzo and Lucia who are prevented from marrying and forced to flee by a cruel tyrant on a backdrop of war, revolution, religion and disease. In Italy, ‘The Betrothed’ holds almost the same status as the writings of Dante and it is generally considered one of the greatest European historical novels.
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: The Leopard: A Novel
A brilliant novel about the Italian unification and the destruction of nobility set in small town Sicily. I love the description of the sumptuous meal and the popular quote saying: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”
Ernesto de Martino: The Land of Remorse
If you are attached to Puglia, Ernesto de Martino’s land of remorse is a must read. The book was originally an anthropological field-study into the rites, the origins and the social importance of the tarantella and Tarantism with women dancing themselves into a trance to prevent death from a spider bites.
Guido Piovene: Viaggio in Italia
In 1957 journalist Guido Piovene toured Italy, describing the vast regional differences and local characteristics. The book still gives a pretty accurate picture of modern Italy, but unfortunately it hasn’t been translated into English, so it is only relevant for those who want to practice their Italian.
Umberto Eco:The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
With ‘The Name of the Rose’, Umberto Eco, became an international household name. The novel disguised semiotic philosophy as crime-fiction on Medieval monastic life which in itself is an outstanding achievement. Yet I’d also like to recommend his Mysterious Flame that through loads of illustrations investigates how – in this case Italian – popular culture defines personality.
Elsa Morante: Arturo’s Island
I prefer Elsa Morante to her more famous husband Alberto Moravia, because of her descriptions of southern Italy. Arturo is a great novel about a boy growing up in the shadow of a penitentiary on the island Procida in the Bay of Naples.
Dario Fo: My First Seven Years (Plus a Few More)
If you like Dario Fo and his anarchistic comic mysteries based on the commedia dell’arte tradition, you’ll love his only novel. The rambling and highly entertaining narrative recounts chosen passages from Fo’s youth and the history of Italy.
Niccolo Ammaniti: I’m Not Scared
Ammaniti may not be in the same league as the writers above, but he is one of the most translated and popular contemporary Italian writer and an easy, entertaining read. I particularly liked the Basilicata backdrop of this novel, while ‘Steal You Away’ takes place somewhere north of Rome.
Roberto Saviano: Gomorrah
Gomorrah is one of the books you have to admire for the whistle blower’s courage to expose the workings of the mafia, but I found the novel a drag to get through. In the same genre I much prefer Giancarlo De Cataldo’s ‘Terroni’ from 1995 describing power by television at a time before Berlusconi had refined his political carreer. Unfortunately, it is only available in Italian.
Andrea Camilleri: The Terra-Cotta Dog
Inspector Montalbano has gained millions of fans all over the world with his ability to solve crime in a highly pleasing Sicilian setting. Great entertainment with an Italian touch.
Ignazio Silone: The Abruzzo Trilogy
Though an avid reader it took me a while to get through these tree autobiographic books about the struggle of life in Abruzzo during Mussolini’s reign. The first book is captivating and memorable, but then the story stalls and becomes too black and white for my taste. But I understand, why it’s a must-read for descendants of Abruzzo and Molise immigrants.
Elena Ferrante: My Brilliant Friend: 1
The Neapolitan Novels of which ‘My Brilliant Friend’ is the first have placed this mysterious Italian writer on top of the international agenda. The well-tuned story of two intelligent girls growing up in Naples give a fascinating insight into an often violent and repressive culture. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
Cesare Pavese: The moon and the bonfires
The story of a man, who returns to Italy from California after the Second World War. He contemplates repatriation and wants to find out what has happened in his native village during the years of Fascism. The village, which is allegedly Santo Stefano Belbo in Piedmont, hides a dramatic story of betrayal and reprisal.
Luigi Barzini: The Italians
An attempt to portrait the Italian national character with all its qualities and imperfections by the journalist and politician Luigi Barzani. The book was first published in 1964, but the description of the Italian way of living and thinking still rings true.
Mariolina Venezia: Been Here a Thousand Years
A portray of five generations of the Falcone family, who live in an ancient Italian hill town normally identified as Grottole near Matera in Basilicata. The family’s complicated, funny, tragic, and astonishing stories, takes us through a century and a half of Italy’s tumultuous history.
Mario Rigoni Stern: The Story of Tonle
A shepherd, smuggler fugitive struggling around Asiago in the mountains of Veneto before and during the First World War. The war leads to the occupation and final destruction of the village.
Italo Calvino: If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
An experimental collection of ten texts with different plots and styles interrupted at a moment of suspense. A male and a female reader are brought together in their quest to pursue the unfinished story lines.
Margaret Mazzantini: Don’t Move
A surgeon faced with the choice between a life of passion with an unpolished, working-class mistress or the predictable conformity of upper middle-class family life.
Primo Levi: The Periodic Table
The story of the Piedmontese Jewish community seen through the eyes of a young chemist in the years leading up to the Second Word War. The book is structured as 21 short stories and each story is connected to one of the elements in the periodic table.
Other novels by Primo Levi, such as If this is a Man and The Truce about the Holocaust experience also deserve a recommendation.
Ignazio Silone: The Secret of Luca
The protagonist returns to his native village near L’Aquila after 40 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The villagers still hold him responsible, until they learn why he did not defend himself during the trial.
Giovanni Verga: Cavalleria Rusticana and Other Stories
Colourful stories from Sicily that capture the modest life of the rural population around the turn of the previous century. Verga was first translated by D.H. Lawrence and he is often mentioned as one of the great Italian novelists.
Stefano Benni: Margherita Dolce Vita
A humorous satire about a fifteen-year-old girl and her family living on the borders of civilization. The magic realism makes it possible to confront such issues as consequences of unchecked consumerism and environmental degradation.
Alberto Moravia: Boredom
The story of a failed artist of a rich family who becomes infatuated with a young model. The novel examines the complex relations between power, money and sex. Other recommended novels by Alberto Moravia include The Lie and Time of Indifference.
The list has been updated with more reader suggestions in November 2017
Please don’t hesitate to add your suggestion of books and novels that should be included in the Top10 Italian Books.
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Fantastic list, Mette. I’ve read a few of those you highlight but not all. The Abruzzo trilogy has just moved to the top of my must-read list. I would add the poems of Cesare Pavese. Grazie! Thank you for sharing this list.
Thanks for the addition, Domenica. I hadn’t thought of the Pavese poems, but it’s sure something I’ll check out. Like ‘The Italians’ by Luigi Barzini which has been recommended to me on Twitter.
I love your number 2; “Cristo si é fermato ad Eboli”…it´s an amazing story about poor, hard working village people and the way Levi describes them makes them come alive.
Alessandro Manzoni, “The Betrothed”
Great choice. I can assure you that the majority of Italians do not even know the existence of some of these books, unfortunately. I would like to suggest you authors as Mariolina Venezia ‘Mille anni che sto qui’ and Mario Rigoni Stern ‘Storia di Tonle’.
Thanks for the feedback, and for the suggestion. I will definitely add Manzoni, Mariolina Venezia and Mario Rigoni Stern to my reading list.
I’d add Italo Calvino to the list. I adore all his book but, if I have to choose one, I’d recommend you read “Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore”
Thanks. I’ve always thought of Italo Calvino as too depressive for me, but now I’ll give the winter night traveler a go.
Where is ‘Non ti muovere’ ???
Maybe I should give Margaret Mazzantini’s text a try, but I didn’t really like the film very much. In spite of the beautiful Penélope Cruz.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi is wonderful. It’s a book of 21 short stories, each of which is connected to one of the elements in the periodic table. Primo Levi was a Jewish intellectual, novelist, poet, chemist and Holocaust survivor. I’ve read most of the books on your list and all are great but I believe this one is of comparable quality.
Sounds wonderful. It’s already on the top of my wishlist.
Tim Parks’ books on life in Italy!
And as a small antipasto of very short anecdotes on my life in Italy called ’15 Italian Experiences – Living ‘la dolce vita’
Thank you for the addition.
This is a great list! I have read The Leopard and Christ Stopped at Eboli, and I’ve been wanting to read more Italian books. I haven’t heard of most of these others. I am interested in Puglia, so The Land of Remorse sounds great. I am also intrigued by the Abruzzo trilogy because part of my family is from there, and I’d like to learn more. But many of the others sound interesting too.
Glad you like it, and please help to update the list, if you read something recommendable.
I’m from Abruzzo and I think Ignazio Silone is the writer who best describes the mentality of people of Abruzzo. Congratulations to remind him. Among his books I would recommend “Il Segreto di Luca”, that probably in English is something like “Luca’s secret”. I always thought that the judges of a famous crime case in Abruzzo in the ’90s probably did not read it.
Thank you for adding the local perspective. That’s interesting to know. I haven’t read ‘Il Segreto di Luca’ but I’ll look for it next time I get the chance.
In Altre Parole by Jhumpa Lahiri. For someone like myself who is an intermediate level Italian reader. I loved her passion for the Italian language.
I’ll definitely include it in my list Favourite books set in Italy. I’ve read other recommendable novels by Jhumpa Lahiri, so I’m sure it’s well-written. And I can absolutely relate to the never-ending language struggles too.
Hi Mette, good morning.
I’m just starting with my Italian courses and I love to read, so I was lucky to stumble into this post. If you happen to know some bands/musicians I can look up please let me know, I lean more towards the rock scene so it will be great if they fall into that category, but it’s not really important as long as it is good music.
Thank you for the recommendations, I look forward to reading them.
Italy music is more pop than rock, but Vasco Rossi, Jovanotti, Ligabue and Negroamaro know how to handle an electric guitar. And some of these
pop songs are pretty irresistible, if you ask me. And the lyrics are clearly enunciated.
I would suggest Primo Levi Se questo è un uomo e La Tregua
They are masterpieces about Holocaust but all of Levi production is worth of reading
I agree. When they haven’t been included it’s because I get so depressed reading about Holocaust. But its an important subject and great writing so of course they should be on the next update of the list. Along with Cesare Pavese’s “La luna e i falò” which has just been suggested on Twitter.
I Malavoglia G. Verga #Classic #Italianliterature full of tradition, family and power of the nature… and Margherita Dolcevita S.Benni Very interesting point of view… suggested by @LaCasinaRavenna on Twitter.
ANDREA LEE – Lost Hearts in Italy
Haven’t heard about that one. Can’t wait to read it. Thank you for the addition to the top 10 list of Italian books.
You have disappointed me by not adding to the list (at least one) three of Moravia’s novels, La Attenzion, Boredom and Time of indifference. I have almost all his work in my personal library, after spending lots of money and the huge amount of time while searching to possess them. All of them I have read at least twice. And novel ‘1934’ made me too much euphoric that last month I traveled to Capri from India and have been to all those places described in the novel. Umberto Eco and Moravia are two geniuses who represent Italy in World Literature.I hope you will add at least one to the list.
Thank you for all your suggestions. I’d be pleased to add Moravia to the list, though the short stories I have read are too experimental for my taste. But with your warm recommendations, I’m ready to give the novels a try:)
Thank you, Mette. I may be little biased being a fan of Moravia but do try reading 1934, I am sure you would like it. Thanks again.
I can’t believe that one of the best novels I have ever read in Italian or any other language has been omitted from this list. Where on earth is Dino Buzzati’s “Il Deserto dei Tartari” (translated into English as “The Tartar Steppe”)? Come on, this is a masterpiece!
The problem is that I haven’t read everything. So I’m kind of depending upon the kind advice of other readers like you:) So thanks a lot for the recommendation. “The Tartar Steppe” sounds phenomenal, and I’ll make sure to include it in the next update of the list.
Carlo Emilio Gadda, That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana
Thank you so much for the addition. Can’t wait to read it:)
Hi! I don’t know if you have read it until this point, since a lot of time has passed, but I recommend “Lessico Famigliare”, by Natalia Ginsburg, “I’m Giardino dei Finzi-Contini”, by Giorgio Bassani, anything from Luigi Pirandello (but especially “Uno, Nessuno e Centomila”, “Il Fu Mattia Pascal” and “Sei Personaggi in Cerca d’Autore”), “La Coscienza do Zeno”, by Italo Svevo, the poetry of Eugenio Montale and Umberto Saba, etc.
Thank you so much. I’ve read Pirandello, but forgot to include him here, and I’ll look very much forward to getting acquainted with the others. They will all be included in the next update of the list:)
Good evening.
Some tips about the authors from Veneto ( like Guido Piovene and Mario Rigoni Stern ): “Il prete bello” by Goffredo Parise ( picaresque adventures in Vicenza during Fascism years ) and “Libera nos a Malo” by Luigi Meneghello, written in Italian, Vicenza dialect and English: a hard reading if you are not from Veneto.
Thanks a lot. I love it every time someone suggests new books to add to this list, although the – what I take to be – ‘Free us from the evil’ will probably prove too hard for me to read in Italian.
The title “Libera nos a Malo” is a word pun: Luigi Meneghello was born in Malo, a village in northern Vicenza country; he was a partisan during the Second World War, then he taught Italian literature at the Reading University in England.
In “Libera nos a Malo” he remembers his childhood and the life of his village, so he uses dialect, Italian and English. A great book.
He wrote also “I piccoli maestri” about his experience as a partisan.
Bye.
Sonia.
How interesting and thank you so much Sonia for calling my attention to Luigi Maneghello. I’m definitely going to give his books a try:)