TripFiction armchair travel by book – ITALY

27th April 2020

TripFiction armchair travel by book – Italy.

We may all still be confined to quarters for a while, but TripFiction is here to help you travel vicariously through books with a strong sense of place. The TripFiction team have been trawling through their database of thousands of books – novels, memoirs and travelogues – and hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve dug up to help you get through these difficult times.

ITALY

We have nearly 700 books set in Italy. Check out our Great Books Map for some top 5 or 10 #LiteraryWanderlust suggestions set in some of the best known Italian cities and regions. But get off the beaten track and hunt down a few books set in more quirky places around this bellissimo country. Here are a few ideas to get you exploring with a book…

Procida (Bay of Naples) – Arturo’s Island by Elsa Morante

On a remote island in the Bay of Naples, a young boy roams the shore with only his dog for company. Arturo’s mother died in childbirth and his wayward father Wilhelm rarely returns to the island. Left in isolation, he dreams up a world of romantic exploits in which his father sails the seas like the heroes in his favourite stories.

When Wilhelm suddenly reappears with his new young wife Nunziata, Arturo’s imagined world bursts apart, and he falls in passionate, tormented love. As Wilhelm’s behaviour grows increasingly erratic, Arturo must begin to face the reality of his father’s life, and of his own feelings.

A deeply affecting tale of childhood disenchantment, Arturo’s Island is a work of stunning emotional force by one of modern Italian literature’s foremost writers.

Buy Now

Orvieto (Umbria) – The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club by Marlena de Blasi

Every week on a Thursday evening, a group of four Italian rural women gather in a derelict stone house in the hills above Italy’s Orvieto. There – along with their friend, Marlena – they cook together, sit down to a beautiful supper, drink their beloved local wines, and talk.

Here, surrounded by candle light, good food and friendship, Miranda, Ninucia, Paolina and Gilda tell their life stories of loves lost and found, of ageing and abandonment, of mafia grudges and family feuds, and of cherished ingredients and recipes whose secrets have been passed down through the generations. Around this table, these five friends share their food and all that life has offered them – the good and the bad.

Buy Now

Isola di Ortigia (Sicily) – The Golden Tide by John Guy

Green activist Simone struggles with her beliefs when she meets journalist Michiel, who shows her how an oil spill threatening Sicily is a bonanza for many locals.

Compensation and clean-up money floods into the community, creating conflicts between politicians, the oil company, environmentalists and locals. Simone and Michiel fight to save the coastline, putting them into a tense and dangerous confrontation with powerful forces which have a different agenda.

Buy Now

Alto Adige (South Tyrol) – Eva Sleeps by Francesca Melandri

40-year-old Eva receives an unexpected message from Calabria, Italy. Vito is ill and would like to see her one more time. A retired police officer, he was stationed in South Tyrol during the 1960s, troubled years of tension and violence. Troubles that did not stop a young officer from falling in love with the wrong woman, the beautiful Gerda Huber, single mother and sister of a terrorist.

Their affair was a passionate one, but what was the nature of their love? And if he loved her so profoundly, why did he return to Calabria? It’s time for Eva to find out.

Buy Now

Gemmano (Emilia-Romagna) – Gemmano by David Will

Northern Italy, 1944: Gemmano is on the front lines of the battle for the Gothic Line, trapped between German occupation and the allied advance, as shell after shell rains down on the village.

Eighteen year old Toni Mazzanti has always been considered ‘odd’ by the villagers, but as the battle rages and he comes to terms with his personal and spiritual development, his talents come to be viewed as gifts.

With his new found confidence Toni increasingly emerges as a village leader, aided by Lorenzo Bergamas, a young Italian soldier returning from the Front.

Covering a period of ten days, Gemmano is a compelling and inspiring story of people caught powerless in their own land, told from the perspective of two young Italian men.

Buy Now

We hope these off-the-beaten track books set in Italy help you escape for a little while. Let us know what other quirky places you’ve heard of around the country, and check out our database for any books set there.

And if this has whetted your appetite for books with a strong sense of place, please sign up to become a TripFiction member for access to our monthly newsletter, the TripFiction Book Club, special benefits and much more

The TripFiction Team

Join us on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)

Subscribe to future blog posts