Since the list of fiction book suggestions was sooo popular, I'd like to narrow the focus to request books to read while just in Italy. Fiction or Non.
Perhaps:
The Agony and the Esctasy - by Irving Stone
Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes
Michelangelo and the Popes Ceiling - Ross King
When In Rome - Robert Hutchinson
The Raphael Affair - Iain Pears
Brunelleschi's Dome - Ross King
Thanks

The Italians by Luigi Barzini

Artemisia by ALexandra Lapierre

An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser

A Thousand Bells at Noon by G. Franco Romagnoli

Again, I recommend this website, which lists books other than mysteries: http://italian-mysteries.com/

And, I agree, BookChick. I really liked An Italian Affair.

I higly recommend An Italian Affair. Just finished Angels and Demons (I know, it's fiction) but it uses actual locations in Rome and I Loved It!

I like mysteries for planes, before bed, etc., and I just discovered Eng. writer Donna Leon this past weekend, who has a series of mysteries set in Venice. I read A Noble Radiance; good mystery!