This year I read "I'm Not Scared". I am sorry that I can not remember the author's name. He is an Italian and this book has been translated into many languages. Also made into a movie but only shown in major cities so do not know how good the movie is. It is out on DVD now so plan to rent it.

The story takes place in southern Italy in 1978. Perhaps I enjoyed it more than others might because we drove through southern Italy in 1978 (from Naples to Bari) so it was interesting to visualize the description of the scenery, the small villages etc.

I forgot about the fantastic Donna Leon mysteries that are set in Venice and feature Commissario Guido Brunetti. These are my favorite mysteries right now and make you feel like you're reading in Venice. Most of the series is available in Europe but the ones available in the United States are:

Noble Radiance
Acqua Alta
Uniform Justice

They are so much fun!

What a great source of information!!!

It is fun to read books that take place where one is famaliar.

Just read Too Much Tuscan Sun this weekend and laughed almost til I cried in some parts. Great read!

Robert Hellenga has another book besides the one mentioned above, Vaporetto 13 I believe the title is.

Cry to Heaven a classic by Anne Rice.

I loved "Evening Class" by Maeve Binchy. You get Ireland and Italy..what could be better? It is about an Italian class at a community college in Ireland. The class is taught by an Irish woman who has spent the last 26 years in Italy. It follows eight different classmates and the teachers stories and culminates in a trip to Italy.

For a light novel, try Food of Love by Anthony Capella about a young American and a Roman chef.

Mary2GO, Evening Class, yes wasn't that a great book!!! Have you read all the other books written by Maeve Binchy? She has written several and I have enjoyed all of them. But liked Evening Class the best.

Just finished "The Confessor" by Daniel Silva, a mystery thriller, much of it taking place in Italy (Venice, Rome, The Vatican) along with a few other European locations. Highly recommend this if your a fan of this genre (i.e. Dan Brown fans should like Silva's novels).

Thanks for this thread. Just went to the library and picked up "Miss Garnet's Angel." I'll read that next.

FYI "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" has just been released. Sequel to "A Thousand Days in Venice."

"A Kiss from Maddelena" Christopher Castenllani--a love story set in WWII Italy in the Abruzzi.
And the Aurelio Zen mysteries by Michael Diblin, British author, Each one is set in a different area of Italy.

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Just finished reading "Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant, a wonderful book set in Florence during 1500's. Per addl threads asking about books to read, I've seen several others have also enjoyed this novel.

Don't know where you were in Italy, but I have a couple of favorites. I am now reading the recently re-issued H.V. Morton's A TRAVELER IN ROME. He wrote in the 1950's about his sojourn there. It is full of history told in anecdotal fashion, so it's not dry. It brings me back to my recent days in Rome, as I read a bit every night before I go to sleep.
For a look at Tuscany during WWII, Iris Origo's wonderful THE WAR IN THE VAL D'ORCIA cannot be beat. She and her husband hid American soldiers and partisans in their woods, and saved the lives of many Italian orphans, even to walking them up a long "stradale bianca" to Montepulciano to hide them in a church basement.
This is a great thread! thanks.

topping

Don't forget all the wonderful films to enhance your memories :)

Hill Towns, by Anne Rivers Siddons.

Cigalechanta, here's one of the many threads about movies set in Italy: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=4239003

Now, on to the books....

Not a novel, but best I've read on Italy: H.V. Morton's "A Traveller in Italy".

"Tuscany for Beginners" by Imogen Edwards-Jones. (Which I am liking so much I started a whole thread about it yesterday. :-) ) Hilarious!

Here's one I'm sure I neglected to mention previously, because I'm just reading it now (SLOWLY in Italian) for the first time: I Promessi Sposi (The Betrotheed) by Alessandro Manzoni.

topping for the peson looking for literature set in Italy