I love preparing for trips by reading fiction that takes place in the country - this year Italy - that we are going to. I've read a lot that are placed in ancient Rome, so would love to read some from the Middle ages, Renaissance, and more recent times (that take place then, not written then lol). any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

Look into books by Sarah Durant - has books set in Florence, Ferrara and Venice at least. I think a few more.

A Room with a View, Under the Tuscan Sun (a huge blech for me, but very popular), The Enchanted April, The Magic Mountain, Agostino, Tender Is the Night, The Leopard, Christ Stopped at Eboli, The Agony and the Ecstasy, If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, The Name of the Rose, Letters from the Palazzo Barbaro, Midnight in Sicily, Journey from Venice, The City of Falling Angels, The Things We Cherished, Beautiful Ruins....

And there's one the name of which I can't remember, a creepy tale of spring never coming on the Venetian islands.

There are dozens more, but that's all that my bookshelves and memory hold at the moment.

First, non-fiction by one of my favorite novelists, Shirley Hazzard, Greene on Capri, about her visits with friend Graham Greene. Also The Ancient Shore: Dispatches from Naples, which I haven't read yet but will.
Novels in Italy by Shirley Hazzard, The Bay of Noon, The Evening of the Holiday, Cliffs of Fall (stories, some in Italy).
Up at the Villa, By W. Somerset Maugham.
Across the River & Into the Trees, Ernest Hemingway.
Pandora, by Anne Rice, my favorite of her vampire stories, in Pompeii (yes, ancient Rome but uniquely).
Inspector Montalbano series, by Andrea Camilleri.

For 20th century novel: any of the Donna Leon mysteries set in Venice (lots of scene setting and character development, so the mystery itself is just a part of the book but not the main focus (to me).

I really like Graham Greene so would enjoy that book. I tend to read more nonfiction, at least when it is set in other countries. I've read some good nonfiction books about Italy.

but I'll add

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Bassani

The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

of course there are those crime novels set in Venice by Donna Leon for something lighter. I didn't care for the one I started, but a lot of others like them.

Tender is the Night only has a small Italian and Roman episode in it.

I would also suggest Portrait of a Lady (Henry James)

Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is just an incredible book. It's set during WWII.

Following up on the suggestion of Henry James, his travel essays, Italian Hours, is another piece of brilliant writing, but obviously commentary vs. fiction. James's Daisy Miller also partially takes place in Italy, and being a novella, is a pretty fast, but interesting read.

To go to the morbid . . . Mann's Death in Venice!

I don't think anyone suggested Henry Miller, they said Henry James, who is the one who wrote Italian Hours.

Christina. Fixed it. No idea why I was thinking James and wrote Miller (whose works kind of bored me).

Cry to Heaven (1982) Anne Rice set in 18th century Italy

Funny, I was just talking about that one this afternoon. A friend had seen the opera Aknaten a couple of days ago & the title role is sung by a contra or countertenor, which once-upon-a-time would have been a castrato's part. Now I've given it away.

wow, you all are awesome, all that in less than 24 hours. Happy to say I've already read some but had forgotten (loved Name of the Rose, and enjoyed early Donna Leon, will revisit) I saw the movies for Enchanted April and a Room with a View. I want to check out the Agony and the Ecstasy. I also loved the Roman detective books by Lindsay Davis and Stephen Saylor. This is great - I will visit the library this weekend and see what I can find!

Marlena di Blasi 's books, based on her life when she fell in love and moved to Italy, enjoyable!!

Parts of Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series are set in various parts of Italy - late 15th century.

MmePerdu~ I loved that book. Maybe not to everyone's taste but I found it magical, fascinating, original.

I agree. I believe it was the 2nd of hers I read, after Interview, and rather than "magical" for me it was a compelling story about an historical subject of which I was completely unaware, certainly fascinating & original.