La dolce vita

The Leopard - Giuseppe di Lampedusa

Widely regarded as Italy's greatest novel, di Lampedusa's only work combines insider knowledge of Italian politics with a perfectly developed narrative. The Prince is seen as a perfect example of virtue within a system so corrupt it can no longer contain itself. Featuring the reunification's most important characters as well as some of fiction's greatest creations this is a book that is best read in the most luxurious of conditions.

Across the River and into the Trees - Ernest Hemingway

Perhaps the book that goes furthest in describing Italy's appeal. A veteran war colonel spends his remaining days travelling through Italy's countryside with Jackson, his young, enthusiastic army driver who asks him about its beauty, to which the Colonel obliges. Written with supreme authority of content and delivery Across the River was one of the late, great, mellow Hemingway books which inspired his Nobel Prize.

The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith

One of crime fiction's most enthralling reads, the movie's brilliance does the book little justice as Ripley and Greenleaf's time in Rome is expanded, seeming to create one of literature's great bromances. Afterwards, however, it turns dark and Ripley travels through Italy avoiding legal officials and all kinds of interested parties. The story would be good enough but Highsmith's literary brilliance ensures that its prose teases the reader until its very end.

The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie

Exploring links between Renaissance-era Florence and India. Enchantress is magnificently detailed, elegantly written and wonderfully captivating. Salman Rushdie clearly enjoyed research for this book and it is shown in the novel's minutiae. Although far less controversial than "The Satanic Verses", it is every bit as well written and planned as magic and beauty are combined both in text and imagery.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.