I visited Italy earlier this summer – Florence, Pisa, Milan, and Venice. Before I go on a big trip like this, I like to find out more about the area I’m going to visit. And what better way to do that than reading? If you’re planning to head to any of these places in the future, or if you've already visited them and want to know more, or if you’re an armchair traveler that loves learning about Italy, then I recommend any of the books below!
| The Stones of Florence by Mary McCarthy This is a series of essays and travel narratives written in the 1960s. It gives a wonderful picture of what life was like in Florence 50 years ago, as well as a basic overview of Florentine history. There are certainly dated images – the telegraph boy on his bicycle – but those are part of the fun. And surprisingly little has changed since 1963. Find it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Better World Books |
| The Artist: the Philosopher, and the Warrior: The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped by Paul Strathern I run out of breath every time I say that title. But despite that, it’s really a fascinating book. Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia intersected for a few months in 1502, but the book covers a broader span than that. It gives you a picture of life, politics, art, science, and warfare in Renaissance Italy. What a scandalous time! Find it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Better World Books | 
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| Tilt: A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa by Nicholas Shrady I love this book for the cover alone. But to be perfectly fair, the words inside of it are good, too. Shrady follows the building and the leaning of the Tower of Pisa from its inception to its (temporary) salvation within the last decade. He does wander off topic for a chapter or two to cover the larger history of the city of Pisa (nothing wrong with this). It’s a short and sweet history of a fascinating and extraordinarily recognizable landmark. Find it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Better World Books |
| Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in the City of Masterpieces by Robert Clark The city of Florence flooded very badly in November of 1966. The water was twenty feet high in some places and brought with it trees and mud and everything else that washed downstream. Parts of many churches, museums, and the national library were underwater. Robert Clark does a wonderful job of bringing this disaster and its subsequent recovery to life through the stories of eyewitnesses. Find it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Better World Books | 
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| Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King This was my favorite book of all those I read to prepare for my trip. It was well-written, well-researched, and taught me a lot. More than five hundred years later, Brunelleschi’s dome is still the largest masonry dome in the world, and it was built without much of the knowledge and experience we have now. Brunelleschi even had to invent many of the machines used because nothing like them existed yet. Maybe it just goes to show how much of a nerd I am, but I found this book completely fascinating, and my engineer husband did as well. Find it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Better World Books |
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