Books on Italy and on the restoration of property

This is what we have on our shelves. Use the link in the text to visit Amazon UK to read more or to buy a copy.

On buying property and living in Italy

Live and work in Italy - Victoria Pybus & Huw Francis. Readable and reasonably up-to-date (Jun 2002) guide to living in Italy with good contact information including useful website links. The section on buying property is very good indeed.

Buying a home in Italy - David Hampshire. You might find, unless you are personally convinced of the superiority of the British way of life (in which case why do you want to buy this book?) that the style is rather grating. If can you ignore this, the strange typesetting and incredibly unamusing cartoons the book is not without merit mainly due to its tendency to dive off into interesting minor detail passed over in other works. However it is a little dated and in need of revision. For example:

"Residence confers a number of important rights, such as buying and operating a car in Italy with Italian registration and sending your children to a state school."

All of which are totally incorrect because you can - and we have - done both of these things without having residence and without breaking any laws.

We do still recommend this book as it does have a wealth of useful detail. I would, as does the author (to his credit) suggest you check any information you get from this book very carefully before using it as the basis of any major decisions.

Personal experiences of living in Italy

Tuscan Living: From the Yorkshire Moors to the Tuscan Hills - Sarah Frazer's (one of our previous clients) story of olive farming and holiday lets in Pescia. From the C4 series.

Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes. An American poet's view of Tuscany and property renovation. We each see what we want to see and Mayes sees a happy, but primitive, land of ancient olive trees under a scorching blue sky, populated with jolly, but backward, peasants who all want to be her friends. Fantastic escapist reading if you've never had the pleasure of living in rural Italy, unrecognisable if you have, which makes it somewhat dubious as a guide.

Bella Tuscany - Frances Mayes. Sequel to the above although around 50% isn't about Tuscany. No-one seems to knows why it isn't called either Bella Toscana or Beautiful Tuscany. The Italian translation is called Beautiful Toscana. I believe Italians think it's supposed to be funny! Don't miss Amazon's review of this book!

A Small place in Italy - Eric Newby. English writer and wife renovate a north Tuscan farmhouse in the 1960's. If you like Newby's other work you'll like this one too. As a practical guide, it's a little dated but as it's the one that convinced us to buy a house we have a soft spot for it.

A Valley in Italy - Lisa St Auban de Teran. Another English writer, this time restoring a ruined palazzo in Umbria. Again, if you like other work by this author (we do) you'll probably like this. An excellent read and while probably not hugely useful to anyone considering buying a house in Italy, neither is it so far divorced from reality as the works by Mayes.

The Hills of Tuscany - Ferenc Mate. New Yorker and beautiful wife renovate Tuscan castle. Like Mayes it's beautiful to read, but bears little relation to reality, at least while sober.

Extra Virgin - Annie Hawes - at last, a book that tells it like it is! Hawes buys, for a pittance, an abandoned olive grove in Liguria, makes all of the usual mistakes, and slowly learns what it's like to live in a small Italian rural community. Five stars!

Ripe for the Picking - Annie Hawes - The sequel to Extra Virgin.

Italian Neighbours - Tim Parks. How to negotiate with your neighbours and find the perfect local bar. Unmissable if you want to understand how small town Italy really works.

An Italian Education - Sequel to the above and also very highly recommended. Contains an excellent explanation of Italian beach life.

Inspirational Ideas

Restoring a home in Italy - Pricy, but pretty, coffee table book with inspirational photographs.

Country Houses of Tuscany - Barbara Stoeltie. Nice coffee table book with lots of pictures for inspiration.

Tuscany Interiors - Houses of the (mainly) rich and famous.

The Most Beautiful Villages in Tuscany - James Bentley - another nice coffee table book. Features Montefegatesi, one of our favourite villages.

Reference

Italian language, life and culture - Derek Aust - In the 'Teach Yourself' series. Brief, readable, cheap and accurate guide to Italian life and culture

Blue Guide to Tuscany - The best for culture providing you are happy to read.

The Time Out guide to Florence and Tuscany - For shopping and entertainment.

Italian Course with Michael Thomas (CDs) - Teach yourself Italian with ease and grace!

Out of print - but worth a search

Getting it right in Italy - William Ward. Subtitled a guide for the 1990's so unsurprisingly very out-of-print. Still well worth reading (if you can find a copy) for details of life, politics, religion and many other facets of Italian life.

Living in Italy - Yve Menzies -"The Essential guide for property purchasers and residents". Wonderfully prejudiced guide to Italy written by a long-term resident who leaves you in no doubt of her point of view! We found this moderately useful, resonably accurate, and huge fun to read.