The Italian Connection – books written by Italians or about Italy 

A visit to the Sistine chapel, the roof of which was painted by Michelangelo in the 16th century — took me back to books either written by Italians or set in Italy. 

Italy is the stuff of literature and romance, of intrigue and murders. So here is a round-up of all the books I’ve read that have an Italian connection. 

1. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1960) by Irving Stone. This author was all the rage when I was growing up, and his novel about Michelangelo started off my love affair with Italy.
2. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. (1980)This book too is about church intrigue and has got a lot of flak for being pretentious and pseudo. But I remember being hooked by it. 
3. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. (2012) – a novel about female friendship and part of the Neapolitan series. Excellent. 
4. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. (2003) Now, I may be trolled by some for putting this author with some of the greats above. He’s been criticized for his clunky prose and historical inaccuracies . But his book’s become a massive worldwide bestseller, and makes me ponder whether readers are really concerned about the ‘writerly qualities’ of a novel. 
5. Jhumpa Lahiri-  ‘Whereabouts’ (2018) This author moved to Italy in 2012 and began writing in Italian. ‘Whereabouts’, originally written in Italian, is her first self-translated work. I loved it for its spare yet poetic style and  how it goes deep into the unnamed narrator’s thinking process. Btw, Lahiri happens to be one of my fave writers.

As you can see, Italy is the stuff of romance and intrigue. One of the characters in my recently published middle grade novel, Zara and the Bumbling Genie, has one Italian name. Can you tell me who it is? https://shorturl.at/9VgHF

What are some of the Italian authors you’ve read? I’d love to know in your comments.