Briefly Rome-ing Through Italian Literature

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Last week I used the ascendancy of American-born Pope Leo XIV as an excuse to write about literature set in his hometown of Chicago. The new pontiff is of course now based in Vatican City, so I’ll use that as an excuse to write about literature set in…Italy. πŸ™‚

I’m no expert on Italy, or on fiction by Italian authors, or on Italy-set fiction by non-Italian authors, but know enough to eke out a short blog post. πŸ™‚ I’ve visited Venice twice, Florence once, and Rome once, and have read a handful of novels by Italian authors — of which these three are my clear favorites:

1. Elsa Morante’s History (1974), a gripping World War II-era novel about a beleaguered schoolteacher, her two sons (one VERY precocious), a beloved dog, and more in fascist-ruled Rome.

2. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s posthumously published The Leopard (1958), about seismic changes during the time of Italy’s 19th-century unification. Certainly one of the most beautifully written novels I’ve ever read.

3. Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose (1980), a riveting historical murder mystery set in a 14th-century monastery.

Some Italian literature I’ve read that I was not as fond of include Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum novel, Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter novel, and Italo Calvino’s Marcovaldo book of linked short stories.

I have not gotten to Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy — a fact that is not divine and not comedic. πŸ™‚

Then there are of course novels by non-Italian authors set or partly set in Italy/what is now Italy. Among those I’ve read are Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma (starring a young Italian nobleman); Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady (my favorite HJ work), The Aspern Papers (set in Venice), and Daisy Miller (Rome); Robert Grave’s I, Claudius (ancient Rome intrigue); Anthony Burgess’ The Kingdom of the Wicked (which also unfolds around 2,000 years ago); Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy (about Michelangelo); Martin Cruz Smith’s The Girl from Venice (set near the end of World War II); Sally Vickers’ Miss Garnet’s Angel (Englishwoman moves to Venice for six months); and John Grisham’s Playing for Pizza (American quarterback joins a football team in Italy).

Your thoughts about, and examples of, this week’s theme? (After posting this piece, I realized I completely forgot that I had already written about Italian literature in 2022 — as in 2022 AD, not 2022 BC. πŸ™‚ Sorry about that. This piece is somewhat different, at least.)

A note from Misty the cat: “Dave has a broken big left toe and can’t walk me for a while. My female humans Laurel or Maria are now taking me out every morning, but the daily videos you’ll be seeing for a while are ‘reruns’ filmed by Dave in years past, with new captions. The video below is from 2020.”

Misty the cat says: “Here I am in the ‘Up the Down Staircase’ movie.”

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Misty says Amazon reviews are welcome. πŸ™‚ )

This 90-second promo video for my book features a talking cat: πŸ™‚

I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about the impending departure of my town’s skilled CFO, New Jersey’s governor race, a section of a venerable fallen tree turned into a bench, and more — is here.

118 thoughts on “Briefly Rome-ing Through Italian Literature”

  2. Israel only accepted two commandments at Sinai before we feared that we would surely die and therefore demanded that Moshe receive the rest of the Torah. What’s the β€œrest of the Torah”, not just the 611 commandments within the language of the Written Torah but all the halachot capable of rising to the sanctity of time oriented tohor commandments from the Torah itself! Herein defines the intent of the 1st Sinai commandment … to obey the revelation of HaShem ΧœΧ©ΧžΧ”.

    LORD not the Name revealed in the 1st Sinai commandment and therefore LORD comes under the 2nd Sinai commandment. The same apples to God, Yahweh, Jesus or Allah etc.

    The day of Shabbat approaches, but this tohor time oriented commandment does not rest at one day of not doing ΧžΧœΧΧ›Χ”/work but all the rest of the six days of not doing forbidden Χ’Χ‘Χ•Χ“Χ” on the 6 days of β€œshabbat”. Raising positive and negative commandments – which do not require prophetic mussar as their k’vanna to tohor time oriented commandments which do require prophetic mussar as their k’vanna – as learned in the first Book of the Written Torah – בראשיΧͺ. This first word of the Torah בראשיΧͺ, it contains both a Χ¨ΧžΧ–, meaning words
    within words of ראש Χ‘Χ™Χͺ, Χ‘Χ¨Χ™Χͺ אש, and ב’ ראשיΧͺ but more it contains a Χ‘Χ•Χ“: the idea of tohor time oriented commandments which includes all the halachot contained within the Talmud! Hence the Gra taught the kabbalah that בראשיΧͺ contains all the commandments of the Torah. Torah, by definition includes all the Halachot of the Talmud, according to the B’HaG’s Hilchot Gadolot, a commentary that Pre-Adamites the Creation of Adam and the Garden.

    The next three Books of the Written Torah contain ΧͺΧ•ΧœΧ“Χ•Χͺ commandments; positive and negative commandments do not require k’vanna as do tohor time oriented commandments. What distinguishes a tohor time oriented commandment from ΧͺΧ•ΧœΧ“Χ•Χͺ commandments and halachot contained within the Talmud? A tohor time oriented commandment requires the dedication of the Yatzir Ha’Tov which breathes tohor spirits from within the heart. The Χ‘Χ Χ™ΧŸ אב/precedent by which Torah common law\ΧžΧ©Χ Χ” ΧͺΧ•Χ¨Χ”/ learns Χ‘Χ›Χœ ΧœΧ‘Χ‘Χš\כם within the kre’a shma as publicly taught by Rabbi Yechuda Ha’Nasi in one of his Mishnaot within the mesechta of Χ‘Χ¨Χ›Χ•Χͺ, the concept of Χ’Χ‘Χ•Χ“Χͺ השם – the key Χ™Χ‘Χ•Χ“ (which contains Χ‘Χ•Χ“) of doing mitzvot ΧœΧ©ΧžΧ”, a person must dedicate tohor middot (( The revelation of the 13 tohor middot revealed to Moshe at Horev 40 days after the substitute theology known as the sin of the Golden Calf )), by sanctifying a tohor spirit which breathes within the Yatzir Ha’Tov within the heart. JeZeus when asked by his disciples did not understand this fundamental and basic kabbalah/Χ‘Χ•Χ“. He taught his disciples: β€œOur Father who lives in Heaven …” Wrong. Tefillah a matter of the Yatzir Ha’Tov within the Heart. Dedicating a spirit does not compare to blowing air from the lungs as expressed through the precedent of blowing the Shofar. Its not the blowing of the shofar that elevates this mitzva unto a time oriented tohor commandment! But rather the affixation of t’keah, tru’ah, and sh’varim to the positive, negative commandments all as tohor time oriented commandments which remember the oaths the Avot Avraham Yitzak and Yaacov swore the oath ( ONE in the opening p’suk of kre’a shma. ), to serve HaShem ΧœΧ©ΧžΧ” through time oriented commandments.

    Because both the gospels and new testament never teach this fundamental Χ‘Χ•Χ“\Χ™Χ‘Χ•Χ“ Jews recognize JeZeus as a false messiah. Mu-Ham-Mad referred to JeZeus as a prophet.

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  3. Well, I enjoyed both I, Claudius and Claudius the God, and I read them many moons ago. I was still at school then, and I was doing Latin at the time. I had to translate from Latin to English (and back again) – what fun? (hmm). There were various poems and bits of stories from Pliny the Younger, Virgil, Cicero, Ovid, Horace and more. I don’t remember much now -shame, probably.

    And just to say – get better soon, Dave. Poor sore big toe… and ouch.

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  5. Ouch! I’m sorry about your big toe. I hope your recovery is swift, so that you’re out walking Misty the cat soon!

    Your post made me think of a book I read last year: “Dead Lagoon: An Aurelio Zen Mystery” by Michael Dibdin. The story happens in Venice. Not full of touristy places, but it felt more like places of people who actually live there. A decent story, but I enjoyed the setting of it.

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    • Thank you very much, Dave! I can’t wait to walk Misty again, though it will be a while.

      Nice mention and description of that Venice-set book! Glad it focused on people who actually live in that (gorgeous) city.

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  6. Oh, Dave. I am so sorry about your toe. We forget how important they are until we find it difficult to walk with a toe injury. I love that we travelled to Italy today so a big thank you!!! Italy has always held a special place in our hearts and imaginations. Its rich history, stunning landscapes, delicious cuisine, and vibrant culture have captivated people for centuries. Reading books set in Italy allow us to experience the beauty and magic of Italy from the comfort of our own homes, without the security lineups at the airports!!!

    The follow-up conversations confirmed to me how many books set in Italy have become household names, forever linked to the country in our minds. “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert, E.M. Forster’s “A Room with a View” β€œThe Prince” by NiccolΓ² Machiavelli. Just recently, I met up with Diana Giovinazzo, an Italian writer from Central New York, where she grew up surrounded by books. She told me that while she enjoyed reading stories, she felt compelled to tell her own. I just finished her books, Antoinette’s Sister and β€œThe Woman in Red”. The non-fiction book that I enjoyed was β€œEngland’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton” by Kate Williams. Napoli was where Lady Hamilton met Lord Nelson.

    Another great post and conversation. And I just had to leave this quote.

    β€œThe first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.” NiccolΓ² Machiavelli, The Prince

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  7. I can think of 1 author, Elena Ferrante who wrote My Brilliant Friend.

    I quite enjoyed it, although slow paced at times. It did reveal much about Italy and its culture post WWII. It also touched on many human dynamics.

    Agatha Christie (non Italian example) wrote The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman.

    I adore her mysteries, and did go through an Agatha phase in my 30’s.

    Thanks for another literary topic, Dave! Give
    Nebbiosa a novel pet for me!

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  9. Although I’m no expert on Italian literature either, I was proud to have at least one to mention, and that is My Brilliant Friend be Elena Ferrante. It’s a series, and although I never got around to reading the subsequent ones, the first one was pretty good and I think they just dropped an adaptation. I can’t remember what streaming it’s on though. Definitely not my area of expertise with literature, but I like when you write a post that makes me dig in the book memory files! πŸ™‚

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    • Thank you, M.B.! Sounds like we have similar somewhat limited experience with Italian literature. πŸ™‚ As I mentioned in the post, I’ve only read one Elena Ferrante novel and had mixed feelings about it. Perhaps I should try another…

      Digging into memories of novels read can indeed be a nice thing. πŸ™‚

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  10. If ever there was Europhile author it would be Patricia Highsmith. The Talented Mr Ripley almost entirely takes place in Italy but quite a few of the other Ripley novels bounce around Europe and go back there. A standalone novel Those Who Walk Away takes place entirely in Venice. It’s a useful setting for Highsmith since it places her typically very cultured protagonists in suitable surroundings. Nice article – with some interesting suggestions for further reading.

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    • Thank you, Joe! Nice to hear that Patricia Highsmith set a good amount of her unsettling/memorable work in Italy (and other European countries)! I’ve only read one of her Ripley novels. Highsmith definitely shows that some cultured people have a negative underside.

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  12. Sorry about your toe – Sounds far more serious than the foot injury prompting a telegram in Brideshead Revisited.

    Rome ? Time to meet Marcus Didius Falco, private detective, his most interesting client ( clue, face on all the coins, 69 – 79, specialty, ( in the first book) mineral rights and uncovering fraud.

    Recently, I set a book in Rome, but the cover and title suggest another country,.

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    • Thank you, Esther!

      I like the way you introduced “Marcus Didius Falco, private detective” in your comment. πŸ™‚

      Nice that you set your book in Rome! What was behind the idea of the cover and title suggesting another country?

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  15. I think I mentioned The Children’s Train by Italian writer, Viola Ardone and Andrea Camillieri’s Inspector Montalbano books in a previous post (although Camillieri might object to my including Sicily in a post about Italy). The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen, which I noted as a “page turner” in my list of books, is one of my favorite World War II novels. (I visited Tuscany soon after reading it and visited the area where it was set.)

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    • Thank you, Madeline, for the mentions and the repeat mentions! “The Tuscan Child” is now on my to-read list, which I think has become larger than Italy. πŸ™‚ And wonderful to visit a place (Tuscany) soon after experiencing it as a book setting!

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  16. I think I remember your last blog on Rome and Italian settings. This is different and also I am sure you have new readers since. There’s maybe even some new books set there since too and I sense that neither of us has changed our opinion on a certain pendulum…. The contraversial gnazio Silone and his book Bread and Wine is certainlys et in Italy.

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  18. Thank you indeed for making me discover the Iranian literature. I tried downloading La Storia of Elsa Morante but I can’t find the English version yet.

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    • Thank you, ahmadoutidianebalde! Sorry you can’t yet find the English-language version of “History.” When I read Elsa Morante’s novel, I was fortunate that my local library had it in a print edition.

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  20. As I remember “Under The Tucsan Sun” was a commercial success, certainly not a classic, film was well received back in the days.

    You mentioned “The Leopard” is a favorite work, had you seen the film,I think with Burt Lancaster? Surely the novels are more memorable than most films, I remember many years ago being in a courtyard in Palermo, Sicily, told that film was shot in Sicily . I think IL Gappardo is name.

    Michele

    E & P way back

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  21. On your theme: Briefly rome-ing… Let me be as brief as possible: There are only two books I can think of in this category: A Room With a View by E.M Forster, The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone by Tennessee Williams. And though the following seems a bit off topic, it does veer back again re a very interesting book called Nocturne: In Search Of Moonlight by James Atllee with various stories about the moon in which one of the stories concerns the pathological fear Mussolini had of moonlight. It begins like this:

    β€œNobody who has not taken one can imagine the beauty of a walk through Rome by full moon,” wrote Goethe in 1787. Sadly, the imagination is all we have today: in Rome, as in every other modern city, moonlight has been banished, replaced by the twenty-four-hour glow of streetlights in a world that never sleeps. Moonlight, for most of us, is no more.

    Thanks Dave. I’m not a big fan of Italian literature yet I’m a big fan of Italian food. Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi! Excellent mentions of E.M. Forster, Tennessee Williams, and more — with a couple of humorous wordplay touches!

      Yes, with all the artificial light around, seeing the sky is a different experience than it used to be. I suppose Buzz Aldrin (the second person on the moon) having been born in my town, about five blocks from my apartment, is a bit of compensation. (Not really. πŸ™‚ )

      I’m also a big fan of Italian food. I suppose most people are. πŸ™‚ But Japanese food is my favorite. πŸ™‚

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      • As soon as I closed out my comment, I thought about Enchanted April by Elizabeth Van Arnim and Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis. I just read about your injury. Hope it mends fast. Curious as to what Misty found at the bottom of those starecase. Looks like another cat. Ciao. Susi

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        • Thanks, Susi, for the follow-up comment and the toe-mending wishes! Yes, the American title character in “Dodsworth” does travel to Italy. Glad you mentioned that! Another great 1920s Sinclair Lewis novel.

          In the Misty video, it’s just a wet spot on the concrete at the bottom of the stairs, but it does have the shape of a cat lying on its side. πŸ™‚

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  22. Just remembered ‘Death in Venice’ by Thomas Mann, ‘The Enchantress of Florence’ by Salman Rushdie and ‘The Nature of Blood’ by Caryl Phillips, which has a storyline set in medieval Venice. And I’m really going now, honest … πŸ™‚

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  23. Sorry to hear about the broken toe, Dave – I suffered something similar a very long time ago, but I still remember what a pain and a nuisance it was. Here’s hoping yours heals up soon and you can go on your travels with Misty again. As to literature by Italian authors: I haven’t read too many, although at university many years back I impressed one of my lecturers by becoming her only-ever student who’d read the entire ‘Decameron’ by Boccacio – and with her I also read ‘Mastro Don Gesualdo’ by Giovanni Verga. I’ve also read sections of ‘Orlando Furioso’ by Ariosto, but remember very little of that. I’ve tried ‘The Prince’ by Niccolo Machiavelli, although I wasn’t in the right frame of mind and need to give it another go. I have ‘The Leopard’ on my Kindle, along with ‘The Charterhouse of Parma, to move onto literature set in Italy – there’s just so much of this. My old favourite, Shakespeare, set so much of his work there, including the one of hisi plays which I’ll never watch, ‘Titus Andronicus’. You may know how incredibly violent it is, and the Bard was it seems trying to copy the works of the ancient Roman Seneca, who in his turn updated the tasteful Greek plays into something much bloodier for his Roman audience. ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ speak for themselves in terms of setting (with Milan also featuring in the latter). ‘Othello’ begins in Venice and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set in Verona. There’s ‘Julius Caesar’, of course, and ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’, partly set in Rome, while ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ is partly set in Padua. Apparently there’s a legend in Italy that Shakespeare, during his ‘lost years’, lived in Italy, although this can’t be confirmed or denied. England in the Elizabethan age was fascinated by Italy, chiefly because it had a reputation for poisoning and other forms of murder, which is why many of the Bard’s contemporaries set (mainly tragic) plays there. I’m thinking Webster’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ and ‘The White Devil’, both set in Italy, while ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’ (authorship undecided) is set there too. John Ford also set his ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ there. Several centuries later, the poet Shelley turned his hand to dram with ‘The Cenci’, based on the factual story of siblings executed for the killing of their abusive father … and I think it’s high time I stopped! A great country and a great subject for a post, Dave, and I’m sure others will come up with many other examples. Ciao for now … πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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    • Thank you, Laura! Nuisance is the word for it. Sorry you had to deal with something similar years ago. Misty is certainly puzzled about why I’m not out there with him on his walks. 😦 Creatures of habit…

      I appreciate all the literary mentions — including the Shakespearean ones, among others! Your reading the entire “The Decameron” is very impressive. Lit from that long ago is often a challenge, and it seems to be a rather lengthy work, too.

      I read “The Prince” in college, and found it a bit of a slog. But quite influential, of course.

      “The Charterhouse of Parma” isn’t a favorite of mind. I thought it was good, not great. Apparently, it was written very quickly — in about seven weeks!

      Enjoyed the “ciao” sign-off. πŸ™‚

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      • Best wishes for the toe, Dave. I think we take our bodies for granted, and then discover how one small part being out of commission can make life difficult for the whole, Sorry about all the books I came up with, but Italy is such a fertile ground for stories, it seems. I loved ‘The Decameron’, it’s a great example of story framing, and some of the tales have been very influential – I recommend it. Best stop now before I get going again! Buona notte from this end. Have a good week and catch you later. πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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  24. As a Dan Brown fan, I immediately thought of his novel “Inferno,” set in Italy. Though not set entirely in Italy, his novel “Angels and Demons” is an even better fit as it involves intrigues related to the election of a new pope in Rome. Sorry to hear about your broken left toe. Get better soon πŸ™‚ ❀

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  25. Good evening Dave,I’m very much enjoying your post about Pope Leo XIV, who comes across to me almost as an Italian, because of the way he speaks the language! I also understand that you have read quite a lot of great books concerning Italy or Italian writers. I also very much enjoyed Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa’s β€œThe Leopoard”! As we live near the border to Italy we have
    visited many angles of this beautiful and interesting country, apart from the cities you mentioned, and we also very much enjoyed Sicily or the Aeolian Islands.
    At the moment I’m reading a very interesting book by Barbara Serra con il nome β€œFascismo in Famiglia” or in English “Fascism in the family”. Barbara writes about the fact that her grandfather had been a fascist Mayor after having been an anti-fascist, but also about the tragedies he had gone through in the first part of his life. Barbara asks herself of whether she has to go through that kind of life in her second part of life!
    The writer also speaks to the reader about her personal experiences. When a child her family emigrated to Denmark and she now lives in London after having worked for a long time with AL Jazeera and then Sky News. I have the impression that she sees the world from many angles!

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  27. I recently finished “If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino. A complex and very structured novel. I loved it because Calvino somehow makes you feel so close to him. My son loved the novel as well, for other reasons, and with a little more grasp than me, I think. Many years ago, I read “Forse che si, forse che no” by Gabriele D’Annunzio. I possess (antiquarian) editions in French and Italian. I read the French translation. I have a beautiful antiquarian French translation of the “Ragionamenti” by Aretino, with lithos by Siant AndrΓ©. And I have an illustrated three-volume cassette of the Promenades dans Rome by Stendhal with engravings and lithos. Oh, I love Italy, as I do fine books!

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    • Thank you, Dingenom! Maybe I should give Italo Calvino another try. “Marcovaldo” was okay, but I didn’t love it. Great that you have beautiful antiquarian editions of some books! Wonderful items to collect. And I share your love of Italy (despite spending a total of only about 10 days there on separate trips).

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      • Well, I love my e-reader all the same. A lot easier to carry when traveling than all those books! Btw, I have many books in Italian (including leather bound bible-paper editions of Dante’s La Divina Comedia and Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata). I fear that my command of the Italian language grew rusty even as my zeal to add to my Italian library continued unabated.

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  28. Kudos to you for the Italian novels you’ve read, and the ones simply set in Italy

    I was saddened to hear that you broke your left big toe. I don’t think they can put a cast on it but you just have to wait for it to settle, or does orthopedic medicine have new, more advanced techniques now?

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  29. What an interesting post! I’ve never visited Italy, although I’d love to at some point. Umberto Eco’sΒ The Name of the RoseΒ is on my to-be-read-one-day list. Ideally, I’d like to read it when in Italy, whilst sipping a lovely drink in the sunshine! I also want to read more of Francesco Petrarca’s poetry, too.😊

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    • Thank you, Anonymous! Hope you get to visit Italy someday! And, yes, reading Italian literature or Italy-set literature while in that country sounds like a very appealing combination. πŸ™‚ “The Name of the Rose” is excellent.

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  30. I love books set in Italy. Two that I enjoyed are Sacred Hearts and The Birth of Venice both by Sarah Dunant. I also loved Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and Pompeii by Robert Harris. Such a great setting.

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