How to Italy

I get a lot of requests from people about the books about Italy that are helpful to read.

So here are my favourites. Some are serious, some are funny, some are heartwarming and some are simply kick-up-the-arse books to get you moving so that you can move to Italy, set up a business, find work or simply whatever you want to do.

Dark Heart of italy by Tobias Jones.
This book isn't funny and has been accused of being too critical of the Italians but I like it. Jones scratches beneath the surface of the glossy vino-drinking Italy that we all know and love and deals with the bureaucracy, the language and why Italy has rubbish tv. It's a must-read if only to understand a bit more about the real Italy.

Italian Neighbours by Tim Parks
This is one of those expat-in-Italy books but unlike most it doesn't wax lyrical about lingering lunches under olive trees in Tuscany. Parks, who is also an acclaimed novelist, is well-integrated into Italian life in a small town just outside of Verona. Life in the provinces is far different to living in the big towns or Tuscany and Umbria and this really describes the encounters with the locals so vividly you can almost see them. If you are planning to move to the provinces, or southern Italy, then it's well worth reading.

Blogger keeps crashing on me. I'll post the rest of them tomorrow.

Emma Bird is the director of www.howtoitaly.com and the co-author of Starting a Business in Italy: how to set up and run a successful business in the Bel Paese