Read around Italy - Emilia Romagna

Come with me on a reading journey around Italy's stunning twenty regions.

As a book blogger/book reviewer for books set in Italy, from mysteries to histories, from crime to cookbooks, from thrillers to travel guides, cosy up in an armchair and let me take you on a journey around all of Italy’s beautiful regions.

This week, we are in Emilia-Romagna, a region in northern Italy, extending from the Apennine Mountains to the Po River in the north. It's known for its medieval cities, rich gastronomy and seaside resorts. The capital, Bologna, is a vibrant city with an 11th-century university and arched porticos lining the streets and squares of its medieval core. Ravenna, near the Adriatic coast, is famed for its brightly colored Byzantine mosaics.

Why are books set here?

Emilia-Romagna serves as a compelling literary backdrop for several key reasons:-

Its atmospheric rural vibe - the foggy, vast stretches of the Po River Valley (known as the Bassa) and the rugged Apennine foothills provide an eerie, isolated setting for thrillers and coming-of-age stories, such as Niccolò Ammaniti's I'm Not Scared

Tragic 20th-century trauma - the industrial and agricultural landscapes of Emilia-Romagna were heavy focal points during World War II and the rise of Fascism. Authors like Giorgio Bassani used the city of Ferrara to explore the persecution of the Jewish community with intimate detail, notably in his masterpiece The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.

The gastronomy and the lifestyle - As Italy's culinary heartland, modern crime and mystery authors—like Tom Benjamin, who sets his Daniel Leicester detective novels in Bologna—use the city's rich foodie culture and medieval architecture to contrast dark crimes with bustling, vibrant urban life

And now to the books!

Almost Blue

‘an intensely personal and psychological thriller. This is a crime noir novel with significant twists from the ordinary’


by Carlo Lucarelli

A serial killer is terrorising the students of Bologna. Rookie female detective Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case. Only one eyewitness can positively identify the killer ...and he's blind. Simone spends his days in solitude, listening to Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue" and scanning the radio waves of the city to eavesdrop on other people's lives. He likes to imagine what people are like - based on the tone and "colour" of their voice - and his acute hearing sets alarm bells ringing upon hearing the voice of the killer. The perspective alternates between the vulnerable and reclusive Simone and the dark, psychotic killer, obsessed with continually 'reincarnating' himself as his latest victim in a frantic bid to escape the torture of his inner demons. Lucarelli paints his villain in a brilliant and yet terrifying light, and you will have to stop yourself from screaming out to Grazia and Simone to warn them of the looming danger.

The Lost Boy of Bologna

‘The author writes beautifully, weaving a story embedded with historical, cultural, and local details.

a beautiful and gripping Italian historical fiction’

by Francesca Scanacapra

Bologna, Italy, 1929. A newborn baby boy is abandoned by his desperate, unmarried mother, who believes he is dead and that she is to blame.

Heartbroken, she leaves her child, accepting that her actions will haunt her for the rest of her days. But unbeknownst to her, the kindness of a stranger means the starving baby survives. And so begins the extraordinary life of Rinaldo Scamorza…

Following several years in an orphanage, where Rinaldo still holds onto the hope that his mother will come to claim him, he is entrusted to a heartless foster-mother who treats her charges as nothing more than financial opportunities. Yet amidst the cruelty and violence of this loveless environment, Rinaldo meets fellow orphan, Evelina, and the two children create a bond which they believe will never be broken.

Rinaldo holds tight to the few people who show him love, and he becomes a loyal, intelligent and kind boy. But his life is shattered when, aged barely 13, Evelina is sold into prostitution by their foster-mother.

As he grows up and becomes more resourceful, Rinaldo finds work as an errand boy in a brothel, where he encounters Evelina once again. But in his efforts to help her escape her life of exploitation, another dark misfortune pulls them apart and she disappears.

When at last Italy begins to emerge from the shadows of World War II and Bologna’s economy recovers, Rinaldo uses his intimate knowledge of the city to change his life for the better. But through everything, the successes and the moments of loneliness and misery, the women he yearns to see again – Evelina and his mother – are always on his mind…

The Surgeon’s Daughter

’This is an intense, suspenseful, and insightful read about the challenges both women and doctors faced in the 19th century…Our heroine rises to the challenge with courage and determination’

by Audrey Blake

Women’s work is a matter of life and death.

Nora Beady, the only female student at a prestigious medical school in Bologna, is a rarity. In the 19th century, women were expected to remain at home and raise children, so her unconventional, indelicate ambitions to become a licensed surgeon offended the men around her.

Everything changes when she allies herself with Magdalena Morenco, the sole female doctor on staff. Together, the two women develop new techniques to improve a groundbreaking surgery: the Cesarean section. It’s a highly dangerous procedure and the research is gruelling, but even worse is the vitriolic response from men. Most don’t trust the findings of women, and many can choose to deny their wives medical care.

Already facing resistance on all sides, Nora is shaken when she meets a patient who will die without the surgery. If the procedure is successful, her work could change the world. But a failure could cost everything: precious lives, Nora’s career, and the role women will be allowed to play in medicine.

The Broker

‘A fast-paced, fun read with echoes of something deeper set in Bologna while a disgraced American lawyer hides out there, learning Italian and wandering the cafés, streets and trains around Emilia-Romagna. Readers often say it makes them want to visit.’

by John Grisham

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA.

It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system. Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis.

Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

‘A haunting, classic novel of Fascist Italy on the brink of World War II and soft focus memories of a brutal era’

by Giorgio Bassani

The Finzi-Continis are an aristocratic Jewish family who live an insular life behind the walls of their estate in the northern Italian city of Ferrara. The narrator, a young middle-class Jew, has been intrigued by the Finzi-Continis from boyhood and especially by the two children, Alberto and Micol. Not until he is twenty-two, in the autumn of 1938, is he invited to enter their private world, a place seemingly immune from the racial laws of Fascist Italy. Thirteen years after the war, he traces his intricate relationship with the beautiful Micol and shares the predicament of all the Ferrarese Jews on the eve of their destruction. Critically acclaimed and award-winning, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is an unforgettable, wrenching novel that re-creates a tragic era in history.

The Complete Little World of Don Camillo

‘Short stories perfect for bedtime where there is love, hate, fear and death, but above all, wonderful, quiet humour. A delightfully sweet book with both laugh-out-loud and thought-provoking moments’

by Giovanni Guareschi

Reading The Little World of Don Camillo is to travel to the Valley of the River Po, Italy’s widest and most fertile plain, with its unique atmosphere, culture and history. And to do so in the incomparable company of a cast of characters who testify to the exquisite humour and humanity of their creator.

In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life and hilarious and unearthly things tend to happen. Keep this in mind and you will have no difficulty in getting to know the village priest, Don Camillo, and his adversary, Peppone, the Communist Mayor. Nor will you be surprised when a third person watches the goings-on from a big cross in the village church and not infrequently intercedes…

These enchanting, wise and strangely moving stories of life in the Lower Plain have for years enthralled millions of readers of all ages around the world. They have been feted not only in books but in films, on radio and TV. Now they are available in paperback, ebook and audio editions, faithful to the original manuscripts of their author and with many stories available in English for the first time.

In the Kitchen!

Emilia Romagna is arguably Italy’s most underrated culinary destination. Known as the birthplace of iconic staples like Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto di Parma, and balsamic vinegar, this region is a treasure trove of authentic flavours and age-old traditions. Decadent rich egg pastas, abundant pork-based cured meats and slow-cooked meat sauces

Bologna is the birthplace of iconic pasta dishes like Tagliatelle al Ragù (often known as spaghetti Bolognese) and Tortellini in Brodo (delicate pasta parcels served in a warm broth). Other notable dishes are:

• Piadina Romagnola: A traditional, thin Italian flatbread cooked on a hot griddle. It is typically folded and stuffed with Prosciutto di Parma, soft squacquerone cheese, and fresh arugula.

• Gnocco Fritto: Puffed, diamond-shaped pieces of fried dough that are crispy on the outside and hollow on the inside. They are served piping hot alongside platters of regional cured meats like Prosciutto di Parma, culatello, and mortadella.

• Cappelletto stuffed with raviggiolo cheese

• Pisarei e fasò, the signature dish of Piacenza cuisine, a dish of ancient peasant tradition. These are gnocchetti made by hand with stale bread and flour, seasoned with a sauce made from beans, lard pesto, onion and tomato.

REGIONAL COOKBOOKS

In Bologna Mia, (memories from the kitchen of Italy) Loretta Paganini has gathered together over ninety of her family's treasured recipes, each one evoking vivid memories of the kitchens she spent time in during her childhood. Each of these recipes comes with a story.

Paganini shares with us her paternal grandmother's famed pasta recipes (Paganini believes it was her magical tortelloni that helped her to charm her husband), the wisdom of her maternal grandmother's delicate hands, and the recipes for her mother's Cordon Bleu award-winning speciality pastries, tortes and appetisers.

The Splendid Table was the first American book to present the food of this singular northern region. Lynne Rossetto Kasper will take you from Parma, Bologna, Modena, Ravenna, and Ferrara to tiny villages in the foothills of the Apennines, from Renaissance banquet halls to the simplest of farmhouses, offering history, folklore, and substantive cooking tips along the way.

A cuisine at once voluptuous and refined, the dishes of Emilia-Romagna’s kitchen are literally irresistible. just listen to the names”Little” Spring Soup from the 17th Century, His Eminence’s Baked Penne, Modena Crumbling Cake. Then imagine sitting down to a dish of Hot Caramelized Pears with Prosciutto, a Risotto of Red Wine with Fresh Rosemary or a Pie of Polenta and Country Ragú

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I hope you enjoy my choice of books! See you in the next region soon