Pete Austin is the popular moderator of our Life In Abruzzo Facebook group whose members he enchants as he delves into his bookcase to share the history and culture of Abruzzo through photography and illustrations.
Here is his ever-growing Abruzzo book list on his Italian bookshelf, it does include four books he does not have (the last four) but dreams of one day owning
- Anne Macdonell & Amy Atkinson – In the Abruzzi, 1908
Anne Macdonell – The Life of Benvenuto Cellini.1903
Estella Canziani – Through The Apennines And The Land of the Abruzzi. 1928
Maud Howe – Roma Beata, 1904
Maud Howe – Two in Italy. 1905
Norman F Carver Jr – Italian Hilltowns 1979
Donald Hall – Eagle Argent, 1956
Anthony Rhodes – A Sabine Journey, 1950
John Miller – Friends and Romans: On the Run in Wartime Italy. 1989
Frances Toor – Festivals and Folkways of Italy, 1953
Vincenzo Battista – La Cultura degli oggetti. 1984
tuttitalia series – Abruzzo Molise 1965
Ferrovie dello Stato – State railway guide to Abruzzo. 1910
Mario Moretti – Architettura Medioevale in Abruzzo. 1971
The Studio – Peasant art in Italy – 1913
Le Regioni d’Italia, volume 12 – Abruzzo e Molise. 1970
Ente Nationale Industrie Turistiche & Ferrovie Dello Stato – L’Aquila. 1943
Emidio Agostinoni – IL FÙCINO. 1908
Emidio Agostinoni – Altipiani d’Abruzzo. 1910
Fratelli Alinari – Abruzzo. 2003
Michael Montgomery – Lear’s Italy. 2005
Touring Club Italiano – Abruzzo e Molise. 1948
Touring Club Italiano – Abruzzo Molise. 1970
John Verney – A dinner of Herbs. 1966
H.V. Morton – A Traveller in Southern Italy.1969
Giovanni Tavano – Abruzzo, una terra di scoprire.1990 ( 2nd edition 2008)
Fulvio Roiter – Terra d’Abruzzo. 1983
Vienna Tordone – Thomas Ashby, Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923
Vincenzo Balzano – Abruzzo e Molise. 1927
Folco Quilici – Abruzzo e Molise, 1970 (Canesi publisher)
Mario Fondi – Abruzzo e Molise, 1970 (UTET)
Pepi Merisio – L’Abruzzo nell’Italia di ieri, 2011
Kurt Hielscher – Unbekanntes Italien. 1939
Edward Lear – Illustrated Excursions in Italy, Volume 1. 1846
Richard Keppel Craven – Excursions in the Abruzzi and northern provinces of Naples. 1837
Sir Richard Colt Hoare – A classical tour through Italy and Sicily. 1819
Henry Swinburne – Travels in the Two Sicilies. 1783
Must Reads on Abruzzo
Pete’s posts have sparked other members of the community to share their favourites too which we have included here
- Ignazio Silone – Abruzzo Trilogy
- Donato De Simon – Suffer the Children,
- Richard Walmsley – Trilogy of fiction set in Abruzzo – The Case of the Sleeping Beauty, A Close Encounter with Mushrooms, and The Vanishing Physicist
- Cheryl Hardacre – Chewing Gum in Holy Water
- Giuseppe Ferrone – The History of Molise and Abruzzo Italy
- Donatella Di Pietrantonio 0 A Girl Returned and A Siter’s Story
- Edward Lear’s Illustrated Excursions
- Electa Napoli 1999 – Francesco Paolo Michetti Prima Edizione Aa.vv.
Click here to see reviews, cookbooks and a list of our Abruzzo travel companion books, and don’t forget to follow Pete’s feed on our Instagram feed, #abruzzofotobypeet!
Affiliate Links
The selections included in this post are unbiased and independent and based on a real bookshelf. When possible we do include an affiliate link back that will earn the contributor of this post Pete a small commission (also known as “affiliate revenue”). When you the reader click through to ABE or Amazon from a link contained on this post and buy an item, we receive a small commission, anywhere between 2-5% of the total price. We believe this is a fair exchange as our posts are written for free by our amazing contributors.
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a freelance SEO content creator and IGCSE Geography and English teacher at Istituto Cristo Re in Rome. She also runs the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association, sharing stories and insights about this captivating region. Alongside raising a teenager, Sam hosts guests at her family’s traditional home, the Little House of the Firefly in Abruzzo, offering a warm welcome and insider tips on local culture, food, and hidden gems.
