The Greatest Italian Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 464 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
28 The Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
80 The Leopard Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa 1958 Italian Italian
140 Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio 1353 Italian Italian
137 The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli 1532 Italian Italian
155 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
176 Confessions of Zeno Italo Svevo 1923 Italian Italian
206 If This Is a Man Primo Levi 1947 Italian Italian
277 The Tartar Steppe Dino Buzzati 1940 Italian Italian
282 Invisible Cities Italo Calvino 1972 Italian Italian
384 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
404 The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni 1827 Italian Italian
467 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino 1979 Italian Italian
475 The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Giorgio Bassani 1962 Italian Italian
503 Complete Poems of Giacomo Leopardi Giacomo Leopardi 1831 Italian Italian
631 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
646 History Elsa Morante 1974 Italian Italian
752 Petrarch's Songbook Francesco Petrarca 1341 Italian Italian
758 Lives of the Artists Giorgio Vasari 1550 Italian Italian
802 The Moon and the Bonfires Cesare Pavese 1950 Italian Italian
874 Christ Stopped at Eboli Carlo Levi 1945 Italian Italian
884 Kaputt Curzio Malaparte 1944 Italian Italian
903 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
925 Danube Claudio Magris 1986 Italian Italian
966 If Not Now, When? Primo Levi 1982 Italian Italian
970 The Baron in the Trees Italo Calvino 1957 Italian Italian
984 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Galileo 1632 Italian Italian
1027 I Malavoglia Giovanni Verga 1881 Italian Italian
1061 Boys Alive Pier Paolo Pasolini 1955 Italian Unknown
1178 A Ghost at Noon Alberto Moravia 1954 Italian Italian
1196 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1220 Family Sayings Natalia Ginzburg 1963 Italian Italian
1368 Poems of Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale 1925 Italian Italian
1432 Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas 1274 Italian Latin
1453 One, No One and One Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello 1926 Italian Italian
1464 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1484 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1547 As A Man Grows Older Italo Svevo 1898 Italian Italian
1563 Disobedience Alberto Moravia 1948 Italian Italian
1568 The Path to the Nest of Spiders Italo Calvino 1947 Italian Italian
1673 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1716 Life of Christ Giovanni Papini 1921 Italian Italian
1736 The Viceroys Federico De Roberto 1894 Italian Italian
1736 Sandokan Emilio Salgari 1883 Italian Italian
1736 The Harvesters Cesare Pavese 1941 Italian Unknown
1736 Conversations in Sicily Elio Vittorini 1941 Italian Italian
1736 The Child Of Pleasure Gabriele D'Annunzio 1889 Italian Italian
1804 Bébo's Girl Carlo Cassola 1960 Italian Italian
2014 Italian Folktales Italo Calvino 1956 Italian Italian
2119 The Adventures Of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 Italian Italian
2148 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
2181 The Cloven Viscount Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
2360 Celtic Tales Hugo Pratt 1980 Italian Italian
2429 The Castle of Crossed Destinies Italo Calvino 1969 Italian Italian
2513 Fontamara Ignazio Silone 1933 Italian Italian
2579 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
2602 Prison Notebooks Antonio Gramsci 1948 Italian Italian
2617 The Neapolitan Novels Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
2664 The Adventures Of Cipollino Gianni Rodari 1951 Italian Italian
2681 The Drowned and the Saved Primo Levi 1986 Italian Italian
2775 Deliver Us Luigi Meneghello 1963 Italian Italian
2864 Il Canzoniere Francesco Petrarca 1372 Italian Italian
3038 Cosima Grazia Deledda 1937 Italian Italian
3223 Travels Marco Polo 1300 Italian Old french
3440 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3450 The Story Of The Lost Child Elena Ferrante 2014 Italian Italian
3533 Troubling Love Elena Ferrante 1992 Italian Italian
3577 On Being And Essence Thomas Aquinas 1256 Italian Latin
3591 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
3592 Spartacus Raffaello Giovagnoli 1874 Italian Italian
3595 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
3600 Silk Alessandro Baricco 1996 Italian Italian
3738 Artemisia Anna Banti 1947 Italian Italian
3792 The Little Virtues Natalia Ginzburg 1962 Italian Italian
3802 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3871 Arturo's Island Elsa Morante 1957 Italian Italian
3975 Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabucchi 1994 Italian Italian
4004 The Patriot Antonio Fogazzaro 1906 Italian Italian
4028 The Mother Grazia Deledda 1920 Italian Italian
4035 The Nonexistent Knight Italo Calvino 1959 Italian Italian
4070 Call Me By Your Name André Aciman 2007 Italian English
4132 Autobiography Benvenuto Cellini 1728 Italian Italian
4148 The Skin Curzio Malaparte 1949 Italian Italian
4187 Gomorrah Roberto Saviano 2006 Italian Italian
4224 Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci 1883 Italian Italian
4351 L'iguana Anna Maria Ortese 1965 Italian Italian
4690 I'm Not Scared Niccolò Ammaniti 2001 Italian Italian
4695 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
4709 Ballad of the Salt Sea Hugo Pratt 1967 Italian Italian
4750 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
4792 The Montessori Method Maria Montessori 1909 Italian Italian
5183 Acqua Alta Donna Leon 1996 Italian English
5385 The Little World Of Don Camillo Giovanni Guareschi 1948 Italian Italian
5398 Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini 1921 Italian English
5410 The Conformist Alberto Moravia 1951 Italian Italian
5441 All Our Yesterdays Natalia Ginzburg 1952 Italian Italian
5630 Il Mestiere Di Vivere Cesare Pavese 1952 Italian Italian
5880 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
6184 The Mind and Society Vilfredo Pareto 1916 Italian Italian
6408 The Inferno Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
6424 August Heat Andrea Camilleri 2006 Italian Italian
6466 A Violent Life Pier Paolo Pasolini 1959 Italian Italian
6643 The Future Of Democracy Norberto Bobbio 1984 Italian Italian
7336 I Racconti Alberto Moravia 1952 Italian Italian
7337 Sessanta Racconti Dino Buzzati 1958 Italian Italian
7366 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
7677 Il Colombre Dino Buzzati 1966 Italian Italian
7680 The Silent Duchess Dacia Maraini 1990 Italian Italian
7919 The Dust Roads Of Monferrato Rosetta Loy 1990 Italian Italian
8051 The City Of The Sun Tommaso Campanella 1623 Italian Latin
8164 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8467 The Late Mattia Pascal Luigi Pirandello 1904 Italian Italian
8470 Selections Francesco Petrarca 1340 Italian Italian
8623 A Grave For A Dolphin Alberto Denti di Pirajno 1956 Italian Italian
8925 Revolt Against The Modern World Julius Evola 1934 Italian Italian
9027 The Monkey's Wrench Primo Levi 1978 Italian Italian
9075 Journey To The Land Of Flies And Other Travels Aldo Buzzi 1996 Italian Italian
9090 Mr. Palomar Italo Calvino 1983 Italian Italian
9175 Gog Giovanni Papini 1931 Italian Italian
9180 Ettore Fieramosca Massimo D'Azeglio 1833 Italian Italian
9358 The Island Of The Day Before Umberto Eco 1994 Italian Italian