Movies filmed in Italy:

• The Two Popes (shot in the Vatican)
• Tea with Mussolini (shot in Florence and San Gimignano)
• Life Is Beautiful (shot in Arezzo)
• Under the Tuscan Sun (shot in Cortona)
• Hannibal (shot in Florence)
• The English Patient (shot in Arezzo and Pienza)
• A Room with a View (shot in Florence)
• Gladiator (shot near Pienza)
• Twilight Saga (shot in Volterra)
• A Month By the Lake (shot in Lake Como)
• My House in Umbria (shot in Umbria)
• Wings of the Dove (shot in Venice)

Music from Italy:

• Bocelli never fails to inspire me and his Vivere Live concert in the hillside of Tuscany is definitely an inspiration.
• Amazon: Italian Cuisine and Jazz
• Pandora: Italian Cooking Music: Hey Mambo!, Italian Restaurant Lounge Music

Food from Italy:

• Check out Everyday Italian on the Food Network with Giada and Lidia’s Kitchen on Amazon Prime.
• Check out this fresh pasta dough recipe from Bon Appetit.
• Find foolproof Italian recipes from Cook’s Illustrated The Best Italian Classics cookbook

Books set in Italy:

• Donna Leon – (Venice) The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series (29 books)
• David Hewson – (Venice) Lucifer’s Shadow and (Rome) Villa of Mysteries, a Nick Costa thriller series
• Ferenc Mate – (Montalcino) The Hills of Tuscany, The Wisdom of Tuscany, and A Vineyard in Tuscany
• Isabella Dusi – (Montalcino) Bel Vino, Villa Beans & Brodo
• Adriana Trigiani – The Shoemaker’s Daughter
• Umberto Eco – The Name of the Rose, a mystery set in 1327 in a wealthy Italian abbey
• Eric Newby – (Italy during WWII) Love and War in the Apennines
• Irving Stone – (Florence and Rome during the Renaissance) The Agony and the Ecstacy about Michalangelo
• Francis Mayes – (Tuscany/Cortona) Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany
• Dava Sobel – (Florence) Galileo’s Daughter is a historical memoir
• Ross King – (Florence) Brunelleschi’s Dome

What about doing an in-home tasting of Italian wines?

• See my tips on hosting an Italian Red Wine Tasting