10 Best Italian Cookbooks to Gift – Advice From an Italian Kitchen

Last updated on October 4th, 2024

Looking for the best Italian cookbooks to give a friend of family member? Perhaps you even want to buy one for yourself but don’t know where to start?

Below are the 10 best Italian cookbooks to give, why they’re the best, and for whom they’re best-suited.

Whether you are looking for a book for a friend who is a newbie, your mother who was the one who taught you to cook, or even a future sister-in-law (who you really are on the fence about) – I have a book for each of them!

I own each of these Italian cookbooks and have cooked from every single one of them. Luckily, I have a mother who is a fantastic cook and loves to give cookbooks so she is the one who sparked my fire for cooking. 

This being said, I am not the type of person who buys every single trendy cookbook. I am just the opposite – my book collection is carefully curated, only to include the ones I continue to use over the years and feel lost without. 

At the end of the day, who doesn’t like to eat and enjoy good Italian food? In my opinion, there is no better gift than a cookbook from Italy and these are timeless!

Other Gifts: Looking for other great gifts for cooks? Check out Handpicked Italian Cooking Gifts.

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The Florentine

Author: Emiko Davies

Available: on Amazon

Best for: cooks who are familiar with Italian cooking but want to learn how to specifically cook Florentine food

This is my top pick for Tuscan cookbooks even though it’s a cookbook based solely on Florentine cooking. I can’t help but feel some loyalty to this beautifully written and photographed cookbook as it was the first cookbook I purchased for myself about Tuscan cuisine – and to this day, it has never let me down.

Emiko, although Australian born, has lived in Florence for decades with her Florentine husband and family, and in that time has truly mastered the art of the local cuisine. Although some of her recipes may not be for the faint of heart (such as tripe meatballs), she covers everything from baked goods and appetizers to first courses, second courses and desserts. 

She fills the book not only with her recipes but shares her stories, love for Florence and passion for traditional Tuscan cooking. She also includes her top recommendations for markets, sandwich shops, restaurants, etc. If you can trust anyone to know where to get the best of, it’s her!

Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City: A Cookbook

Authors: Katie Parla and Kristina Gill

Available: on Amazon

Best for: people who already love cooking and want to dip their toe into the Roman classics

The main reason I love this book is because I love Katie and I trust her recipes and opinion. She is an American gal living in Rome since her student days and made a career out of cookbook writing and as a food guide in Rome (which means she basically goes around eating amazing food all day with curious travelers. Not bad, right?).

Katie and Kristina dive into a ton of classic Roman dishes that you can’t really not fall in love with. Like Emiko’s ‘Florentine’, this book also has some very particular recipes but most of them are very accessible. The food styling is beautiful and they include lots of pictures that accurately capture Rome. 

This is one of the cookbooks on my small cookbook shelf that people actually come and pick up when they visit me. The title is intriguing and once you crack open the book, you can’t help but flip through the whole thing. 

I actually don’t own my own beloved copy anymore as I gifted it to my dear uncle upon one of his many visits to us in Tuscany. He always insists this is the time he is actually going to make some of the recipes that I cook for him when he gets home, and so I handed him the book and said, “Well, take this. Now you have no excuse. Many of my recipes come from here!”

Don’t Miss: Katie has a really fun podcast called “Gola” which I love listening to. She and her co-host Danielle Callegari, talk about really good Italian food for an hour at a time, usually dabbling in here and there inside info about the topic at hand that you can’t get anywhere else!

Food of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearing and Lost Dishes: A Cookbook

Author: Katie Parla

Available: on Amazon

Best for: friends and family who have visited (or plan on visiting) southern Italy and want to learn more. 

This is Katie’s second book and I knew I had to have it after I fell in love with “Tasting Rome”. In this book, she takes the reader on her travels to the southern Italian peninsula where you can actually feel the details and smell the aromas through her beautiful pictures. 

She accurately describes and dissects each of the southern regions from a culinary point of view, including how and why food came to be part of Italy’s identity. Culinary traditions are deeply rooted in the Italian south and Katie does a fantastic job documenting this. 

She goes through the basics of how to convert cooking and baking, including techniques, ingredients and tools, from Italy to abroad, making it a breeze to work your way through the various recipes (this is also just great info to have if you are doing a lot of Italian cooking abroad and struggle to convert recipes). She breaks down how Southern meals are organized and follows this same format in her book. 

Classic Food of Northern Italy

Author: Anna del Conte

Available: on Amazon

Best for: experienced Italian food lovers/cooks who are interested in expanding upon authentic northern Italian classics

Most people who know Italian cooking well can agree that Anna has been a crucial element in making Italian recipes accessible in English. She is one of the pioneers in publishing classic Italian dishes in English, spreading her love and passion for the Italian culinary arts. 

In this book, Anna devotes herself to explaining and writing up the most classic and authentic dishes of northern Italy without straying from tradition. Her recipes are classic and you will not find one recipe that diverts in just the slightest from the most historically traditional way of preparing it – this is particularly why I enjoy it.

Oftentimes when I go to research a new recipe that I have never made before, I am bombarded with so many variations and tweaks on the original but if I am making something for the first time, I just want the original recipe to get a baseline from which I can then branch out and expand. She is my go-to cookbook author in the field of northern Italian dishes and I cannot recommend her more!

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Author: Marcella Hazan

Available: on Amazon

Best for: everyone: this is the Italian cookbook to have if you only have one

I am not the only one to call her the absolute queen of Italian cooking. Some people consider this book to be their bible for Italian cooking and I can’t argue with this. I pick this up time and again for reference even when I know what I am doing just to get her personal opinion. Her recipes are straightforward, easy to follow and no-fuss. 

I love to recommend this book to people who are buying an Italian cookbook for the first time because it has recipes for both beginners and experts. With 736 pages of expert material, this is definitely the best bank for your buck. 

The one thing to note about this book is that it doesn’t have pictures but this is a cooking bible and bibles don’t typically have pictures so why would this?

The Silver Spoon

Author: The Silver Spoon Kitchen

Available: on Amazon

Best for: cooks, newbies and experts alike, who want reliable, tested recipes from the very best of Italian cooks, The Silver Spoon Kitchen (equivalent to America’s Test Kitchen).

First published in 1950 in Italian, this is the Italian “Joy of Cooking”. It has everything under the sun and more, all authentic and reliable. Now translated into English, this cookbook has made all of Italian cooking accessible to foreigners, not just the most famous and beloved recipes from the big cities. 

I love this book because not only can you find a fool-proof recipe for pollo alla cacciatore (chicken cacciatore) which is pretty commonly made throughout the country but you will also find regional specialties such as trippa alla Romana (Roman tripe), very specific and not your everyday choice for a traveler or foreigner who wants to expand upon their Italian cooking skills. 

Just as many Americans have their tattered copy of “The Joy of Cooking”, many Italians have their “Il Cucchiao D’Argento” on their kitchen shelf. 

My Kitchen in Rome: Recipes and Notes on Italian Cooking

Author: Rachel Roddy

Available: on Amazon

Best for: people/cooks who know Rome well and have fallen in love with the city

Born and raised in London, Rachel has been in Rome for the better part of her life, cooking her way through the Roman classics. Beyond covering some of the most classic and memorable Roman dishes, Rachel takes you through her love story with the Ancient city of Rome. She writes of her beloved city as if it’s a person with character and charm, someone that cannot be forgotten nor ignored. 

Her recipes are authentic, reliable, and timeless – those with which you will want to gather around with close friends and family to share memories. 

Her writing is raw, honest and readable making it not only a good backbone cookbook with plenty of classics but also a good read. If you have seen or cooked Rachel’s recipes in her weekly column at The Guardian then you know what I mean here. If you have never heard of her, check out her blog (although no longer very active but a good resource nonetheless) or recipes on “The Guardian” to get a feel for her personality. 

Italian Food

Author: Elizabeth David

Available: on Amazon

Best for: someone visiting Italy soon or those who love to read

This book should be for someone who loves to read just as much as they love to cook as this is just as much a travel guide and memoir as it is a collection of recipes from throughout Italy. I highly suggest this as a book to bring on your next trip to Italy if you want to travel the country through its food, region by region. 

This book has a special place in my heart because Elizabeth did what I also did only in part when I was a young college student in Italy: visiting and learning about Italy through its food. She documents regional cooking in a way that no one else had, emphasizing the difference and importance of regional cooking on the peninsula. 

This is a book that you can pick up and flip to the recipe you are in search of, or just open up and get lost in her accounts and beautifully articulated stories of Italy. 

From The Markets of Tuscany: A Cookbook

Author: Giulia Scarpaleggia

Available: on Amazon

Best for: foodies planning a trip to Tuscany

This is a great book for those of you who love to visit places through the local food scene, in this case, Tuscan open air markets. Giulia, born and raised in Tuscany, takes her readers through her favorite markets in Tuscany (which have also become mine over time), providing you with all the essential information you need and more. 

Her book is easy to read, beautifully decorated with her own pictures and dotted with easy and classic Tuscan recipes that are easily replicated outside of Italy. 

This is a book perfect for newtimers visiting Tuscany and also for travelers who wish to relive their time in Tuscany. 

More Italian Cookbooks You May Enjoy

• Cinnamon and Salt: Cicchetti in Venice: Small Bites From the Lagoon City by Emiko Davies – dives into Venice’s tradition of cicchetti (like tapas) dining and how to do it at home!
• Two Kitchens: 120 Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome by Rachel Roddy – authentic dishes from antipasti to dessert (some recipes are a bit more labor intensive but some southern Italian recipes are labor intensive!)
• An A-Z of Pasta: Recipes for Shapes and Sauces, from Alfabeto to Ziti, and Everything in Between: A Cookbook – for all you pasta lovers out there, this one’s for you!
• The Italian Baker by Carol Field – best for bakers
• Classic Italian Recipes: 75 signature dishes by Anna del Conte – another great source for authentic Italian dishes directly from Anna’s kitchen.
• Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well by Pellegrino Artusi
• Spritz by Talia Baiocchi & Leslie Pariseau

Check out all of my gift and souvenir guides
Food Souvenirs from Supermarkets in Italy
Italian Food Gifts to Bring Back From Italy
Handpicked Gifts for Italian Food Lovers
Handpicked Italian Cooking Gifts
Italian Cookbooks to Gift
Food Souvenirs from Italy
Food Souvenirs & Gifts from Tuscany
Food Souvenirs & Gifts from Florence
Where to Buy Specialty Food Items in Florence
Food Souvenirs from Venice
Food Souvenirs from the Cinque Terre
Best Italian Olive Oils to Bring Home

Best Italian Cookbooks FAQ