European Royalty discussion

I have the opportunity to spend a week in Italy this fall, and am building my reading list to prepare. What books have you read about Italy that you loved? Honestly, I've read very little--I read a book with this group a few years back about Catherine Medici, and Shakespeare has some plays that take place in Italy. I only have a vague sense of Italy's history; the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, Renaissance, Mussolini, present. My library has the Oxford History of Italy, so I'm looking for books to bring the history to life-- isn't that why we love historical fiction? Thanks!!

I would suggest reading any of Colleen McCullogh's Masters of Rome series if you want to know about the fall of the Roman Republic.

I am in a similar situation - we are going to Italy for vacation this summer and I'm looking for books to help me learn more about the country.

I haven't ready many yet, but the Masters of Rome series is on my list, as is Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Susan Vreeland's The Passion of Artemisia. I'm hoping others have some good recommendations, as it's hard to know where to start.

I highly recommend "Vidal in Venice" by Gore Vidal, who lived in Italy for several decades. He speaks with considerable knowledge about Venice, which I visited during the summer of 2010. (I fell in love with the city.)

I read and enjoyed the two book series about the Borgias by Jean Plaidy: Madonna of the Seven Hills: A Novel of the Borgias and Light on Lucrezia: A Novel of the Borgias (also available in one volume - The Borgias: Two Novels in One Volume).

As a group we read (and I remember enjoying) Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope by Eleanor Herman and Murder of a Medici Princess by Caroline P. Murphy.

The group also read (although I personally did not, so you may want to check the discussion threads to see what people though) The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone, The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis, Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross, and A Venetian Affair: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century by Andrea Di Robilant.

Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex is an excellent book about Isabella and Beatrice d'Este of Ferrara. Beatrice married Il Moro, who became the Duke of Milan. Isabella married and became the Duchess of Mantua and was an important patron of the arts in Rennaissance Italy. I really enjoyed learning about these families and have gone on to read more about them.

Sara W wrote: "I read and enjoyed the two book series about the Borgias by Jean Plaidy: Madonna of the Seven Hills: A Novel of the Borgias and Light on Lucrezia: A Novel of the Borgias (also available in one volu..."

I've read all of these except Pope Joan and recommend them all.

I would also check out

The Second Duchess
Blood & Beauty: The Borgias
The Serpent and the Pearl
The Birth of Venus
The Botticelli Secret

Be aware that books about Catherine de Medici will probably be set mostly in France, not Italy. She was Italian but married into French royalty.

Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell.

It's about da Vinci's mother and how she manages to spark a relationship between herself and Lorenzo de' Medici.