Reading for the Road: Books About the Amalfi Coast

At The Slow Road, we answer to many names (wanderers, bon vivants, students of life) but first and foremost, we’re a group of dedicated travellers.

That’s why we love compiling reading lists that include those books—from novels to memoirs, and everything in between—that have really opened up our favourite regions.

In this post, we’ll round up a few of our favourite books about the Amalfi Coast.

Books About the Amalfi Coast

The Italians

By Luigi Barzini

The definitive portrait of the Italian people, this is a classic, scholarly essay on the Italian character. Though first published in 1964, it’s still worth reading for its insight, grace and wit.

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Italian Journey, 1786-1788

By Johann Wolfgang Von Geothe

“Sicily is the key to everything” is only one of Goethe’s many astute observations included in this Penguin Classics edition of his journals and letters from his grand tour of southern Italy

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Pompeii, A Novel

By Robert Harris

In this fast-paced historical novel set in Pompeii, a young engineer sets out to repair the Roman aqueducts and discovers the imminent eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Full of suspense and period detail.

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Travelers’ Tales Italy

By Ann Calcagno & Jan Morris

A collection of 48 stories on travelling in Italy and Italian life, featuring the writing of Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Frances Mayes, Jonathan Keats, Stanley Crouch and others.

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The Volcano Lover, A Romance

By Susan Sontag

A steamy and evocative historical novel by social critic Sontag, set in 18th-century Naples. The sweeping story focuses on the British Ambassador to the King in Naples, his passionate and notorious love, and her infatuation with Lord Nelson.

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