CHATEAU-BIBLIO Episode No. 4: Italian Beach Summer Reading with Chateau Orlando

Planning a trip to an Italian beach this summer? Take inspiration from our favourite summer reads (all with a nod to the magic of Italy) below, and fill one of our new Bagni Bags with paperbacks. Enjoy!

Still Life by Sarah Winman

Still Life recounts a chance encounter between a young British soldier, Ulysses Temper, and a 64-year-old art historian, Evelyn Skinner, in Tuscany in 1944. Together with Ulysses’ commanding officer, the three spend an evening in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa. It’s an encounter that transforms Ulysses’ life in ways that he could never imagine... Still Life is a love letter to art and found family.

Transformation by Mary Shelley

Transformation is a short story first published in 1831. Guido, the narrator, tells the story of his encounter with a strange, misshapen creature when he was a young man living in Genoa, around the turn of the fifteenth century. 

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

E. M. Forster's classic novel is a beautifully written observation on class and social boundaries. This coming-of-age tale from the author of A Passage to India and Maurice was made into a (now much-loved) 1985 British film directed by James Ivory.

The Leopard by Giuseppe di Tomasi di Lampedusa

The Leopard is a modern classic which tells the spellbinding story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy.

The Land Where Lemons Grow by Helena Attlee

A cultural journey through Italy's history told through its citrus fruits, from Himalayan origins to Calabrian bergamot and the Jewish celebration of Sukkoth.

Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino 

Italian Folktales (Fiabe italiane) is a collection of 200 Italian folk stories published in 1956. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale. It was first translated into English in 1962.

Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

An imaginative biography of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel, Flush is a cross-genre blend of fiction and nonfiction published in 1933. This delightful and unusual book traces the life of Flush from his carefree existence in the country, to his adoption and his travails in London, leading up to his final days in a bucolic Italy.