10 of the best Italian cookbooks of all time
Mark Diacono
We set food writer Mark Diacono the cruellest of challenges this month: to select the cream of the crop from the countless titles published on Italy’s diverse cuisine. Naturally, all his choices are still in print.
Discover his ultimate list of the best Italian cookbooks, including favourites by Rachel Roddy, Giorgio Locatelli and Elizabeth David. Which book will cinch the top spot – and which author has earned two places on the list? Keep scrolling to find out…
Explore the star recipes, top produce and traditional dishes of all 20 Italian regions with your delicious. food lover’s guide to Italy.
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Top Italian cookbook pick
The Essentials of Italian Cooking
Marcella Hazan’s 1973 bible helped to introduce classic Italian cooking to home cooks in the UK and US. As much a handbook as a recipe book, it encourages understanding: there’s plenty on key ingredients and regional cooking, as well as guides to buying and preparing ingredients. Whatever you want to eat – from soup to pasta, appetisers to dessert – this classic has it. If I were allowed only one Italian cookbook, I’d be happy if this were it. Published by Boxtree (RRP £30).
Why it’s stood the test of time: Even after all these years, the book remains as relevant to novices as to accomplished cooks, with techniques that develop knowledge and skill, and uncomplicated recipes that delight. Accessible in style and tone, it makes Italian cooking achievable for all.
Star recipes: You can open the book anywhere and be assured of an excellent recipe – almost all are utterly simple, with few ingredients – but my favourites include pan-roasted lamb with juniper berries, and spring vegetable soup.
The best of the rest
Five Quarters
Food writer Rachel Roddy’s 2015 debut, following on from her much-loved blog, launched her to a wide audience, winning the Guild Of Food Writers’ First Book award and the André Simon Food Book award in the process.
It tells the story of an unintended settling in Testaccio, the wedge- shaped ‘quarter’ of Rome, where so much revolves around the food market and old slaughterhouse. Centred on a year in her small kitchen, the book draws the reader into Roddy’s immersion into Italian culture, her food tying the laces of an old life in England to a new one in Italy. Published by Headline (RRP £20).
Why it’s stood the test of time: A modern classic just reissued, its melding of evocative prose and recipes captivates as much as the day it first hit the shelves. A book to read in bed as much as use in the kitchen.
Star recipes: Salt cod with tomatoes, raisins and pine nuts; either of the two pasta and chickpea soup recipes; and baked peaches with butter and almonds.
Brutto: A (Simple) Florentine Cookbook
I chose the late author, restaurateur and broadcaster Russell Norman’s fourth book as Cookbook Of The Month on its publication and, a year later, I find myself revisiting it often. It focuses on what he calls the ‘brutto ma buono’ – ugly but good – food of Florence. By ‘ugly’, Norman is referring to simple local food: recipes such as pears with pecorino, toasted walnuts and olive oil might have just three or four ingredients, but they need nothing more. The accompanying stories and photographs create a culinary love song to a city that meant so much to Norman. Published by Ebury Press (RRP £32).
Why it will stand the test of time: Its warm enthusiasm makes a friend of the streets and food of Florence, even if you’ve never been.
Star recipes: Beef shin and peppercorn stew; asparagus, raw and cooked, with pecorino; and florentines.
Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes: The Best of Anna Del Conte
I’m not usually fond of ‘best of’ books, but this compilation – published in Del Conte’s eighth decade and including some of the finest of her writing and recipes – is an utterly brilliant exception. Del Conte, who was born in Milan, did much to encourage 1970s Britain into the arms of pasta and beyond. As Nigella Lawson says, she is ‘the cook who changed our lives’. The recipes are largely uncomplicated, and set in the context of history, culture and culinary understanding that give depth and life to the food itself. Fall in love with Del Conte with this book, then buy the rest. Published by Vintage (RRP £16.99).
Why it’s stood the test of time: Despite drawing on decades of her work, every page feels fresh, modern and bright.
Star recipes: There’s something whatever the season: artichokes with a mint and parsley stuffing; chestnut soup; and amaretti pudding…
Made in Italy: Food and Other Stories
I bought chef and restaurateur Giorgio Locatelli’s book the week it was published 18 years ago*, mesmerised by 15 unexpected minutes with it in a bookshop. It’s been an excellent companion ever since. Made In Italy sits brilliantly between being a 600-page manual of Italian cooking and a more intimate read. Family stories, reflections on growing up in northern Italy and traditional recipes sit comfortably alongside contemporary reimaginings. *The original title was Made in Italy: Food & Stories; 2022 reissue pictured. Published by Fourth Estate (RRP £35).
Why it’s stood the test of time: The blend of encyclopaedic resource and personal writing, with modern and traditional recipes in such a timeless design, means Made In Italy remains ageless and relevant.
Star recipes: You could eat for months from this book. Perfect places to start: calves’ liver with balsamic vinegar; sardines and bread salad; and the cod and lentils.
The Silver Spoon
Originally published in 1950, The Silver Spoon has been updated, extended and reissued numerous times, and remains a classic encyclopaedia of Italian food. With contributions by numerous food writers, cooks and chefs over the decades, there are over 2,000 recipes, spanning the traditional to the contemporary. It includes much about the cultural heritage of Italy’s regions and how they relate to food, as well as some of the particularities of traditional Italian eating, such as the composition of a classic meal. It’s well organised and indexed; sections include a really useful Cooking Terms, as well as Sauces, Poultry, Desserts and Baking and more. Pleasingly designed and accessibly written, The Silver Spoon is a treat to use. Published by Phaidon (RRP £39.95).
Why it’s stood test of time: Comprehensive, useful and well designed, the updates have been sensitive to the spirit of the original. It retains its status as a classic wedding present.
Star recipes: With so many recipes (and so many that instantly appeal), it’s hard to know here to start but these three are as good as any: cuttlefish with artichokes, classic truffle frittata, and walnut and honey tart.
The River Cafe Cookbook
If ever a London restaurant gave birth to a wave of others, a line of notable cooks and chefs (Jamie Oliver and Theo Randall among them) and to a widespread enthusiasm for simple Italian food, The River Cafe is it. This book, that thirty years ago sprang from Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ groundbreaking restaurant and its modern interpretation of the rustic food of northern Italy, did much to take polenta, mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil into the nation’s homes. Many of the recipes – such as ribollita (Tuscan bread soup) and grilled peaches with amaretto – might seem familiar now, but that is in great part due to this book. Published by Ebury Press (RRP £30).
Why it’s stood test of time: A delight to read and cook from, The River Cafe Cookbook is very much a cookbook for the home rather than a representation of restaurant cooking. Simple, inviting and approachable recipes keep the reader coming back.
Star recipes: As with eating at the restaurant, you’d happily devour anything on offer. Here are three of my favourites: bucatini with fresh and dried oregano, lentil and sorrel soup, and the great chocolate nemesis cake.
The Geometry of Pasta
This original book brings together chef (and co-founder of London’s Bocca di Lupo restaurant) Jacob Kenedy’s recipes with designer Caz Hildebrand’s creative black and white illustrations to explore the culture and philosophy of pasta and its dishes. Taking a selection of the hundreds of types and shapes of pasta, this book explores their history and affinities with particular sauces and flavours with over 100 recipes. It includes at least one recipe for each pasta shape featured, along with suggestions for other sauces in the book that work with each. Published by Bluebird (RRP £20).
Why it will stand test of time: This is one of those rare occasions where the design of the book does as much to encourage you to return to its pages as the writing and excellent recipes.
Star recipes: Choosing just three is difficult but I’d just about go for ravioli con le spugnole (ravioli with morels), sedanini con pollo e prugne (sedanini with chicken and prunes) and truffled fazzoletti.
Italian Food
Few people did as much to lift British cooking in the 20th century than the much-travelled food writer Elizabeth David. Turning her attention to Italy, this book brought simple, rustic Italian food to post-war Britain, where risotto, prosciutto and olive oil were largely unknown. David shares the importance of regionality in Italian cooking, indulging a wide diversity of ingredients. Along with more instructional recipes, expect plenty of ideas that assume common sense: pasta con le sarde reads, in its entirety, ‘The pasta is mixed with a tomato sauce, salted sardines or anchovies, onions, pine nuts, sultanas, saffron and fennel.’ As with much of David’s work, you are rarely short of her opinion, cultural connections are readily made and quotes from artists and writers are dotted throughout. 1998 edition published by and available via Penguin (RRP £12.99); 1999 edition (pictured) also available from Amazon.
Why it’s stood test of time: Published in 1954, Italian Food is full of personality, with an emphasis on authenticity and regionality. It remains a delight, partly for the recipes, but also the pleasure of David’s direct but warm and evocative writing.
Star recipes: Any of the five minestrones, cipolline in agrodolce (sweet and sour onions), and noci confette (candied walnuts) are excellent places to start.
Gelupo Gelato
More often than not when eating out in London, I skip dessert and walk to chef Jacob Kenedy’s Gelupo in Soho, to enjoy what was meant to be a one-scoop tub but invariably becomes two. I have yet to find a flavour that doesn’t please, and this book allows me to create my own versions at home. It is a masterclass built around simplicity of process, understandable principles and great flavour combinations. Whisky and vanilla, mint stracciatella (aka mint choc chip) and Campari granita are just a scratch on the delicious surface. Beautifully designed by Caz Hildebrand, it is without photographs (who needs to see what ice cream looks like?) with illustrations livening the pages instead. Published by Bloomsbury (RRP £14.99).
Why it will stand the test of time: Direct and concise, highly approachable (Italian gelato’s base uses no eggs), and full of perfectly-chosen flavours, it makes a gelato genius of any home cook.
Star recipes: Open the page randomly and the recipe for whichever gelato, semifreddo, sorbet or granita will appeal: my recent favourites are liquorice gelato, watermelon granita and a festive monte bianco semifreddo of chestnut, chocolate and rum.
Confounded by the sheer number of new cookbooks? Browse Mark’s top new recommendations.
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