Italian cuisine is one of the best in the culinary world and is overwhelmingly popular. It has also the most influence on other cuisines around the world.
It has been said that Italian cuisine is known for its simplicity. It gives trust to the quality of ingredients to give the dish a full flavor.
Pizza and pasta often come to mind when we speak of Italian food. It is safe to say that these two are indeed iconic Italian meals. Different varieties of cooking pizza and pasta dot all regions of Italy and each place has its own specialty.
If you want to recreate your Italian food experience from home especially for pizza and pasta, the best way to start is by having the best Italian cookbook on your shelf.
To make it easy for you, in this article, we give you the best Italian cookbooks for pizza and pasta.
Related post: The Best Pasta Maker Machines
We diversify our list to give you cookbooks that offer recipes with a backgrounder on the story of the people who prepare them and the culture of the place that shapes them.
There are straightforward ones for busy people and for those following a specific diet. Also, there’s a party guide for those who wish to recreate the Italian party experience on their own.
The Best Italian Cookbooks For Pizza And Pasta
Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks
Pasta Grannies Cookbook is inspired by a popular YouTube channel of the same name. It lays down pasta recipes of some of the best Italian grandmother cooks in all regions of Italy.
Most recipes involve cooking from scratch that means hand-making your own pasta from home. This cookbook does not just tell the steps and ingredients of preparing and cooking authentic Italian dishes. It also tells the story of every nonna or Italian grandmother who cooks them.
This cookbook is available in hardcover and kindle version. It is written by Vicky Bennison, an author of cookbooks detailing recipes of her culinary adventures in some international culinary hotspots that she’s been to.
This book was published on October 29, 2019, and is currently ranked number 1 in Pasta and Noodle Cooking bestsellers and number 2 in Italian Cooking on Amazon.
If you want to go beyond the technicalities of cooking Italian meals and know the story and culture that shape them then this book can surely deliver the goods that you are looking for in a cookbook.
So get inspired to learn how to cook like Italiens grandmothers with these easy to follow recipes.
This cookbook is beautifully photographed and doesn’t only feature recipes but also the extraordinary lives of the woman (and men) behind these tasty dishes.
Lidia’s Celebrate Like an Italian: 220 Foolproof Recipes That Make Every Meal a Party
This cookbook authored by the award-winning TV host and bestselling cookbook author, Lidia Bastianich and her daughter contains 220 recipes.
Lidia is an Italian-American celebrity chef who also owns several chains of restaurants. She is a partner in Eataly as well, the acclaimed and largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace is known worldwide.
This particular Italian cookbook from Lidia gives you party recipes and some tips in planning one, whether you are preparing for a kids birthday party, or a BBQ with friends and family.
Here she gives suggestions in making pizza for a group and recipes for pasta which she tags as guaranteed crowd-pleasers in a party.
This cookbook just like the recipes on it is highly rated by Amazon users. It contains 416 pages in hardcover version and is also available in kindle.
This beautiful illustrated cookbook is a must -have in any kitchen library.
The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen
The Tuscan Sun Cookbook is a work of a popular poet and essayist, Frances Mayes and her husband, Edward Mayes. Yes, Frances Mayes is the same author who pens Under the Tuscan Sun that was later turned into a movie of the same title.
The more than 150 recipes written in this cookbook are all part of Frances and Edward’s memorable experience of Tuscany.
This cookbook contains beautiful photographs by Steven Rothfeld and the recipes have imaginative and artistic introductions from Frances, being a poet that she is.
It contains the authors’ version of their hand rolling pasta methods and some tips of getting the best out of seasonal ingredients with less work.
These are just a few things to expect from this cookbook among many other useful recipes that you can recreate from home to have that Italian experience.
This book is highly rated by Amazon users. If pizza with sausages and caramelized onions or potatoe ravioli with pecorino and zucchini sounds enticing to you, then this cookbook is for you.
Gino’s Italian Express
Gino’s Italian Express is a work of TV host, Gino D’acampo. He was born in Italy and an author of several other bestselling Italian cookbooks. In this particular cookbook, Gino travelled to several parts of Italy by train and collected authentic recipes that used local ingredients.
The recipes are featured to relate to some culinary or cultural highlights of the places that were visited. Some of the recipes also offer the author’s own twist to make the dishes possible even when made outside of Italy.
In this cookbook ‘Gino’s Italian Express’, the author made sure that the recipes are easy to prepare and require less work in the kitchen. There is a chapter for pasta and pizza in this cookbook with recipes that are very doable even for busy people.
There are about 80 Italian recipes presented in this cookbook.
This cookbook has been a sure hit to Amazon users with over 1800 sold units.
It contains 224 pages and is available in hardcover (from May 2021)and the kindle version.
Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, & Lots of Creamy Italian Classics
Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen contains 150 recipes of pizzas, pastas and many more. It is written by Chloe Coscarelli, a winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars.
Chloe has Italian roots and has culinary and nutrition educational background.
As the title of the book suggests, this beautifully photographed cookbook features 150 vegan Italian recipes that are easy to prepare and guaranteed crowd-pleasers.
The author shares some tips in making her recipes allergy-and-gluten-free as well. So, this cookbook is not only for vegan but for all and most especially for people who are on a specific diet and still want to enjoy Italian twists on their meals.
This cookbook is available in paperback and kindle versions and contains 419 pages.
Conclusion
There’s our list of the best Italian cookbooks for pizza and pasta. We hope that these cookbooks bring the taste of Italy to the comforts of your home.
Channel your inner nonna while hand-rolling your own pasta from home and making your own pizza dough from scratch with these cookbooks.
Get to experience that Italian way of life with authentic and great-tasting Italian food and good company from time to time as you desire.
