45 Quotes About Italy That Capture the Feeling—and the Food
Looking for quotes about Italy? This travel and foodie destination will inspire your sense of wanderlust and appetite.
Italy’s allure lies in its breathtaking landscapes, exquisite cuisine, and rich history. To fuel your excitement for an Italian adventure, we’ve gathered 45 inspiring quotes about Italy.
Why is Italy so loved? Its blend of delectable food, fine wine, historic marvels, and stunning vistas makes Italy a top pick for travelers, including us. Our love for Italy runs deep. Italy’s charm is endless, and its food is Irresistibly delectable. With every visit, there are discoveries to make, whether it’s your first or twentieth visit.
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Having just traveled from Italy, we’re excited to share these quotes about Italy with you. They range from Italy’s legendary cuisine to the unique spirit of its cities, embodying the heart and soul of this enchanting country.
Quotes About Italy and Its Food
These quotes celebrate Italy’s splendor, highlighting the country’s profound cultural heritage and exquisite cuisine. They represent the widespread love for what makes Italy magical.
Fun Fact: Did you know Italy receives over 40 million visitors annually?
1. “My idea of heaven still is to drive the gravel farm roads of Umbria and Tuscany, very pleasantly lost.” – Frances Mayes
2. “Everything you see I owe to pasta.” – Sophia Loren
3. “Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.” – Anna Akhmatova
4. “I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life. I love the food. I love the people. I love the attitudes of Italians.” – Elton John
5. “In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine.” – Robin Leach
6. “One of the great joys of traveling through Italy is discovering firsthand that it is, indeed, a dream destination.” – Debra Levinson
7. “I’m definitely looking forward to the day when I stop working – if I ever stop working. I like the idea of keeling over in my tomato veins in Sardinia or Northern Italy.” – Anthony Bourdain
8. “Through these old streets I wander dreamily; Around me, Florence sweeps her busy tide of life.” — William Leighton
9. “Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy.” — Bertrand Russell
10. “In Italy, food is an expression of love. It is how you show those around you that you care for them. Having a love for food means you also have a love for those you are preparing it for and for yourself.” — Joe Bastianich
11. “So the Italian gelato. Take the deliciousness of a regular ice-cream cone, times it by a million, then sprinkle it with crushed-up unicorn horns.” — Jenna Evans Welch
12. “If I spoke Italian, I’d be in Italy in a minute. I love the food, I love the way people live there. I mean, it really is my idea of paradise.” – Bonnie Bedelia
13. “I once went to Alba, Italy, during their white truffle festival, and I was like, ‘Just leave me here!” – Amber Valletta
14. “Tuscany is so full of history and beauty – you meet wonders of art and architecture on almost every corner. But I love the region’s homier aspects: the special sweetness of the tomatoes, the soft mozzarella, the heady scents of basil and garlic everywhere.” – Trudie Styler
15. “Open my heart, and you will see, engraved inside of it, ‘Italy.’ ” – Robert Browning
16. “When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine…” – Rebecca Serle, One Italian Summer
17. “Bologna is the best city in Italy for food and has the least number of tourists. With its medieval beauty, it has it all.” – Mario Batali
18. “I think people in Italy live their lives better than we do. It’s an older country, and they’ve learned to celebrate dinner and lunch, whereas we sort of eat as quickly as we can to get through it.” – George Clooney
19. “If I’m in Rome for only 48 hours, I would consider it a sin against God to not eat cacio e pepe, the most uniquely Roman of pastas, in some crummy little joint where Romans eat. I’d much rather do that than go to the Vatican. That’s Rome to me.” – Anthony Bourdain
20. “At the table, one never grows old — especially when surrounded by incredible history, people, and timeless food.” – Stanley Tucci, Searching For Italy
GREAT FOODIE READ
Taste: My Life Through Food
by Stanley Tucci
21. “La Dolce Vita…”
22. “You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it’s for the same two things. Love and gelato.” – Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Gelato
23. “Tonight, I watched the sunset at Ponte Vecchio. I think it’s safe to say I have finally found the place that feels right to me. I just can’t believe I had to come halfway across the world to find it.” – Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Gelato
24. “The name of Italy has magic in its very syllables.” – Mary Shelley
25. “It was Rome. The whole city is a museum.” – Darnell Lamont Walker
26. “I’ve been to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s a tower, and it’s leaning. You look at it, but nothing happens, so then you look for someplace to get a sandwich.” – Danny DeVito
27. “Lucca, in Italy, is my favorite vacation spot.” – Claudia Kim
28. “Put a compass to paper and trace a circle. Then tell me which other country has such a concentration of places like Amalfi, Naples, Ischia, Procida, Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii, and Capri.” – Diego Della Valle
29. “You may have the universe if I may have Italy.” – Giuseppe Verdi
30. “Italy is the last country where people savor the joy of living. It makes us believe it even when Italy herself has ceased to believe.” – Roger Peyrefitte
31. “I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love
32. “Try imagining a world without Italian food. You can’t, no way.” – Hozier
33. “You can do irrefutably impossible things with the right amount of planning and support from intelligent and hardworking people and pizza.” – Scott M. Gimple
34. “Venice is eternity itself.” – Joseph Brodsky
35. “Italian culture is so deeply soaked in an appreciation of the good things in life.” – Mariska Hargitay
36. “There’s nothing more romantic than Italian food.” – Elisha Cuthbert
37. “Italy offers one the most priceless of one’s possessions – One’s own soul.” – Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
38. The Creator made Italy by designs by Michelangelo.” – Mark Twain
39. “Traveling is the ruin of all happiness! There’s no looking at a building after seeing Italy.” – Frances Burney
40. “Italy will never be a normal country. Because Italy is Italy. If we were a normal country, we wouldn’t have Rome. We wouldn’t have Florence. We wouldn’t have the marvel that is Venice.” – Matteo Renzi
41. “Venice is like eating an entire box of choIcolate liqueurs in one go.” – Truman Capote
42. “No matter where I’ve been overseas, the food stinks, except in Italy.” – Carmen Electra
43. “Italy will always have the best food. ” – Diane von Furstenberg
44. “Please go to this pizzeria. Order the Margherita pizza with double mozzarella. If you do not eat this pizza when you are in Naples, please lie to me and tell me that you did.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
45. “I love the simplicity, the ingredients, the culture, the history and the seasonality of Italian cuisine. In Italy, people do not travel. They cook the way grandma did, using fresh ingredients and what is available in season.” ― Anne Burrell
We hope these Italy quotes have inspired you to start planning your first or next trip to Italy.
BEFORE YOU TRAVEL TO ITALY, CHECK OUT THESE RELATED READS:
Kathy Ava
Meet Kathy Ava, a food, travel, and cruise writer based in Los Angeles/Pasadena, and the owner and main writer of Tasty Itinerary. With over 20 years of experience planning trips and logistics at her full-time job and for herself, she's become a pro at crafting unforgettable tasty itineraries. She's always on the hunt for delicious, fun travel destinations and cruise itineraries. She firmly believes that life is short and we must make the most of it, so always say yes to dessert.