If only we could all write as brilliantly about Italian food as John Dickie.

Stanley Tucci

If only we could all write as brilliantly about Italian food as John Dickie.

Stanley Tucci

Food and culture of Italy come together in this fantastic, must-have book from John Dickie.

Giorgio Locatelli

John Dickie is the only non-Italian that we Italians would trust to write the history of the food we are so passionate about.

Francesco Mazzei

In all good bookshops from Christmas 2023, the new edition of the much-loved, prize-winning classic, with a fresh chapter that brings the surprising and moreish tale of the Italian way of eating right up to the present.

A vital read for anyone who loves Italy and its food. John Dickie may well know Italy and Italians better than they know themselves.

Stanley Tucci

A brilliant and pleasurable work … John Dickie knows the art of storytelling.

Corriere della Sera (Italy)

No one is more authoritative on the history of Italian food and its culture, Delizia! is an addictive read for anyone interested in the dolce vita.

Angela Hartnett

John Dickie is a brilliant storyteller… and what better story is there to tell than the history of Italian food?

Dan Saladino,
BBC Radio 4 Food Programme.

Delizia! is one of those rare books that changes the way you think about food. Scrupulously argued, elegantly expressed, it is a delight in every sense.

Matthew Fort, The Great British Menu.

Delizia! takes the reader on a revelatory historical journey through the flavours of the cities that shaped the Italian love for good eating. From the bustle of Medieval Milan, to the bombast of Fascist Rome; from the pleasure gardens of Renaissance Ferrara, to the putrid alleyways of nineteenth-century Naples. In rich slices of Italian life, Delizia! shows how violence and intrigue, as well as taste and creativity, went to make the world’s favourite cuisine. With its mix of vivid story-telling, ground-breaking research and shrewd analysis, John Dickie’s Delizia! is as appetising as the dishes it describes.

Now a major international TV series on Amazon Prime.

The Craft: How the Freemasons made the Modern World

NOW IN PAPERBACK

The international best-seller, telling the absorbing, tragi-comic story of the world’s most notorious secret society.

As featured on The Rest is History podcast.

Translated into ten languages.

A superb book that reads like an adventure novel. It’s informative, fascinating and often very funny. … The depth of research is awe-inspiring, but what really makes this book is the author’s visceral understanding of what constitutes a good story.

The Times (London)

It’s one of those books where, as you read it, the scales fall from your eyes.

Dominic Sandbrook

Fascinating and wonderfully written.

Tom Holland

On Screen

John has brought his expertise and writing skills to a number of TV shows about themes ranging from the history of Italian food (now available on Amazon Prime), to the Catholic Church, and the underworld labyrinth of the mafia.

About

John Dickie

John is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London. He is an internationally recognised specialist on many aspects of Italian history and the mafia, and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Exhilarating history, powered by the sort of muscular prose one associates with great detective fiction.

Financial Times

New from John's Twitter Feed

Books

The Craft
Mafia Republic
Mafia Brotherhoods
Cosa Nostra
Scroll to Top
Skip to content