Looking for the best quotes about Italy? In this article, I walk you through my personal compilation of the best quotes about Italy which will inspire you to start planning a trip to this beautiful country.
When I started planning my very first around-the-world trip, one of the destinations that I knew I HAD to visit was Italy. Everything about it intrigued me. The food, the art, the architecture…oh and did I mention the food?
Whether you’re planning a trip to Italy or just want some inspiration and good vibes, keep on reading and to get some awesome travel inspiration.
If you like any of the images below, feel free to Pin them on Pinterest!
Quotes About Italian Food
My love affair with Italy mainly consists of its beautiful food. Although I predominantly traveled on a shoe-string budget during my first backpacking trip, as soon as I got to Italy, all my money went to food. I found myself eating 3-4 times a day, with absolutely zero guilt.
I would happily sit in a local trattoria and gorge on a beautiful meal (and dessert) for hours at a time with a book. You know that scene from the movie Eat, Pray, Love? It is totally accurate as there is nothing more beautiful than enjoying a beautiful home cooked meal.
Listed below are a few of my favorite quotes about Italian Food!
1. “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
2. “Everything you see I owe to pasta.” – Sophia Loren
3. “You know, people come to Italy for all sorts of reasons, but when they stay, it’s for the same two things.” “What?” “Love and gelato.” — Jenna Evans Welch
4. “In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine.” – Robin Leach
5. “So… 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
6. 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
7. Watching Italians eat (especially men, I have to say) is a form of tourism the books don’t tell you about. They close their eyes, raise their eyebrows into accent marks, and make sounds of acute appreciation. It’s fairly sexy. – Barbara Kingsolver
8. “Like most of Italy, Neapolitans like their food, and there are restaurants everywhere. But to make like a true Neapolitan, grab a pizza from a street vendor and eat it there and then. We tried a pizza that’s folded over four times to make it nice and portable, then you eat it straight out of paper, like fish and chips.” – Paul Hollywood
9. “As they say in Italy, Italians were eating with a knife and fork when the French were still eating each other. The Medici family had to bring their Tuscan cooks up there so they could make something edible.” – Mario Batali
10. “I spent a college semester in a small town in Italy – and that is where I truly tasted food for the first time.” – Alton Brown
11. “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
12. “It’s in the nature of Italians to live life with a positive tone and to celebrate the invitations that come along in life. Italian food is so conducive to all of that.” – Lidia Bastianich
13. “If your mother cooks Italian food, why should you go to a restaurant?” – Martin Scorsese
14. “The commonplace about Italian cooking is that it’s very simple; in practice, the simplicity needs to be learned, and the best way to learn it is to go to Italy and see it firsthand.” – Bill Buford
15. “Italy will always have the best food.” – Diane von Furstenberg
Heading to Italy? Check out or Italy Travel Guide for personalized travel tips!
✨The 1 Thing We Never Leave Home Without…✨
Coming from someone who has been traveling the world for the last 8 years AND has been in the hospital 2x, travel insurance is something everyone NEEDS to get. Get a quote below!
Quotes about Italian Culture
One of the beautiful things I love about Italy is their “La Bella Vita” attitude to everything. Translated as the beautiful life, Italians know how to live. They are easy going, relaxed, and know how to enjoy the simple pleasures of a good cup of coffee, a mid day gelato break, or a stroll down a nearby river.
For the most part, Italians are never rushing. They enjoy each moment and take their time. While this can be annoying for some, it is something that I love about the Italian culture. Listed below are a few quotes about Italian culture that will surely make you smile.
16. “In America, one must be something, but in Italy one can simply be.” — Pietros Maneos
17. “Everything in Italy that is particularly elegant and grand borders upon insanity and absurdity or at least is reminiscent of childhood.” – Alexander Herzen
18. “The most stylish country in the world is Italy.” — Nick Rhodes
19.“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
20. “Italian culture is so deeply soaked in an appreciation of the good things in life.” – Mariska Hargitay
21. “What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago.” – Erica Jong
22. “Love and understand the Italians, for the people are more marvellous than the land.” – E. M. Forster
23. “I come from an Italian family. One of the greatest and most profound expressions we would ever use in conversations or arguments was a slamming door. The slamming door was our punctuation mark.” – Mario Batali
24. “Nothing except time is wasted in Italy.” — Thomas Bailey Aldrich
25. “I find that other countries have this or this, but Italy is the only one that has it all for me. The culture, the cuisine, the people, the landscape, the history. Just everything to me comes together there.” – Frances Mayes
26. “Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy.” – Bertrand Russell
27. There is in the DNA of the Italians a bit of madness, which in the overwhelming majority of cases is positive. It is genius. It is talent. It’s the masterpieces of art. It’s the food, fashion, everything that makes Italy great in the world. – Matteo Renzi
28. Italians know that what matters is style, not fashion. Italian style does not have social or age boundaries. – Stefano Gabbana
29. “I love the language, it sounds as if it should be writ on satin with syllables which breathe of the sweet South.” — George Gordon Noel Byron
30. “If you can’t live longer, live deeper.” — Italian proverb
Psst...Want in on a Secret? 🤫
We've scoured the internet for the best ALL-AROUND travel shoe and Tropicfeel wins by far. We've taken ours through rivers, jungles, and cities and they're still alive and kickin'. Check them out below.
Instagram Captions about Italy
If you’re looking for fun captions for your Instagram posts about Italy, look no further. In this section, I walk you through some of the best Italian Quotes perfect for Instagram.
31. “For sure, in Italy, the sun always shines.” – Aleksandar Mitrovic
32. “The name of Italy has magic in its very syllables.” – Mary Shelley
33. Italy was where the soul went to find calm and love, and I wanted to hold the best of it in the palm of my hand. – Lisa Brennan-Jobs
34. “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
35. Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life. – Anna Akhmatova
Quotes About Tuscany
Tuscany is a destination that I sadly only breezed through. It is one of those places that I vowed to return! One of my favorite travel movies is Under the Tuscan Sun which will hands down inspire the heck out of you to plan a trip to this beautiful region.
So if you’re looking for a reason to head to Tuscany, or just want some inspiration, check out this collection on beautiful quotes.
36. “My idea of heaven still is to drive the gravel farm roads of Umbria and Tuscany, very pleasantly lost.” – Frances Mayes
37. Travel is very subjective. What one person loves, another loathes. I would say a private paradise in the Caribbean. If you want culture and class, I would say Tuscany. If you want exotic, I would say Bangkok, Thailand. -Robin Leach
38. “The Tuscan countryside whizzed by in a kaleidoscopic whirl of shapes and colors. Green grass and trees melded with blue sky, purple and yellow wildflowers, peachy-orange villas, brown-and-gray farmhouses, and the occasional red-and-white Autogrill, Italy’s (delicious) answer to fast food.” – Jenny Nelson
39. “One of my ambitions is to move to Tuscany. I like the idea of getting a vineyard. I love being under the sun and being casual and comfortable. That’s my idea of heaven.” – Paolo Nutini
40. “I remember the first time I went to Italy when I was eighteen, I was in Florence and there were all these eighteen, nineteen, twenty-year-olds gliding past on Vespas with crinkly, long, hair, and I thought I was on the set of a movie. I couldn’t believe that this was going on and I hadn’t known about it before. I was flabbergasted.” – Walter Kirn
41. “I walked across Tuscany from Siena to Rome, which was a lovely way to see the landscape. It was sunny but not too hot, and we made detours to look at treasures – churches, paintings, little hill villages. The first couple of days, you feel your knees are turning to jelly. But, at the end, you feel very limber. I hope I can always do it.” – Diana Quick
42. “Maybe money can’t buy happiness, but it can get you a nice little villa in Tuscany, and that’s close enough for me.” –Lois Greiman
Quotes About Rome
More popularly known as the capital of Italy, no trip to Italy is complete without passing by through this majestic city center. Although I am not a city person, Rome is one of those places that will always have a special place in my heart.
43. “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
44. “From the dome of St. Peter’s one can see every notable object in Rome… He can see a panorama that is varied, extensive, beautiful to the eye, and more illustrious in history than any other in Europe.” -Mark Twain
45. “Each, in its own way, was unforgettable. It would be difficult to — Rome! By all means, Rome. I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live.” – Audrey Hepburn
46. “Rome will exist as long as the Coliseum does; when the Coliseum falls, so will Rome; when Rome falls, so will the world.” -Saint Venerable Bede
47. “Oh Rome! my country! city of the soul!” -Lord Byron, English Poet
48. “Rome is not like any other city. It’s a big museum, a living room that shall be crossed on one’s toes.” -Alberto Sord
49. “Yes, I have finally arrived to this Capital of the World! I now see all the dreams of my youth coming to life… Only in Rome is it possible to understand Rome.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
50. “Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome.” – Robert De Niro
51. “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” -Augustus
Quotes on Venice
If you’ve never been to Venice, it is a sensory overload. From the many weaving streets, gondolas, and street vendors, the place is absolutely teeming with life. While it isn’t my favorite spot in Italy, a visit to Venice, at least once in your life is a must.
52. “Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.” – Truman Capote
53. “A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him.” – Arthur Symons
54. “Venice is the most romantic place in the world but it’s even better when there is no one around.” –Woody Allen
55. “This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty this city, half fairytale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism.” – Thomas Mann
56. “If I were not King of France, I would choose to be a citizen of Venice.” – Henry III of France
57. “Paris is an ideal place to become informed, while Venice is a place to think and write.” – Pontus Hulten
58. “Venice, the most touristy place in the world, is still just completely magic to me.” – Frances Mayes
59. “Venice is eternity itself.” – Joseph Brodsky
Quotes About Florence
To wrap this article up, I am featuring different quotes about Florence that will inspire you to travel and book a trip to one of the best cities for art and culture.
60. “To see the sun sink down, drowned on his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city to a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy.” – Mark Twain
61. “When I walk up the piazza of Santa Croce I feel as if it were not a Florentine nor an European church but a church built by and for the human race”. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
62. “Everything about Florence seems to be colored with a mild violet, like diluted wine.” -Henry James
63. “And when I thought of Florence, it was like a miracle city embalmed and like a corolla, because it was called the city of lilies and its cathedral, St. Mary of the Flowers.” -Marcel Proust
64. “Through these old streets I wander dreamily; Around me Florence sweeps her busy tide of life.”
-William Leighton
65. “This is the fairest picture on our planet, the most enchanting to look upon, the most satisfying to the eye and the spirit. To see the sun sink down, drowned on his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim and faint and turn the solid city to a city of dreams, is a sight to stir the coldest nature, and make a sympathetic one drunk with ecstasy.”
-Mark Twain
66. “Among the four old bridges that span the river, the Ponte Vecchio, that bridge which is covered with the shops of jewelers and goldsmiths, is a most enchanting feature in the scene. The space of one house, in the center, being left open, the view beyond, is shown as in a frame; and that precious glimpse of sky, and water, and rich buildings, shining so quietly among the huddled roofs and gables on the bridge, is exquisite”. -Charles Dickens
67. In Paris, you learn wit, in London you learn to crush your social rivals, and in Florence you learn poise.
-Virgil Thomas
There you have it! A collection of stunning quotes that will instantly make you fall in love with Italy! Now on to you. Which one of these quotes did you love the most? Let me know in the comment section below.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out our list of other quotes.
- Best Travel Quotes
- Best Mountain Quotes
- Best Adventure Quotes
- Best Solo Travel Quotes
- Best Outdoor Quotes
- Funny Travel Quotes
Inspired? Pin It!
