101 Italy Quotes & Dreamy Italy Instagram Captions

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Looking for beautiful quotes about Italy? The country nicknamed the Bel Paese has inspired novelists, historians, and travel writers for centuries. From its stunning coastlines to its dazzling cities, Italy never ceases to delight. Whether you’re looking for travel inspiration or Italy Instagram captions, here are my favorite Italy quotes.

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The Best Quotes about Italy & Italy Travel Quotes

The name of Italy has magic in its very syllables. –Mary Shelley

Italy’s siren call lures us more and more. –Frances Mayes

We are all pilgrims who seek Italy. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life. -Anna Akhmatova

Even now I miss Italy dearly, I dream about it every night. -Eila Hiltunen

One of the great joys of traveling through Italy is discovering firsthand that it is, indeed, a dream destination. -Debra Levinson

A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. -Samuel Johnson

Your Italy and our Italia are not the same thing. Italy is a soft drug peddled in predictable packages, such as hills in the sunset, olive groves, lemon trees, white wine, and raven-haired girls. Italia, on the other hand, is a maze. It’s alluring, but complicated. It’s the kind of place that can have you fuming and then purring in the space of a hundred meters, or in the course of ten minutes. Italy is the only workshop in the world that can turn out both Botticellis and Berlusconis. –Beppe Severgnini

For us to go to Italy and to penetrate into Italy is like a most fascinating act of self-discovery. -D.H. Lawrence

Everything in Italy that is particularly elegant and grand borders upon insanity and absurdity or at least is reminiscent of childhood. -Alexander Herzen

It is a place that ‘grows upon you’ every day. There seems to be always something to find out in it. There are the most extraordinary alleys and by-ways to walk about in. You can lose your way (what a comfort that is, when you are idle!) twenty times a day, if you like; and turn up again, under the most unexpected and surprising difficulties. It abounds in the strangest contrasts; things that are picturesque, ugly, mean, magnificent, delightful, and offensive, break upon the view at every turn. –Charles Dickens

My idea of heaven still is to drive the gravel farm roads of Umbria and Tuscany, very pleasantly lost. –Frances Mayes (This is the perfect Italy quote for a Tuscany road trip!)

A man has not fully lived until he experiences that gentle balmy clime of ancient empires, the land of lemon trees and the genius of Michelangelo. –E.A. Bucchianeri

Italian cities have long been held up as ideals, not least by New Yorkers and Londoners enthralled by the ways their architecture gives beauty and meaning to everyday acts. –Rebecca Solnit

The Creator made Italy by designs from Michelangelo. -Mark Twain

The greatest joy was moving into Italy. Italy has changed me, for the better. –Efrat Cybulkiewicz

Italy, like areas of her childhood, is a part of her world she has always kept secret from her husband. These are places she goes to renew her virginity. –Glenn Haybittle

Life offers you a thousand chances… all you have to do is take one. –Frances Mayes

You may have the universe if I may have Italy. -Giuseppe Verdi

In America, one must be something, but in Italy one can simply be. –Pietros Maneos

Traveling is the ruin of all happiness! There’s no looking at a building after seeing Italy. -Fanny Burney

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

No, mother; no. She was really keen on Italy. This travel is quite a crisis for her.” He found the situation full of whimsical romance: there was something half attractive, half repellent in the thought of this vulgar woman journeying to places he loved and revered. Why should she not be transfigured? The same had happened to the Goths. –E.M. Forster

There are olive trees outside and the imagined smell of their bark and silvered leaves brings with it the first unfurling of some new imperative she feels coiled up within her. Her whole body with a joyful shout knows it is back in Italy. –Glenn Haybittle

Is there anywhere in the world as full of beauty as Italy? –Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera

What I remember most about those days is how happy we all were. When I think back on my life growing up on Terra d’Amore, tides of warm memories wash over me like the waves of the Mediterranean. Our little farm, nestled in the hills and valleys of Montecalvo just outside Bologna, was idyllic. Indeed, it was an Italian paradise…veritable heaven. –Giacomino Nicolazzo

She was a grown-up, divorced woman now, on her own. She’d gotten herself this far, she could get herself around Italy too. –Carol Grace,

This was the Italy that fed her soul, where hope was restored and broken hearts were mended in the hands of great artists. –Adriana Trigiani

When life gives you twists and turns, Chique Yourself Up in Italy! –Barbara Conelli

In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. -Orson Welles

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

If the landscape of human emotion were to exist in country, it would be in Italy. -Lisa Fantino

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

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

Wasting time is something that people do or feel all over the world, not just in Italy. -Paolo Sorrentino

Italy and London are the only places where I don’t feel to exist on sufferance. –E.M. Forster

Here we are at last. The Italian proverb says “See Naples and die” but I say, see Naples and live; for there seems a great deal worth living for. –Arthur John Strutt

Where you are is who you are. The further inside you the place moves, the more your identity is intertwined with it. Never casual, the choice of place is the choice of something you crave. –Frances Mayes

Italy, all the same, had spoiled a great many people; he was even fatuous enough to believe at times that he himself might have been a better man if he had spent less of his life there. –Henry James

When I come to reflect on the subject, in no country have I received such honors or been so esteemed as in Italy, and nothing contributes more to a man’s fame than to have written Italian operas, and especially for Naples. -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Who can resist sleep at two or three in the afternoon in these sunlit parts of the Mediterranean? –André Aciman

How beautiful is sunset, when the glow of Heaven descends upon a land like thee, Thou Paradise of exiles, Italy! -Percy Bysshe Shelley

That which at twilight had appeared to be a silvery sea-god’s palace, a structure of twisted sea-shapes, was now a temple built by the cunning genies of Fire. –Gabriele D’Annunzio

Quotes About Italian People

And don’t, let me beg you, go with that awful tourist idea that Italy’s only a museum of antiquities and art. Love and understand the Italians, for the people are more marvelous than the land. –E.M. Forster

Indeed, when I came to Italy, I expected to encounter a certain amount of resentment, but have received instead empathy from most Italians. In any reference to George Bush, people only nod to Berlusconi, saying,’We understand how it is – we have one, too.’ –Elizabeth Gilbert

America with its expansive youth, building all those drive-in movie theaters and cowboy restaurants; Italians living in endless contraction, in the artifacts of generations, in the bones of empires. –Jess Walter

The reality is that when you visit Italy, you’ll be hijacked by relatives of all sorts; the entire family tree is waiting to meet you. –Ivanka Di Felice

The Italians were getting so accustomed to tragedies and disasters that their appetite for sensation was becoming jaded. –Timothy Holme

He knows his olive trees better than he knows his children. –Rebecca Helm-Ropelato

The Italians are called “Children of the Sun”. They might better be called “Children of the Shadow”. Their souls are dark and nocturnal. –D. H. Lawrence

Totally contrary to my genetic makeup, contrary to my usual behavior and preferences, contrary to all logic, I fell madly in love with Italy, its people and its chaos. –Nancy Yuktonis Solak

In Italy there are about 60 million people and we know how high is the percentage of morons on national soil. –Carl William Brown

I love Italy. For hundreds of years, if not centuries, the people of italy (Italians) have been living here. –Tom Gleisner

In Italy, even the policemenists look like they’ve just come off a catwalk. One I found, standing on a rostrum in the middle of a Roman square, was immaculate, as was his routine. Each wave of the hand, each toot of the whistle and each twist of the body was Pans People perfect. Never mind that the traffic was completely ignoring him, he looked good, and that’s what mattered. Looking good in Italy is even more important than looking where you’re going. –Jeremy Clarkson

The pride taken by the Italians in their gifted women is among the most important facts in the history of their Renaissance. –Walter Shaw Sparrow

Italian Food Quotes

It is estimated that Italians eat an average of sixty pounds of pasta yearly— a large bowl of pasta six days a week. –Dinah Fried

Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy. -Bertrand Russell

Italy will always have the best food. -Diane von Furstenberg

In Italy, they add work and life on to food and wine. -Robin Leach

Italy is my destiny; it calls to me to return home. –Melissa Muldoon

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

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

The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again. -George Miller

Cooking is about surrender. –Tembi Locke

Italian cuisine is the most famous and beloved cuisine in the world for a reason. Accessible, comforting, seemingly simple but endlessly delicious, it never disappoints, just as it seems to never change. –Matt Goulding

I spent the next couple of hours either walking around with a gelato in my hand or on my knees in church asking to be forgiven for the sin of gluttony. –Mark Leslie

Even gelato, which used to be divine all over Italy, is not dependably good anymore. –Frances Mayes

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

If you can’t find any grappa, half a cup of cough medicine should achieve similar results. –Tom Gleisner

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

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 s**y. Of course I don’t know how these men behave at home, if they help with the cooking or are vain and boorish and mistreat their wives. I realized Mediterranean cultures have their issues. Fine, don’t burst my bubble. I didn’t want to marry these guys, I just wanted to watch. -Barbara Kingsolver

I think that lunch is one of the most enjoyable and important things in the day. But you need to create the space and the time to do just that. And in Italy, we do that. -Lidia Bastianich

It was the greatest thing in the world getting fat. Every meal out was an event. Or we’d go to Italy and we’d have pasta, truffles, and dessert and then plan the next incredible meal. It was a happy-go-lucky time. I never had so much fun. -Kirstie Alley

Whether a gastronomic tour of Italy, an elegant meal at the home of an Italian acquaintance, or “cooking Italian” back in one’s own kitchen, the prospect is mouth-watering. –Claudia Piras

Five tender apricots in a blue bowl, a brief and exact promise of things to come. –Frances Mayes

Italian Weather Quotes

It’s a diamond isle of paradise beneath a black sky! Welcome to a crisp Italian January! -Rebecca McNutt

The days go by, through the brief silence of winter, when the sunshine is so still and pure, like iced wine, and the dead leaves gleam brown, and water sounds hoarse in the ravines. –D.H. Lawrence

Sometimes the valley below is like a bowl filled up with fog. I can see hard green figs on two trees and pears on a tree just below me. A fine crop coming in. May summer last a hundred years. –Frances Mayes

The sun woke Tino early this beautiful morning in his small Italian village. –Tonya Russo Hamilton

In Italy, they say rain on your wedding day is symbolic of fresh beginnings, cleansing, a pure marriage, and also a wet knot that can’t be untied. -Whitney Wolfe Herd

She had always been fond of history, and here was history in the stones of the street and the atoms of the sunshine. –Henry James

We had never before been to Italy in May, and it is truly the most wonderful month. The Lucchese countryside is a riot of colour and scent. Every road, even the busy autostrada, is lined with brilliant red poppies, making the most mundane street look picturesque. The olive trees dotting the hills are covered with silvery green and the pale cream of new buds, while the grass is tall and soft, every patch threaded with wildflowers. –Louise Badger

Quotes About Not Liking Italy

I wish Italy would stop being a crybaby. I wish he would kick his bad habit of wanting to eat pasta everywhere. I wish he would stop getting a stomachache every time he ate geleto. –Hidekaz Himaruya

In Italy we have not a Common law legal system, we have a stupid one instead! –Carl William Brown

the city of Naples was like this: wonderful from a distance, but when seen close up, it was fragmentary, indefinable, and coarse. –Franco di Mare

The Vatican is a dagger in the heart of Italy. -Thomas Paine

So I am perfectly free to buy any goods that are legally sold throughout Europe, provided that they can be delivered, even though they are not legal in Italy, even because in Italy only stupidity is legal. –Carl William Brown

Did I miss any of your favorite Italy jokes or puns? If so, leave it in the comments, and I’ll add it to the list!

5 Things to Pack for Your Trip to Italy

Greece - Crete - Stephanie Luggage — Staying in hostels? Make sure your bags will fit into their lockers.

The Lonely Planet Italy guidebook or the Rick Steves Italy guidebook for your trip. It can be kind of a pain to find the major guidebooks once you arrive in Italy, or you’ll find them overpriced. I always like to pick mine up ahead of time.

An Unlocked Cell Phone so that you can use an Italian sim card while here to help navigate the trains.

Backup Charging Bank for your cell phone since you’ll be using it as a camera, GPS system, and general travel genie.

A Camera since Italy is super photogenic. I use a mix of my Nikon D810 and my Samsung8 smartphone these days.

A Great Day Bag so you can carry what you need with you (like your camera, snacks, water, sunscreen, cash, etc). My current favorite is the Pacsafe Citysafe, which is especially great for Italy because it has many anti-theft features.

More Italy Resources

If you’re going to be visiting Rome, check out my interview with Mike Duncan on the history of the Roman Forum. I also have three episodes about Rome on Rick Steves Over Brunch, including this episode on Rome recorded with Rick Steves himself!

And of course, you’ll want to read 50 Beautiful Rome Quotes and the best Rome puns. In addition, I have guides to visiting Ostia Antica from Rome and how to choose between Pompeii or Ostia Antica.

If you’re headed to Venice, check out my podcast episode Rick Steves Over Brunch: Venice and my collection of quotes about Venice and hilarious Venice puns and jokes.

Headed to Milan? Be sure to check out these beautiful ancient Milan churches while you’re there!

Finally, check out my list of books to read before your vacation in Italy and the best Italy puns.

Want more Travel Quotes?

I’m a little obsessed with travel quotes. If you are too, check out this massive guide to 250 Inspirational Travel Quotes & Travel Instagram Captions, plus:

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance!

Before you leave for Italy make sure you have a valid Travel Insurance Policy because accidents happen on the road. I pay for World Nomads, and I happily recommend them. It’s especially important to get travel insurance if you’ll be hanging out in cities (like Rome…ahem) where tourists can be the victims of pickpockets. Italy is the only country I’ve been to (out of almost seventy) where I’ve had someone try to pick my pocket!

I have been a paying customer of World Nomads for travel insurance for two years, and I happily recommend them. If you get sick, injured, or have your stuff stolen, you’ll be happy to have the ability to pay for your medical bills or replace what’s stolen or broken.