• Cookbooks can be divided into two categories: lifestyle picture books that contain recipes, stories and anecdotes, and true how-to books that give you a primer in the how and why behind hundreds of recipes. Italian cooking to most Americans consisted of spaghetti and tomato sauce until the 1970s, when the first wave of regional Italian cookbooks was published. It was then that the average American was exposed to the variety and subtlety of Italian cooking. The best Italian cookbooks delve into these regional cuisines and present the trademark techniques behind them.
  
  

Marcella Hazan

• Hazan is renowned as the woman who brought Italian food as we know it to the American public. Her books "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" and "The Classic Italian Cookbook" took true Italian cuisine and made it accessible to the masses at a time when chefs in the French tradition like Julia Child ruled the airwaves. Polenta, risotto and tortellini became part of American cooking vernacular and Italian cooking was seen in all its variety and depth.
  
  

Guliano Bugialli

• "The Fine Art of Italian Cooking" and "Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking" displayed the techniques and signatures of Italians to the cooks of the 1980s and beyond. Buglialli showed that Italian cooking was not too difficult for the average cook by taking the time to thoroughly show and tell precisely how to prepare his dishes and to use basic Italian ingredients. He also introduced the accent on fresh, local seasonal ingredients that is the hallmark of traditional Italian cuisine.
  
  

'The Silver Spoon'

• This 60-year-old cookbook, known in Italy as "Il Cucchiaio d'Argento," is an extensive collection of nearly 2,000 recipes that span generations and regions and represent the breadth of Italian cooking. For most of its existence, it was not available in English, but there is now a definitive English version that includes modern recipes from greats such as Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batalli. It is still one of the most popular cookbooks in Italy to this day.
  
  

'The Talisman'

• "Il Talismano" by Ada Boni is one of the best-selling cookbooks in Italy, even though it is nearly 50 years old. It is as indispensable to Italian households as the familiar red and white Better Homes and Gardens cookbook is to most American homes. It covers the basic recipes from the diverse regions of Italy, giving a terrific overview of the high points of each region's specialties.
  
  

'Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well'

• This book by Pellegrino Artusi is the granddaddy of all Italian cookbooks. Written in 1891, it was one of the first Italian cookbooks to cover regional cuisine in a definitive way. Before that, cooking was very regional in nature, as Italian food is based on using the best ingredients from the local area. People did not generally prepare recipes from outside their region. Artusi's book changed that. It was not widely available in English for a very long time, but now there are a few different versions available in English. The book is still widely popular in its native country more than 100 years later.