Best Books on Italian Witchcraft

1 | Ways of Strega: Italian Witchcraft: Its Legends, Lore, & Spells

BY RAVEN GRIMASSI

Llewellyn Publications, First Edition, February 8, 2000

Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

In Ways of the Strega, Raven Grimassi describes modern-day Strega or witch practices and traditions. It also provides a history of ritual, tradition, beliefs, and practices of Italian witchcraft that once dominated Southern Europe.

2 | Under the Devil’s Spell: Witches, Sorcerers, and the Inquisition in Renaissance Italy

BY MATTEO DUNI

Syracuse University Press, November 7, 2007

Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

Matteo Duni reconstructs Italy’s “Tribunal of Faith” from 1400-1600 in Under the Devil’s Spell. Duni examines the ideology of its judges and takes a closer look at the witches and their clients as recorded in the State Archives of Moderna.

3 | The Strega and the Dreamer

BY THERESA C. DINTINO

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, June 13, 2012

Historical Fiction

In The Strega and the Dreamer, Theresa C. Dintino tells of a man who is willing to give up everything to pursue his dream of living in America and the woman he loves, who is a Strega, midwife, and healer, and is committed to the people in her village.

4 | The Grimoire of Jana: Grimoire of Italian Witchcraft

BY JANA MARI

Independently Published, April 8, 2018

Magical Realism

Jana Mari explores the power of magic and traditional spells of Italian witches through herbs, flowers, and words of power in The Grimoire of Jana.

5 | The Book of the Holy Strega

BY RAVEN GRIMASSI

Old Ways Press, January 6, 2012

Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

The Book of the Holy Strega is a seminal work that combines historical and folkloric sources. Raven Grimassi provides a view of the misconceptions of “historical witchcraft” and presents a new approach to understanding how fantasy became regarded as fact.

6 | Burn A Black Candle: An Italian American Grimoire

BY DEE NORMAN

Watkins Publishing, September 13, 2022

Magical Studies

In Burn A Black Candle, Dee Norman shares unwritten secrets of an Italian-American family’s magical tradition passed down from generation to generation. This spellbook provides introductions to the basics of authentic Italian-American magical practice.

7 | The Rituals: A Strega’s Grimoire

BY PATRICIA DELLA-PIANA

Lulu.com, June 24, 2007

Religion & Spirituality

Patricia Della-Piana shares a collection of age-old rituals in A Strega’s Grimoire. Some were written for friends and have elements of Wicca or any other of the several pathways practiced today. Some are distinctly Strega, and all have the kiss of Stregoneria in them.

8 | Strega: A Novel

BY JOHANNE LYKKE HOLM

Riverhead Books, November 15, 2022

Gothic Fiction

In modern gothic tradition, Johanne Lykke Holm, in Strega, tells the story of nine young women sent to work at a remote Alpine hotel and what happens when one goes missing.

9 | The Cimaruta and Other Magical Charms From Old Italy

BY RAVEN GRIMASSI

CreateSpace, September 21, 2012

Raven Grimassi describes the old lore of Italy in The Cimaruta. He explains the cimaruta charm in both folk magic and witchcraft. Grimassi explores each symbol of the charm and provides his insights on them.

10 | Italian Folktales

BY ITALO CALVINO

Mariner Books, August 26, 2013

Folklore & Mythology, Fairy Tales

Italo Calvino shares over 200 hundred tales of kings and peasants, saints and ogres, plants and animals in a humorous, sometimes nonsensical tone in Italian Folktales.

11 | Italian Folk Magic

BY MARY-GRACE FAHRUN

Weiser Books, May 1, 2018

Witchcrafts Religion & Spirituality, Magic Studies

A reader will journey through the heart of everyday Italian folk magical practices in Italian Folk Magic. Mary-Grace Fahrun describes magical practices for healing, sex, love, and revenge along with the malocchio, or the evil eye, and how to get rid of it.

12 | Italian Witchcraft Charms & Neapolitan Witchcraft

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

Pierides Press, August 3, 2010

Magical Studies, Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

Italian Witchcraft Charms & Neapolitan Witchcraft provides articles on the early 1900s rural Southern Italian witchcraft, including its superstitions and beliefs.

13 | Stregheria: Italian Traditional Witchcraft

BY CHARLES LELAND

CreateSpace, February 18, 2015

Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

In Stregheria, Charles Leland shares the results of his research, including several magic formulas, tales, and poems.

14 | Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe

BY RAVEN GRIMASSI

Llewellyn Publications, February 8, 2000

Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

In Italian Witchcraft, Raven Grimassi shares the history of this ancient Italian tradition, its legends and myths, and the rituals and rites that are valid today.

15 | Magick at the Crossroads: Italian Folk Magic & The Old Religion

BY GIANMICHAEL SALVATO

Lulu.com, June 1, 2019

Occultism, Witchcraft Religion & Spirituality

Gianmichael Salvato shares in Magick at the Crossroads his family’s tradition and the tradition of thousands of other Italian and Sicilian practitioners from antiquity to the postmodern world.  

16 | Italian Magic: Secret Lives of Women

BY KARYN CRISIS

Karyn Krol-Tiso, October 31, 2020

Spirituality

Karyn Crisis shares in Italian Magic the holistic system of daily sacred magic indigenous to Italy and her islands, whose traditions existed in all rural communities regardless of cultural influences

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