Paper escapes

Steven King selects his best travel books of 2024

- Steven King

Reschio: The First Thousand Years

Steven King (Rizzoli, £85)

I KNOW, I know—I wrote this one, so I probably shouldn’t be writing about it here. It’s included on this list at the request of COUNTRY LIFE’s kind-hearted Travel Editor. You can decide for yourself about the merits of the book. The merits of its subject, the Reschio of the title, a large estate in Italy’s rural Umbria, however, are beyond dispute, and have nothing to do with me. (Best-case scenario, from my point of view: go to Reschio, pick up a copy of the book when of view: go to Reschio, pick up a copy of the book when you’re there and leave with ecstatic feelings about both.)

The estate is outrageously beautiful and historically rich, even by Italian standards. Despite its out-of-the-way location, a great deal of life has swept by, just beyond or occasionally within its borders. The recent transformation of its 11th-century castle from a fortress into the chicest hotel in the country— from a place designed to keep people out to one intended to welcome them in—is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Fifth Avenue: 200 Years of Stories and Legends

Julie Satow (Assouline, £85)