Take A Leaf Out Of The Latest Travel Books

There’s a slew of glossy, new travel books hitting bookshelves this month—perfect for inspiring you for your next travels.

Moroseta Kitchen (15 August 2024, Quadrille, £30) may be a seasonal Italian cookbook from Giorgia Eugenia Goggi, resident chef of design-led hotel Masseria Moroseta, but, through its recipes and destination photography, the pages also take you from the kitchen and into the Puglian landscape.

Tucked away in a five-hectare olive grove, Masseria Moroseta is found in Ostuni, Puglia. Since 2017, Giorgia has been at the helm of its restaurant, Moroseta Kitchen, that is an integral part of the farmhouse hotel, harnessing the abundance of produce from the surrounding land and tapping into a network of the finest local producers. As a result, Giorgia’s cooking draws in guests from around the world, with the hotel’s 45-cover restaurant boasting a waitlist of over 300 people per night in peak season. From her spontaneous and ingredient-led menus to curating a unique dining experience, Moroseta Kitchen’s ethos is to provide a true expression of modern Italy and what it is like to eat there.

“I grew up in a family that always considered food to be the founding element of our togetherness and an expression of love,” says Giorgia, in her introduction to the book. “Our everyday meals were carefully prepared using seasonal ingredients, cooked the right way, with an essential, ethical and elegant approach that I still envy: pasta with butter, Parmesan, a little black pepper and a few basil leaves torn by hand—shiny, perfectly emulsified, delicate, but with well-defined aromas, and passatelli in chicken broth, served on foggy winter evenings, with a lemon and nutmeg aroma that I could recognise among a thousand.”

The imagery, all shot on film, places the reader directly in the Puglian landscape, which, says Giorgia, has an extreme beauty: “The blue sea, the red earth, the centuries-old olive trees, the quality of the ingredients, the cultural and historical depth.”

She continues: “You have to get to know it slowly, you have to learn its language and customs in order to get to the real Puglia—that of small villages, peasant traditions, patron saints and endless family lunches; this strong foundation gave me confidence, I felt rooted and safe in that place, protected and at the same time free to create.”

The book features recipes that reflect each season: think: Roasted Vegetable Gazpacho, Citrus Risotto, Pasta e Ceci and Fig Leaf Gelato with Apricot Sorbet. Above all, says the author, Moroseta Kitchen encapsulates the warm hospitality and convivial atmosphere of time spent at Masseria Moroseta.

“Puglia is rich in traditions, rooted and radical in its attachment to its ways,” writes the chef. “All this rustic simplicity and authenticity of meaning was enlightening for me. In Puglia, all families have their habits: fresh pasta made by grandmothers, the olive harvest all together, the ritual of tomato sauce at the end of August. There is a strong sense of community and the villages are still full of life. Everyone helps each other, everyone knows each other…”

Meanwhile, Assouline—renowned for its coffee table series of travel titles—has launched a batch of new covetable books. Marbella Sol (May 2024, assouline.com, £85), with text by Nicholas Foulkes, looks at the kaleidoscopic nature of the Spanish town.

“The result of successive waves of visitors who have left their marks over the years, Marbella is a social archaeological site where generations have lived lives of sun-gilded leisure. Today the popular image of Marbella may be of a sort of European Miami, but one need only scratch this glitzy surface to be taken back to the time when Marbella was a simpler place.”

Biarritz Basque (6 June, assouline.com, £85), with text by journalist Frédéric Beigbeder, explores the Basque town of Biarritz, found on the southern coast of France. The idyllic town has hosted such luminary visitors as Napoléon III and Coco Chanel—yet it’s also a surfer’s paradise.

“Imagine breathtaking landscapes, a rich cultural tapestry, and the aroma of traditional Basque cuisine lingering in the air. Biarritz exudes an old-world charm, intimately felt on the pelota courts in town and experienced while weaving among the moored wooden fishing boats in Guéthary. Craftsmanship is a time-honored tradition in this region—valuing the handmade process of making makhilas and championing the century-old linen producers.”

Forte dei Marmi (18 June 2024, assouline.com, £85), meanwhile, takes the reader on a journey through Tuscany’s sun-kissed shores.

Writer/filmmaker Edoardo Nesi brings to life the beaches where, “candy-colored umbrellas dot the pristine sands, and in the background, the Apuan Alps stand regally in the distance. Tucked into these mountains, Carrara and Pietrasanta have welcomed and inspired renowned sculptors, from Michelangelo to Jeff Koons.”

The luxury publisher is also known for its collection of titles that celebrate some of the world’s iconic hotels, such as Mexico’s Hotel Escencia (May 2024, assouline.com, £85) and the latest tome, The Peninsula, to mark one one of London’s newest and most luxurious hotels, (June 2024, assouline.com, £85).

Having opened in Belgravia in September 2023, the luxury hotel was London’s first hotel development to exceed £1 billion in cost. The property was the result of a 35-year search for the perfect location by Sir Michael Kadoorie, the chairman of one of the world’s most rarefied hospitality brands and the longest continuously operating hotel group, founded in 1866 in Hong Kong.

Finally, Jonglez Publishing has this month bought out two new titles in its Secret Guide series. Secret Paris, (June 2024, jonglezpublishing.com, £15.99) was written by Thomas Jonglez, the publisher himself. A Parisian by birth and a passionate traveler, Jonglez reveals the lesser-known sides of Paris—from hidden gardens and unknown libraries to insider tips.

Secret Normandy, (June 2024, jonglezpublishing.com, £15.99), meanwhile, showcases historic insights and curiosities—such as an artist’s studio in a castle and a chapel carved out of a trunk of a medieval oak tree—all found beyond the surface of one of France’s most popular regions.