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Any thoughts on a basic (classic) italian cooking book? 

I'm not thinking Nigella but rather something more like Sud de France type of thing? 

(I've got Pollopo (sp?) which is pretty good but is very focused on a single area) 

Hi, junklight -

Marcella Hazan has always written great Italian cookbooks, especially Essential of Classic Italian Cooking - anything of hers at all, I suspect, would do the trick.  Also Lidia Bastianch especially La Cucina di Lidia:  Recipes & Memories frok Italy's Adriatic Coast.

I've got one Mario Battali book, Babbo, from which I've prepared surprisingly little - but many consider him the benchmark.

Excellent - some promising looking ones there! Thank you 

Here are a few more to consider:

Carlo Middione has a couple of cookbooks that I like a lot.  Everything I have ever tried from Food of Southern Italy has been wonderful.  The same goes for La Vera Cucina, although I have not cooked as much from that one.

I also am a big fan of Lynn Kasper. The Splendid Table is a classic that focuses on Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy.  The recipes are relavatory.  There are great explanations to explain and put the food and recipes in context.  The Italian Country Table is also quite good.  Like Middione's second book, it does not stick to a single region but rather features everyday uncomplicated cooking.

Here is a third suggestion, but only if you are up to searching for a used copy and don't mind recipes that, while not complicated, are brief and do not hold your hand.  Ada Boni's Italian Regional Cooking is the book that opened my eyes to Italian cooking when I was just starting out.  My copy of Hazan's Essentials came later!  I love Hazan's cookbooks but this gem covers so much more territory, almost literally.  The recipes come from all over Italy, not just the regions we are most familiar with here where I am (in the US).  So much was new and unfamiliar to me and now, still, many years later, when I open the book there seems much to discover.  

Buon appetito!

(I hope I spelled that right. :))

Besides Ada Boni's excellent book two other comprehensive classic Italian cookbooks have been published in English -- The Silver Spoon and La Cucina.  They're Italy's equivalent of The Joy of Cooking.  Lots of recipes from all regions of Italy.  One of the sections in Silver Spoon I really like is about the vegetarian tarts, like Torta Pasqualina, that are lenten specialties but have become popular year round as light lunches or mid-afternoon snacks!  There's much more to Italian cooking than pasta and pizza!

I have enjoyed Stir, mixing it up in the Italian tradition by Barbara Lynch.  A truly beautiful book , worth adding to a collection.

Highly recommend Anna del Conte for Northern Italian.  Fantastic recipes and a very gifted writer.

Most of Mario Batali's books contain very basic, simple recipes: Simple Italian Food, Molto Gusto, Molto Batali, and Molto Italiano are all go-to books at my house.  They are presented well graphically and easy to follow.  I'm a big fan.  He always highlights the essence of Italian cooking -- a few quality ingredients prepared simply.

three very tippycal cook books you will find in a lot of itallian kitchens are:

1. Il talimano della felicita - a true classic from the 1920ies

2. The Silver Spoon - a more modern version but still a true classic and probably the most known cookbook in Italy

Giorgio Locatelli's "Made in Italy" is less traditional but I like it very much and believe it has most classic dishes in it.