The following reference sources, mainly dictionaries and encyclopedias, are highlighted here and can be found on level 3 in the PQ call number area. Often such books are a good way to get started; in helping you decide what you're interested in; in checking facts and looking up and translating words; in suggesting paper topics; in providing appropriate vocabulary (keywords) that can be used for later exploration, and often whose entries conclude with a bibliography that can lead you to related resources.
Below this entry are book suggestions for
Italian History & Culture
Italian Language.
Electronic Italian Dictionaries
The Cambridge History of Italian Literature by 
Dictionary of Italian Literature by 
Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies by 
The Feminist Encyclopedia of Italian Literature by 
The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature by 
Digital collection of Italian and Spanish e-books in the arts & humanities, and language & literature; content is searchable by title and publisher.
The Dante Encyclopedia by The following book recommendations are found in the Ref DG section (Italian history):
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture by 
Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy by 
Italy: fiction, theater, poetry, film since 1950 by 
Migration Italy: the art of talking back in a destination culture by 
The Regions of Italy by The following are dictionaries, in most cases multivolume sets, scholarly works in themselves, that provide all possible meanings and spellings of an Italian word; grammatical examples and quoted examples, including when the word was first used.
Dictionary of Italian Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Dizionario dei proverbi italiani: [25,000 detti memorabili, origini e storia del proverbio, i frammenti di saggezza...] by Grande dizionario dell'uso by 
Grande dizionario della lingua italiana by Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione by 
Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionary by 
