Italian Coloring Book - a Surprise Castle exclusive

24 hand-illustrated scenes from a country of pasta, piazzas, and slow afternoons, from a chef tossing dough to an open-air market of crates.

Pour the wine. Pick up the pencil.

A hand-drawn adult coloring book, 24 scenes that run from Tuscan trattorias and Venetian markets to brick-oven pizzerias and aged-cheese caves. The pace is set by the slow simmer of a sauce and the long pour of a Chianti, not the next notification.

Step into a kitchen where a chef in white coat stirs pots beneath hanging garlic and herbs. Walk to a multi-generational family around a dining table of pasta and wine glasses. Pull up to a chef making ravioli at a wooden counter among flour and rolling pin. Then to a pizzaiolo tossing dough beside a brick wood-fired oven.

The pages keep moving. Kitchen shelves holding Parmigiano Reggiano wheels and glass jars of spices. A trattoria storefront with striped awning, PIZZA and PASTA signs, and round-table seating. A professional kitchen with a chef plating a pizza topped with lemon and herbs. An elderly chef stirring a great pot of pasta with a wooden spoon.

Wander through the country. A wine cellar of wooden barrels and hanging grape bunches. A cafe exterior with scalloped awning and wicker chairs. A festival street scene with hanging lanterns and bunting. A countryside kitchen with fresh tomatoes and an olive-oil cruet.

Keep going. An open-air market stall of crates with peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. A ricotta-filled ravioli sheet with rolling utensil on the counter. A kitchen counter with stand mixer, dough bowls, and flour sifter. A brick fireplace oven with a flaming pizza inside. A winery cellar of barrels and wine bottles. A traditional home kitchen with stone walls and copper cookware. A chef coating gnocchi in herb-infused oil. A Renaissance-style interior with formal dining and candlelight. A market vendor displaying aged cheeses wrapped in paper. A historic kitchen of copper pots and dried herbs. A cheese aging cave with wheels of Parmigiano. And to close, a traditional antipasto display of cured meats, cheeses, olives, and wine bottles.

There's a reason coloring sticks around. It gives a busy mind somewhere to land, and in this case that somewhere is the rind of a Parmigiano wheel or the lattice of a pasta strainer. Some pages are bold and forgiving. Others will eat a whole afternoon. Works fine with colored pencils, fine-tip markers, or gel pens.

If you know someone with a pasta machine on the counter, a friend whose vacation photos are all Tuscany, or anyone who's read every Stanley Tucci book, this is for them. It's also for the person who'd quietly rather shade a brick-oven pizza on a Saturday than scroll.

Buon appetito.

Inside you'll find 24 scenes: a chef stirring pots under hanging garlic, a multi-generational family at a pasta dinner, a chef making ravioli at a wooden counter, a pizzaiolo tossing dough beside a brick oven, kitchen shelves with Parmigiano and spice jars, a trattoria storefront with PIZZA sign, a chef plating pizza with herbs, an elderly chef stirring a great pasta pot, a wine cellar of barrels and grapes, a cafe exterior with scalloped awning, a festival street with bunting, a countryside kitchen with tomatoes and basil, an open-air market with crates, a ricotta ravioli sheet, a kitchen counter with stand mixer and flour, a brick oven with a flaming pizza, a winery cellar with barrels, a traditional stone-walled home kitchen, a chef plating gnocchi in oil, a Renaissance candlelit interior, a market vendor with aged cheeses, a historic kitchen with copper pots, a cheese aging cave with Parmigiano wheels, and a traditional antipasto display.