First reports on Buddhism arrived in Italy in the sixteenth century through Italian Catholic missionaries. Later several scholars developed a philological and philosophical understanding of it. The attitude toward Buddhism changed from an anthropological interest to a philological study. In the academic field of philology the Theravāda tradition and the Siamese edition of Tripitaka had great importance. The spread of Buddhism in Italy in the nineteenth century also increasingly influenced Italian culture and ideas. Outside of academic debate Buddhism became a subject of apologetics and philosophy as well as a topic of general interest. This essay is based on books and printed material published in Italy before the twentieth century. It contains the complete bibliography of Italian studies on Buddhism in the nineteenth century. Some texts cited in this essay are unpublished or rare documents from Italian archives.