| 100% | OTRANTO | 7 | Italian city, setting of a Walpole novel |
| 85% | OTRANTO | 7 | Italian city that is the title setting of a Walpole novel |
| 55% | MAINE | 5 | Setting of many a Stephen King novel |
| 51% | ASIA | 4 | Setting of a Kevin Kwan trilogy of novels featuring "crazy rich" people |
| 49% | PADUA | 5 | Italian city where "The Taming of the Shrew" is set |
| 49% | MILA | 4 | ___ 18 (title setting of a 1961 novel) |
| 49% | PARMA | 5 | Italian city that lends its name to a type of cheese |
| 49% | GENOA | 5 | Italian city that lends its name to a style of salami |
| 48% | DYSTOPIA | 8 | Idea of a bad world, setting for novels like 1984 |
| 48% | DUNCES | 6 | A Confederacy of __, novel set in New Orleans |
| 48% | FAREWELL | 8 | "A ___ to Arms," novel by Ernest Hemingway set during the Italian campaign of World War I |
| 47% | MAINE | 5 | Portland's state and setting of many a Stephen King novels |
| 46% | WAYSIDESCHOOL | 13 | Setting for a series of novels by 30-Across (2 wds.) |
| 46% | LEE | 3 | Harper —, author of 2015 novel Go Set a Watchman |
| 45% | CASERTA | 7 | Italian city whose Royal Palace has been used as a set in two "Star Wars" films |
| 44% | NAPOLI | 6 | Italian name for a port city often credited as the home of pizza |
| 44% | ARSON | 5 | Setting of a fire maliciously |
| 44% | BABEL | 5 | Setting of a biblical tower |
| 44% | YALTA | 5 | Setting of a 1945 conference |
| 44% | ROAD | 4 | Setting of a fork, perhaps |
| 44% | CALVINO | 7 | Italo —, Italian author of the novels Invisible Cities and The Nonexistent Knight |
| 44% | SYDNEYCARTON | 12 | London barrister in 1859 Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities |
| 44% | BOTSWANA | 8 | Setting of the Bessie Head novel “A Question of Power” |
| 43% | TALE | 4 | "A ___ of Two Cities" (Charles Dickens novel) |
| 43% | TWO | 3 | "A Tale of ___ Cities" (Charles Dickens novel) |
| 43% | COPA | 4 | Setting of a Barry Manilow hit |
| 43% | POKERFLAT | 9 | Setting of a Bret Harte tale |
| 43% | SAIGON | 6 | Setting of a 1991 Broadway musical |
| 43% | SEATTLE | 7 | Setting of a Ryan-Hanks film |
| 43% | AMITYVILLE | 10 | Setting of a 1979 horror flick |