Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy (1996) is the captivating story of an English professor and poet from San Francisco whose love of travel and new places leads her and her companion to buy a house in Tuscany, a house in much need of renovation. As we experience the frustrations of the remodelling project, we also delight in the descriptions of the land, the food, the culture, and the history of the people they meet. (SEE ALSO the movie of the same name.)
More by Frances Mayes
A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller. 2006.
Shrines: Images of Italian Worship. 2005 [Text by Mayes; Photographs by Steven Rothfeld]
Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy. 2004.
Swan: A Novel. 2002.
The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems. 2001.
In Tuscany. 2000.
Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy. 1999.
Hours. 1984 [Poetry]
The Arts of Fire. 1982 [Poetry]
After Such Pleasures. 1979 [Poetry]
Sunday in another Country. 1977 [Poetry]
About Frances Mayes
Official Web Site
Articles
Salon
San Francisco State University Magazine Online
Interviews
AnnOnline
January Magazine
The Paula Gordon Show
Reader’s Club
Reviews of Under the Tuscan Sun
Becker, Alida, “A Domestic Sensualist,” The New York Times, November 17, 1996.
BookReporter.com
Eklund, Sondra, Sonderbooks, April 24, 2002.
http://www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/undertuscansun.html
The Rebecca Review.com
http://www.seasonedwithlove.com/under_the_tuscan_sun_frances_mayes.htm
Roop, Ophelia Georgiev, “Living Vicariously in Tuscany,” originally published in the San Bernardino Sun, October 5, 2003.
http://www.sbpl.org/oct_5_03.html
Sizemore, Deborah Lightfoot, “Surprising One’s Life,” originally published in Friends News, Fort Worth Public Library, Winter, 1998.
http://members2.authorsguild.net/djlightfoot/work7.htm
Stearns, Carolyn, RebeccasReads, April 1, 2001.
http://www.rebeccasreads.com/reviews/12nonfic/12mayf81.html
Tuscany
These titles reflect some aspects of life in Tuscany, particularly the culture, the history, and the experiences undergone by different people.
De Blasi, Marlena. A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure. 2004.
Hamilton, Lyn. The Etruscan Chimera: An Archaeological Mystery. 2002 [Fiction] ]
Kerper, Barrie, compiler. Central Italy, Tuscany & Umbria. 2000.
Máté, Ferenc. The Hills of Tuscany: A New Life in an Old Land. 1998.
O’Reilly, James and Tara Austen Weaver. Travelers’ Tales Tuscany: True Stories. 2002.
Food and Wine
Here the focus is on a major aspect of Mayes’s book: food and wine, primarily in Tuscany, but also in France (Joanne Harris’s novel).
Elon, Beth. Tasting Tuscany: Exploring & Eating off the Beaten Track. 2007.
George, Rosemary. Treading Grapes: Walking through the Vineyards of Tuscany. 2004.
Harris, Joanne. Blackberry Wine: A Novel. 2000 [Fiction]
La Place, Viana. Cucina Rustica. 2001.
Romer, Elizabeth. The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley. 1984.
Architecture/Home Renovations
Domestic architecture is the main focus here, but with a variety of twists, from history to photographs to personal experiences.
Carver, Norman F., Jr. Italian Hilltowns. 1995.
Jenrette, Richard Hampton. Adventures with Old Houses. 2000.
LaRose, Lawrence. Gutted: Down to the Studs in My House, My Marriage, My Entire Life. 2004.
Rybczynski, Witold. The Perfect House: A Journey with the Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio. 2002.
Rykwert, Joseph. The Villa: From Ancient to Modern. 2000.
Lifestyle Change
As Mayes points out in her book, it is so wonderful to get away from her urban lifestyle with its pressures, to go to her rural retreat. Others have had similar ideas, and in acting on them, have decided to tell the tale.
Agnew, Eleanor. Back from the Land: How Young Americans Went to Nature in the 1970s, and Why They Came Back. 2004 (United States)
Drinkwater, Carol. The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France. 2001 (France)
Lambert, Derek. Spanish Lessons: Beginning a New Life in Spain. 2000 (Spain)
Richardson, Evelyn M. We Keep a Light. 1995 (Canada)
Shah, Tahir. The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca. 2006 (Morocco)
(Created with the help of the Ramara Township Workshop participants. All Web sites accessed June, 2007.
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