Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy

Wife loved it ... great read & she enjoyed the story lines etc ...

Love the story

Frances Mayes has made a successful career of writing about her second home in Tuscany, a place she and second husband Ed, absolutely love. They fly back-and-forth from San Francisco where they are both University professors, to spend long vacations, to get renewed, to continue the restoration of their Italian Villa,and to enjoy the freshest fruit and vegetables much grown on their own land. They make the most of their time, enjoying the friendships, revisiting the Italian countryside, stashing up on their favorite wines and recipes. To give five stars, I wanted more about her relationship with Ed, and less about food and plants, which got a bit tiresome, but that's just me folks.

This is the second book I have read by Frances Mayes (the first being Under the Tuscan Sun), and it was as delightful as the first one. Her vivid descriptions of the countryside and the quaint villages near Bramasole as well as the colorful Italian people she has come to know conjure up such wonderful pictures in my mind. And then she tops it off with mouth-watering recipes sprinkled throughout the book. You feel as if you are there with her. It doesn't get much better than this!

Not enough of a story. More of a guidebook. Not at all what i expected. Will read reviews more carefully next time.

This book is fabulous. More so than Under the Tuscan Sun, and both are better than the movie. Mayes has such a lightness to her writing, yet her words leave you filled. She writes of the travels her husband and she make to various regions of Italy, describing the local foods, customs, and topography. She includes wonderful recipes and paints life in Tuscany as a beautiful thing. Read on an empty stomach and a full wallet (so you can hop on the next plane to Italy). I read this before and after a month long trip to Italy and both times Bella Tuscany proved a great way to whet my appetite for the trip, and a nice way to reminisce afterwards.

I have never been interested in visiting Italy I'm more of an England and Scotland person. But this is well written, descriptive, loving, and held my interest thru the whole thing. She writes in detail about ancient buildings, people, food, flowers, thoughts, geography it's endless. She writes about the pros and cons of trying to live in a foreign country and makes you realize it's possible. I'd buy it again.

Bought both Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany : The Sweet Life in Italy for my sister for my sister. Since she wishes she could be Italian she enjoyed both books. She liked the recipes interspersed through out the book. She thought both books were well written and enjoyable to read.

Enjoy her books.

Ce roman reflète magnifiquement la Toscane sous tous ses aspects. C'est à la fois un roman autobiographique, social et un road movie par les visites de l'auteure à différents endroits-clés d'Italie. J'ai préféré Bella Italia à Sous le soleil de Toscane, trop technique en termes de rénovation immobilière. A recommander aux nostalgiques de Toscane et d'Italie, ou pour s'en faire une idée. Annie

The sequel to under the Tuscan sun. Good.

As an owner of a property abroad the story told by Frances Mayes could so easily be the story that my wife and I have lived (on a smaller scale). So many of the building, restoration and acceptance into the community experiences shared are so reminiscent of our story; and so beautifully described.

This book probably mainly appeals to people who have lived in Italy for quite some time or are still living there. Preferably in a rural area. Like I do. The expressions in Italian, the recipes, the way Ms. Mayes describes the interaction between Italians and foreigners, it is all very familiar to me. And how to handle all the 'friends' who want to come and visit you, learning to say No. I especially like the way she talks about her gardens, the food, her houses (one in Italy, one in the US), her husband and the beautiful Italian countryside. It is a positive book. I was less taken by her historic outings and descriptions of churches, but that is probably because I do not live in Tuscany.