Frances Mayes, whose enchanting #1 New York Times bestseller Under
the Tuscan Sun made the world fall in love with Tuscany, invites
readers back for a delightful new season of friendship, festivity, and
food, there and throughout Italy.
Having spent her summers in Tuscany for the past several years, Frances
Mayes relished the opportunity to experience the pleasures of primavera,
an Italian spring. A sabbatical from teaching in San Francisco allowed
her to return to Cortona--and her beloved house, Bramasole--just as the
first green appeared on the rocky hillsides.
Bella Tuscany, a companion volume to Under the Tuscan Sun, is her
passionate and lyrical account of her continuing love affair with Italy.
Now truly at home there, Mayes writes of her deepening connection to the
land, her flourishing friendships with local people, the joys of art,
food, and wine, and the rewards and occasional heartbreaks of her
villa's ongoing restoration. It is also a memoir of a season of change,
and of renewed possibility. As spring becomes summer she revives
Bramasole's lush gardens, meets the challenges of learning a new
language, tours regions from Sicily to the Veneto, and faces transitions
in her family life.
Filled with recipes from her Tuscan kitchen and written in the sensuous
and evocative prose that has become her hallmark, Bella Tuscany is a
celebration of the sweet life in Italy.
