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Frances Mayes is the author of the classic Under the Tuscan Sun, which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a movie starring Diane Lane. Her other international bestsellers include Bella Tuscany, Every Day in Tuscany, A Year in the World, and three illustrated books: In Tuscany, Bringing Tuscany Home, and The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Mayes is also the author of two novels, Swan and Women in Sunlight, six books of poetry, and The Discovery of Poetry. Her most recent books are See You in the Piazza and Always Italy. Frances Mayes's writing has been translated into more than fifty languages.
Frances Mayes's website
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You say in your book that when you wrote the last line of Under
the Tuscan Sun, you wrote the first line of Bella Tuscany. What do
you mean?
When I finished Under the Tuscan Sun I was in the beginning of my life in Italy.
When I ended that book, I wanted to continue to write about the place--such a
powerful landscape and I was just falling under its spell. I sensed early that
Italy is endless; five years later, I'm still at the beginning.
You often say how you feel more at home in Italy than anywhere else.
Why is that?
I thought I was strange to feel this way. Since I've met so many people who read
Under the Tuscan Sun, I've found out that lots of people feel this way.
It's complicated but feels so very easy. The warmth of the people, the human
scale of the towns, the robust food, yes, but I've begun to think, too, that
it's the natural connection with art, the natural exposure to beauty on a
day-to-day basis. This concept is a big focus of Bella Tuscany. We all know the
Italians have more fun. This makes us feel at home, or rather returned to a
sense of play, which we may not have experienced so fully since childhood.
What do you think Americans need to learn from Italians about living?
...
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Adam Gopnik has been writing for The New Yorker since 1986. During his tenure at the magazine, he has written fiction and humor pieces, book reviews, profiles, reporting pieces, and more than a hundred stories for "The Talk ... (more)
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Under The Tuscan Sun
Try:
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by Adam Gopnik
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