Bella Tuscany: the sweet life in Italy. Frances Mayes. 1999.

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 is a 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 and the joys of art, food and wine. 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 Sicilys to the Veneto and faces transitions in her family life.