The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria [Hardcover]

Marlena de Blasi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 2006

With the breathless anticipation that seduced her readers to fall in love with Venice and then Tuscany, Marlena de Blasi now takes us on a new journey as she moves with her husband, Fernando, to Orvieto, a large and ancient city in Italy's Umbria. Having neither an edge to a sea nor a face to a foreign land, it's a region less trampled by travelers and, in turn, less accepting of strangers. So de Blasi sets out to establish her niche in this new place and to win over her new neighbors by doing what she does best, cooking her way into their hearts. (Her recipes are included.)

Rich with history and a vivid sense of place, her memoir is by turns romantic and sensual, joyous and celebratory, as she searches for the right balance in this city on the hill, as well as the right home—which turns out to be the former ballroom of a dilapidated sixteenth-century palazzo.

De Blasi meets and makes friends with an array of colorful, memorable characters, including cooks and counts and shepherds and a lone violinist, and their stories, too, become a part of the tapestry of life that she weaves for herself in Orvieto. With a voice full of wonder, she brings to life these engagingly quirky people and the aloof, almost daunting society that exists in Umbria. Not since Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence has a writer so happily succeeded in capturing the essence of a singular place and in creating a feast for readers of all stripes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following A Thousand Days in Venice and A Thousand Days in Tuscany, de Blasi's new book, set in Orvieto, is ostensibly about her effort, with her Italian husband, first to find, then to renovate and at last to move into the ballroom of a splendid, dilapidated medieval palazzo. The renovation becomes an engrossing portrait of the town and some of its inhabitants. Nothing goes according to plan or schedule, but de Blasi uses the years (literally) of waiting to explore the life of the town, centering on the home-based caffé-kitchen of her friend Miranda and the caffé's patrons. De Blasi's exuberance and her American disregard of Italian class distinctions at times distress her new friends and also her husband, but eventually, almost by accident, she pulls off a coup of diplomatic détente just after they finally set up housekeeping in the palazzo. Vvid writing and an affectionate appreciation of the sounds, scenes and flavors of Italy, as well as of the somewhat eccentric Umbrians she meets, will charm lovers of that country. (Jan. 26)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In previous books having chronicled her emigration from St. Louis to Venice and her subsequent sojourn in Tuscany, chef and writer de Blasi pulls up stakes again and decamps to Umbria. Her first encounters with locals leave her wondering if Orvieto really is for her. Umbria, de Blasi contends, differs from other Italian provinces because it touches neither the sea nor another country. Its central location gives it characteristics of both north and south. Despite Umbria's singular physiography, Orvietans are even more guarded and distant than the neighboring Tuscans. After a few false starts, de Blasi and spouse settle into a decrepit palazzo of uncertain vintage. The owners promise renovation, but handshake agreements rarely turn out as either party might expect. The chef in de Blasi rebels at the compact kitchen with its tiny refrigerator, single-burner stove, and multiple microwave ovens. But the land's charms counterbalance these shortcomings. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 317 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1St Edition edition (December 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565124731
• ISBN-13: 978-1565124738
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Travel > Europe > Italy > Umbria
  • #24 in Books > Travel > Europe > San Marino & Umbria

More About the Author

Marlena de Blasi has been a chef, a journalist, a food and wine consultant, and a restaurant critic. She is the author of two cookbooks, Regional Foods of Northern Italy (a James Beard Foundation Award finalist) and Regional Foods of Southern Italy. She and her husband, Fernando, now direct gastronomic tours through Tuscany and Umbria.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written., February 12, 2007

By 

L.A. in CA - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria (Hardcover)

There is a lot to love about this book, which is the third - and I think the best - of her books on life in Italy. It chronicles her search for a home in Orvieto, in Umbria. She and her husband find an ideal place, an apartment in what was once the grand palazzo of the Ubaldini family - a home dating back to medieval times. Unfortunately, the apartment had been sitting vacant for 13 years and was in dire need of restoration. They could not live in their home during the construction. So they waited. And waited. And waited! This story follows the author as she adjusts to life in her adopted community during this long wait, and it culminates with a lavish dinner party held in her new home.

As usual, with de Blasi, you can expect a book filled with sensual talk of wine and food; with regional recipes; with cultural and historical tidbits. But the real heart of this book - the soul of this book - is in the people to whom we are introduced. Some of them are given space to tell their life stories in their own words - and their stories are deeply moving.

"Let life shape itself" is the underlying theme of this book.

I can think of no author to compare to Marlena de Blasi. Part chef, part philosopher, part travel guide, part poet..she is an original.

Highly recommended.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I think she'll spend more than 1,000 days in orvieto, March 22, 2007

By 

Dana Jenkins (Buffalo, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria (Hardcover)

After being disappointed by 1,000 Days in Tuscany my expectations weren't as high for this new offering from Marlene DeBlasi but I loved it.Her affection for Orivieto and the characters in the surrounding countryside, and her developing appreciation for the centuries-old relationships, not to mention her description of the home she is creating, were described in similar loving and wondering terms as her descriptino of her early days in Venice. I appreciated the personal moments (wondering if she would ever get to live in the palazzo) interspersed with cultural descriptions (the venetian's understanding of conversational subtext) and on top of it all her yearning to get on on with her life (cooking, writing) while living with the unexpected. I really loved the book.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover, July 8, 2007

By 

Zecon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria (Hardcover)

You know what they say, never judge a book by its cover. Well in this case the photograph of the author on the inside of the cover led me to some judgemental thoughts.

It should be said that am drawn to books on Italy and I enjoyed my visit to Umbria several years ago. But I almost didn't buy this book because of the picture of Marlena De Blasi. Well I took a chance and I have to say I was wrong. There is no doubt that De Blasi is a free spirit, bohemian, and different. That is her charm and you can read about it on every page.

It is a wonderful story that she tells of her integration into to the conservative Italian life of Orvieto in Umbria. She mixes her quixotic lifestyle with the down-to-earth inhabitants of this city on a hill for delicious results. She is exuberant and her story is redolent with her passion for life and total disregard for the Italian class system. Despite this all turns out well in the end.

I highly recommend this tale of life in Italy. It is a completely different perspective