Customer Reviews

The Wisdom of Tuscany: Simplicity, Security & the Good Life

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ferenc Mate is no armchair dilettante tossing pearls of wisdom from the comfy fireside of his Tuscan Villa. This guy has walked the talk. He's lived in at least 6 countries, built houseboats, cabins and knocked around 40 countries before settling in Tuscany twenty years ago where he restored a 13th century friary and built a world class winery. No trust fund baby, he started life as a war refugee and made his way with wit and hard work.
A few years back he wrote an excellent book called A Reasonable Life which was a call to action for a return to a more human existence.
This isn't so much another dreamy Tuscan memoir as it is a call for a revolution. Not a rebellion in the political sense but a call for a change in the way we live which is killing us and robbing us of the simple joy of living.
Rampant consumerism, bad food, over amped lifestyle, driving to the poorhouse in our new cars, all stuff we've heard before but never has it had such relevancy as we deal with our current econmic crisis. Like swallowing a bitter pill with a spoonful of honey, The Wisdom of Tuscany is a window on a dream which isn't so much about place as it is about how we go about the business of living. Ferenc Mate points the way.

Once my wife gifted me this book on Christmas Eve, I couldn't put it down. Ferenc spoke volumes of my inner Italian dream of living life simpler and with more purpose. Our innate human drive is to make the most with less and Ferenc has reiterated this concept numerously in various forms of Old World traditions, most nobly through the culinary richness of Tuscany. Who knew? We all do but just need reminded on a regular basis. Ference is a messenger with la storia. I plan to pass this book on to old friends and new acquaintances. I highly, highly recommend this book.

I expected another wonderful memoir of Tuscan life, but found a thoughtful look at how that simple society works illustrated with charming vignettes and personal experiences. I'm a big fan of Maté's Tuscan books and still consider The Hills of Tuscany the best of the Tuscan memoirs I've read so I was happy to pick up this new one. As I got into it, I was at first, a little disappointed that it wasn't another 'day in the life' book, but as I read I became engrossed in the lessons of wisdom the simple lifestyle conveys. While at times, I felt a little 'preached to', I agreed with the concepts and thought they were well delivered. I always enjoy Maté's easygoing writing style. I can see the value of the people-oriented close society that unconsciously teaches children lessons no iPhone or video game can. Tuscany continues to draw crowds of tourists not just for the art, the scenery and the food, but for the allure of the lifestyle rooted in tradition and family. Whatever we can do to bring more of that sense of community back into our lives helps and the ideas presented here are woven together with a visit to a delightful place of deep and ancient culture. I also loved the recipes included at the end of the book and the descriptions of how they came to be Tuscan classics.

I started reading this book at the same time I was reading Frances Mayes's new book and this is the one that grabbed me. I'm still working on the other. While this is not a memoir in the traditional sense, it offers another way to look at Tuscan life--for the lessons it teaches.

I bought this book as a result of reading his two earlier books about his life in Tuscany, restoring a home for him and his family and starting a winery. I was expecting to read more of the same, but instead this book seems to be his way of telling us all that if we do not live in a small town or village and you happen to live in, God forbid, a city you are stupid and living a lie. His rants get tiresome after a few pages. He does not leave even a hint that his views just might be slanted due to his mistakes in life and unhappy experiences. This book is a mistake! He comes off as pompous and arrogant. I guess if you put "Tuscany" in the title of a book you can put crap in the pages. I want my money back.

I've read several of Ferenc Mate's books & have greatly enjoyed them This one however is very disappointing. Besides the misspellings & grammatical errors, Mr. Mate paints a superficial portrait of life in Tuscany as well as in the USA. I thought it started off fine but went downhill rapidly repeating the theme of everyone should life in a small "hamlet" & be self-sufficient. Can't help but think this was a rush job to get it out in time for Christmas. Mr Mate is capable of so much better than this. Save your money.

Although Ferenc will suggest repeatedly that you close this book if you disagree with the content -- i.e. concern with decent human values -- I implore you to open your mind and set yourself free. From the land of Slow Food, Ferenc shares the possibility of living simply and depending on your own wits and instinct, as well as sharing life's burdens and pleasures with friends and neighbors. Thoughts about using your hands, being crafty and creative, being a part of nature's rhythms, are some of the ruminations within, as are passionate criticisms of SUVs, pesticides, labor and industrial blight.

He speaks of how Tuscans tackle a mechanical problem, like when his new VW needed repair "...he tightened the last screw and shut the hood. I was speechless; not because of his speed, but because three pieces were still lying in my hands." There is a freedom of thought, to rely on ones senses and to not take things so literally. To be able to move laterally, "The best description of Tuscans -- besides spontaneous -- may well be independent" (from the chapter titled Build Your Own Life).

From the struggle against the military industrial complex by way of Molotov cocktails to the hopeful return of handmade goods and their availability by way of the web site Etsy, Ferenc packs a lot into the 272 pages. I found myself nodding in approval and solidarity with each page and having the reflex to pick up the phone and give him a call to let him know, "I hear you!" He has that conversational way of writing so that you feel as if you are there, having a glass of wine with a friend. A comrade.

My husband Richard proclaims, "He's such a soul brother!" And my ten year-old gardening son Marcel was tickled pink by his tale of planting garlic by moonlight.

"Making the Tuscan Life your Own" is not just a good suggestion, but vital and necessary medicine. Piano, piano!

I have long enjoyed Ferenc Mate's writings, and this one certainly did not disappoint. A wise and considered look at the world we live in, and the suggestion that we have lost much community spirit and pleasure. He points out that many of us have become isolated in our home lives, our work, our communities and cities, and that this could be changed by choosing a simpler life. I highly recommend this book.

When I began to read I expected to experience the same joy manifest in Matte's previous two books on Tuscany. Instead I found preaching about inferior life outside Tuscany. Certainly that life is ideal, but can not be achieved with conditions in which many of us find ourselves.

Mate challenges the priorities of our Western urban lifestyle, and most of his ideas about the loss of community and the strange shift in priorities of our electronic culture ring true. Of course his generalities are just that--I live in a Southern California suburb and we know our neighbors, drink wine with them, share meals, and our kids run around the neighborhood with friends. We even have a vegetable garden. But in Mate's opinion, most Americans live in McMansions, communicate via Facebook and Twitter, drive Hummers and eat fast food while playing on the X-Box.

But still, Mate is persuasive, and his generalities do contain a lot of truth to them. And in the end had me convinced to buy an old farmhouse in Tuscany and join him in the country to live an ideal life of hard work, good friends, fine food and endless wine. But when I went on-line to look into my options, I couldn't find a farmhouse in Tuscany to restore for less than $500,000. I imagine that one would have to sell a lot of olives and bake a lot of bread to even make the payments. And what to do during the two years it would take to restore it?? Could we live with the neighbors? Have the farmers of Tuscany sold out and cashed in for apartments in Florence or Rome? Are the kindly neighbors who always have time for a chat and glass of wine now rich holiday snobs from Switzerland, England and Germany, who only see their houses in August?

The principles in the book are mostly common sense lessons about values and priorities, and as such a welcome and needed reminder about the importance of family and friends, the value of lasting substance and quality over needless consumerism. Mate unfortunately ventures into petty political name-calling (Bush is portrayed as a numbskull, and Obama the savior of the western world) and we get glimpses of the tactics that speak to the worst of the far left mindset. I think that had he managed to steer clear of the politics, and been a little more balanced in his critique of our country, he would have made his point without alienating a big part of his readership.

But like the woman he describes who burst our with anger when Bush was elected, I suppose he just couldn't help himself.

I know what you may be thinking... "Oh, no...not another memoir of restoring an ancient stone farmhouse in the enviable hills of Tuscany!?"

Don't worry, my friends. The beauty of this book is that it won't make you wish you were living someone else's life under that idyllic Tuscan sun. It will inspire you to build your own dream-life, wherever you are.

Upon receiving this book for Christmas, I savored it like a glass of Brunello de Montalcino from the same region--robust, meditative, and with an aromatic persistence.

"The Wisdom of Tuscany: Simplicity, Security & the Good Life--Making the Tuscan lifestyle your own" by New York Times bestselling author Ferenc Máté will not only delight you with anecdotes of lively characters and breathtaking moments, it will also prompt you to grapple with important questions and lead you to find life-giving answers.

Máté has lived in six countries, including the United States and Canada, which gives him a unique perspective on varying cultures. For the last 20 years, he has made his home in Tuscany, that lush Italian region that is almost synonymous with the good life. Máté helps us see how the Tuscans built their idyllic lifestyle which, miracle of miracles in our frenetic time, embraces "a culture of simplicity, beauty, neighborliness, good food, and love of daily life."

In the midst of the international recession and marked decline of real life community, how in the world are Tuscans still enjoying "continuous economic stability, physical and emotional security, and a fortifying sense of belonging"? What's their secret? Can organic backyard gardens, mouthwatering meals shared with neighbors, confident interdependence, and valuing quality over quantity really make the difference? With humor and wit, Máté nudges us all to find out by living more like Tuscans.

He points out that we live, in effect, "socially shipwrecked:"

"Not so long ago, we had a sensible society that resumbled that of Tuscany in a most important aspect: we thrived on each other's company. But we have changed in one generation to a people thrilled, to the point of being mesmerized, by objects--so much so that the former president of the United States no longer referred to his co-nationals as 'Fellow Americans' or 'Citizens' or even 'Countrymen,' but simply--and unapologetically--as 'the consumer.'"

I found this book to be immensely helpful, as evidenced by my countless underlined and starred passages, four pages of journal notes, and lively conversations with friends and family. While I did feel that the author became somewhat preachy and politically-charged in a few passages at the end of the book, I resonated deeply with his call.

The book also includes a ludicrously easy collection of Tuscan "recipes" in the back--I've made a couple meals inspired by this section and my husband will tell you how yummy they are. What I like about this section is that he explains how a Tuscan granny stocks her pantry and creates culinary miracles with the most basic quality ingredients. Throw out your measuring spoons and reclaim your culinary instincts!

If you care about the concept of "home", if you want to reject the treadmill cult of working to enslave ourselves, if you find delight in a home-cooked meal shared with people you need and who need you, and if you have ever noticed how you "come alive" in the great outdoors, then I recommend "The Wisdom of Tuscany."