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Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy Paperback – April 4, 2000

by Frances Mayes (Author)

208 customer reviews

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A CLASSIC FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF UNDER MAGNOLIA

Frances Mayes, whose enchanting #1 New York Times bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun made the world fall in love with Tuscany, invites us back for a delightful new season of friendship, festivity, and food, there and throughout Italy.

Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Following up on her bestselling novel, Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes returns to her beloved villa in the small hill town of Cortona, Italy. Welcomed back like an old friend, she is soon puttering in the garden, and as Mayes devotees might expect, busy in the kitchen as well. As Mayes rediscovers her taste for la dolce vita, she embarks on a journey of cultural awakening and embraces a newfound romance with the Italian language and people. "I came to Italy expecting adventure," reads Mayes. "What I never anticipated is the absolute sweet joy of everyday life."

Mayes is as generous a cook as she is a writer, flavoring her story with tasty descriptions of local gustatory delights--many of which are included in a small recipe book. She also serves as narrator, and the beguiling simplicity of her voice makes listening as enjoyable as spending an afternoon with a well-traveled favorite aunt. (Running time: 9 hours, 6 cassettes) --George Laney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

After the best-selling Under a Tuscan Sun.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Broadway Books (April 4, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 076790284X
ISBN-13: 978-0767902847
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (208 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #187 in Books > Travel > Europe > Italy > General
- #213 in Books > Travel > Europe > France > General
- #278 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Travel

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Customer Reviews

208

3.9 out of 5 stars

5 star		38%
4 star		20%
3 star		6%
2 star		13%
1 star		23%

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Overall, a disappointment.

ByA customeron August 16, 1999

Format: Hardcover

I adored Under the Tuscan Sun and couldn't wait to read Bella Tuscany. But like so many others who have reviewed the book here, I had trouble finishing it. It simply did not have the beauty or the charm of the first book. In addition, the constant sniping really got on my nerves. In my opinion, if you are lucky enough to have a villa in Tuscany and to live "the sweet life," you shouldn't be complaining about the mafia in Sicily or your never-ending parade of rude houseguests. Mayes should have included fewer gripes and more recipes. But worst of all were the unbelievable number of typographical errors in the book. Is it possible that a university professor can be such a poor speller and that her editors could fail to correct so many mistakes? The errors drove me absolutely to distraction and sent the message that Mayes was rushing her second book into print before it was ready, just to capitalize on the success of her first book. I would say that parts of the book were pleasant to read, but all in all I would have been just as happy not picking up the book at all.

22 comments 57 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

a diamond with some flaws

ByCynthia K. RobertsonTOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICEon March 6, 2003

Format: Hardcover

OK--Many of the customers who wrote previous reviews about Bella Tuscany have some valid complaints. It is several chapters too long and we do get tired of Mayes' whining. We have little pity for her trying to restore two houses at once and we don't need to hear about every meal and shopping excursion. It certainly does not surpass her first effort, "Under the Tuscan Sun." Still, as someone who has never been to Tuscany (or Italy for that matter), many of the descriptions in "Bella Tuscany" are little treasures. Who wouldn't want to live where you can go to one local farm for ricotta, another for pecorino romano and a third for wine? Or where Roman and Etruscan ruins are to be found in so many unsuspecting places? Or where fabulous meals can be made with only the simple ingredients you grow in your garden? Or where every small local church has a major work or art or two? I do have two recommendations that would have made this book more enjoyable; a map of Tuscany and Italy would have been helpful in identifying the many places Mayes visited. Also, I would have enjoyed more photographs other than those on the dust jacket. Maybe the few "teaser" pictures are to whet our appetite for her 3rd book, "In Tuscany." In any case, while this book has some character flaws, I think potential readers need to try to overlook these and to dig deeper for the jewel within.

0Comment 55 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

ATTENTION PUBLISHERS!!!!!

Bynocalgalon November 21, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Once again I have paid for, then returned for refund an eBook. Why the publishers think it is okay to short-change eBook buyers by not including a clickable table of contents or index is beyond me. There may be lots of great recipes in it, but ever finding them again is problematic, at best.

11 comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Bella Tuscany

ByDee Alexanderon January 12, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Anyone who loved the movie Under the Tuscan Sun should not expect the same manner of stories from Frances Mayes' books. They are like watching someone else's vacation photos. You just had to be there.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

SWEET

ByA customeron March 15, 2000

Format: Hardcover

I really can't understand why so many reviewers have complained about this sweet little book. Although I'm French, not Italian, I have traveled all over Italy and I found Bella Tuscany to be a sweet and interesting book that provides a few evenings of lighthearted and entertaining reading. In Bella Tuscany, Mayes travels to regions outside Tuscany, such as Sicily and Venice, as well as to the many castle towns, fishing villages and islands. Many reviewers have complained about the chapter on recipes, but I found them quite interesting and delicious! Although I don't think Mayes captures the essence of Tuscany with quite the wit and verve of Peter Mayle, writing about Provence, Bella Tuscany is still a sweet and lighthearted look at one of the world's most beautiful regions.

0Comment 43 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Let's Go Shopping

ByDeborah E. Colteron May 5, 2000

Format: Paperback

I loved Under The Tuscan Sun which focused on Tuscany, its people, places and food. This book is about Sicily, where the author was either cold, rained on, put in crummy rooms or deeply frightened by the mafia, which she seems to believe are everywhere, and Venice, where we learn about her bird phobia, and San Francisco, where she buys another house to renovate and gives the ultimate bird to her former husband by (if you believe it) not recognizing him at her daughter's wedding. It is also about Ed, who I refuse to believe exists. But most of all it's about shopping. Fran buys everything she sees, smells, or heard rumors of, and will doubtless be named the patron saint of shopkeepers in Tuscany and Umbria. This is a boring and self-absorbed effort that her editor should have stopped cold.

0Comment 33 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

"sbaglio"

BySusanon October 25, 1999

Format: Hardcover

This book is so obnoxious it surely deserves recognition! Aside from the author being self-obsessed, I found her completely without any sense of the real world. Does one really "endure" the flight to and from Italy several times a year to live in their summer house?
I also found the constant mention of the costs involved with renovating two massive houses in some of the world's most expensive real estate markets quite despicable.
Also, it was in poor taste to allow people to stay at your hallowed house and then write horrible things about them in a published book. As a Southerner, I am quite embarrassed for her manners.
I would suspect that if another novel comes from this series (the first was much more palatable), it is only because she wants to add a guesthouse.

0Comment 36 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Disappointing

ByHorseladyon December 2, 2011

Format: Paperback

Glad I got this from the library. I hadn't read the first book, but saw the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. I found the book rather confusing at the beginning--it's like she just plunked you down in Italy and you were supposed to know about "Ed" (WHO is he? Husband, boyfriend?) and the gardner.....don't remember anything about gardening in the movie, but the book starts out with all this talk about plants and gardens. The book is 286 pages and I'm on page 80 and not sure I can read anymore. Seems like a catalog of plants, trees, museums. I thought I would get to know the Italian culture but this book seems so shallow. After reading other reviews, apparently it gets worse with her whining, so I'm not real motivated to finish it. Never did understand where she got all the money to just up and move to Italy in the first place and spend unlimited funds on renovating a house. Skip this book.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Fall in love with Tuscany all over again!

If you liked Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, you will want to continue the journey in Bella Tuscany.

Published 1 month ago by Ulrike Dieterle

Five Stars

Published 2 months ago by John E. Lemanski

Beautiful experiences in beautiful writing!

Frances Mayes transports us to a life rich in the details of Tuscany. She describes her life there as a lyrical poem that is an ode to all that is good!

Published 2 months ago by teacher reader

Four Stars

Travel with a friend you've never met to the sun-washed nooks and vistas of Italy.

Published 3 months ago by J. J. Myrick

Dreaming of Italy...

Made me want to go back to Italy!!!

Published 3 months ago by Eco-friendly Girl

Lovely discriptive book.

I always enjoy the books Frances Mayes writes and really enjoyed this one. I had read that this book tended to have too much detail but for me it described Italy perfectly and I...Read more

Published 3 months ago by Carolynn Reed

Three Stars

I found it just 0K

Published 4 months ago by Delores Maichele

Five Stars

Good writer. You feel like you're really there.

Published 5 months ago by OceanGma3

Ah, to be rich in Tuscany!

This woman is insufferable. So privileged, she sees to have no awareness of her ugly-American-ness as she moves through Italy, and her own rosy memories.Read more

Published 7 months ago by Melissa Medeiros

Too long, too much unnecessary detail.

Although Ms. Mayes is certainly a knowledgeable traveler and has had the good fortune of living the Italian life for many years in Northern Italy, I did have to force myself to...Read more

Published 8 months ago by RoseMarie

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