Product Description

Continuing from A Thousand Days in Venice, this is the story of Marlena and her Venetian husband, Fernando, as they make a life for themselves in rural Tuscany. Amongst the many people they befriend is Barluzzo, an old sage who takes the couple under his wing and initiates them in the age-old traditions of Tuscan life: since their house lacks electricity, he helps them build a traditional brick oven in the garden; in autumn he wakes them at dawn to gather chestnuts and porcini mushrooms, and at the onset of winter he takes them to pull grapes from the vines and beat olives from the trees. Beautifully written and richly seasoned with mouth-watering recipes of the region, this book is filled with the carpe diem attitude that so captivated readers of A Thousand Days in Venice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106030 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
'De Blasi's glittering descriptions and mouthwatering recipes take you directly into the heart of Italy and into the souls of the Italian people' Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia 'Filled with warmth and the rich and simple drama of a beautiful life. The evocation of country dishes is mouthwatering, the lyrical beauty irresistible' Susan Herrmann Loomis, author of On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town A love poem to de Blasi's professional life as a chef' USA Today 'This memoir of the seasons in a small Tuscan village is rich with food, weather, romance, and, above all, life ... [de Blasi] immerses her readers in life's poignancy, brevity, and wonder' Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly
'Rich with food, weather, romance, and, above all, life . . . [de Blasi] immerses her readers in life's poignancy, brevity, and wonder'

About the Author
Marlena de Blasi has been a chef, a journalist, a food and wine consultant and a restaurant critic. The author of two cookbooks, one of which won the James Beard Award, she now directs gastronomic tours through Tuscany and Umbria.

Customer Reviews

LIFE AND LOVE IN TUSCANY
There's no doubt that she's ardent, intense; sometimes fiery. Marlena De Blasi is a passionate woman. Make that passionate with a capital P. A chef, she has a passion for food. Married to Fernando, a Venetian with "blueberry eyes, " she has a passion for Italy. Her exuberance is so contagious that readers will relish every page of "A Thousand Days In Tuscany" (as well as the recipe that ends each chapter).

Ms. De Blasi waxes so enthusiastically about her subjects that it almost seems she writes in bold print to extol the virtues of wild herbs, fresh cheese, and the Tuscan twilight. She is a firm believer in love, and an advocate of life, as well as the living of it.

As many will remember with "A Thousand Days In Venice," Ms. De Blasi first visited Italy perhaps a dozen years ago. On her first day there as she was sitting in a café with her traveling companions, she noticed an attractive man who seemed to be looking at her. Next, in true Danielle Steel style, a waiter told her that she had a phone call. It was, of course, the mysterious man urging her to meet him. She declined but returned to the café a few days later to find him there. They saw one another until she returned to St. Louis.

He soon followed. Fernando, we learned, was a banker who had never married. He would later say that he knew she was the one the moment he saw her. Although she did not share this initial surety she gave in to his pleas. Much to the astonishment and concern of her grown children and friends she returned with him to Venice where they married. She had imagined an apartment overlooking the Grand Canal. Instead she found a square concrete house on the Lido. Little did that matter - there was Fernando.

And, there is still Fernando who came home one day to announce that he has quit his job at the bank, and they're moving to Tuscany. A redone stable lacking central heating, a phone, and other amenities in the small village of San Casciano dei Bagni becomes their new home. It does boast a closet size kitchen with a refrigerator akin to what one might find by a hotel mini bar. She writes of their contract with the stable owner: "There had been a well-defined agreement with Signora Lucci that the house would be clean and that it would be empty. Neither is the case." The signora's furniture is "all in the form of irrefutable junk."

Nonetheless, the ever resourceful De Blasi is soon trimming the windows in her Venetian drapes complete with tasseled tiebacks, and delighting in her first taste of fried zucchini blossoms. The bar or restaurant in the village becomes almost their second home. It is there that they meet the villagers and take their morning espresso.

They're adopted by an elderly gentleman, Barlozzo, who tells fascinating stories and indoctrinates them into the ways of the region. He teaches them how to pick olives- one by one, harvest grapes, and hunt for wild mushrooms. Florina or Flori becomes another special friend. She of the shy smile and warm heart. Times, we learn, have changed very little in San Casciano dei Bagni.

It is here by the site of the ancient Roman baths, where Horace and Ottaviano Augustus vacationed, that Ms. De Blasi learns "the great secret that living in the moment and being content with one's portion makes for the best of all lives."

If the reader is fortunate, that is only one small lesson learned during this idyllic sojourn in the Tuscan hills.

- Gail Cooke

Love Italy? Yes then worth reading
In search of a new life Fernando cuts all his ties with his birthplace Venice and takes his wife Marlena to live in Tuscany. She is not keen to leave the Venice she loves but understands her husbands desire to leave the demons that trouble him behind. Will this new beginning work for them or will his melancholy follow them.
They settle in the small village of San Casciano dei Bagni near the borders of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio meet. Life is still ruled here as it has been for centuries by the seasons and the foods available around them. They become very close to two locals Barlozzo and Floriana and through them learn of the rhythms of life and love in a Tuscan village. As the story of these two couples unfolds it puts life into perspective for the four of them.

It appealed to me because of my own love of Italy and all things Italian, some of the episodes were oh so familiar; particularly as I know the region Marlena is writing about and have sampled similar dishes to those she includes recipes for at the end of each chapter.
However unless you are a dedicated Italiaphile I feel you may find this is just another Life in Tuscany book. Very similar to the many others available and does not particularly stand out from the crowd apart from some of Marlena de Blasi's poetic prose.

Italian magic.
This is the first of Di Blasi's books I have read, although I have ordered 1000 days in Venice now. It is so full of intense emotion and enjoyment of everyone and everything - of her husband, of the food, of the characters she lives amongst, of the language,of her surroundings and of her home. I had a similar experience of an Italian ( without marriage) and sharing the joy of the language and tasting the fresh food she wrote of was a complete joy - my heart soared, tears fell, but it will certainly be a book that stays in my collection.