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The Hills of Tuscany: A New Home in an Old Land
by: Ferenc Mate

List Price: £7.99

Off The Bookshelf's Price: £5.99

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Used Price: £1.86
Third Party New Price: £2.91

Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780006551928
ISBN: 0006551920
Label: Flamingo
Manufacturer: Flamingo
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: July 05, 1999
Publisher: Flamingo
Studio: Flamingo
Sales Rank: 203928

Related Items:

Vanilla Beans and Brodo: Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany

The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian

La Bella Vita: Life, Love and and Food in Southern Italy

Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
A sensuous valentine to author Ferenc M´t&ecaute;'s adopted homeland, The Hills of Tuscany brims with lush descriptions of golden dales, scrumptious meals, rich wines, and friendly natives. After years of nomadic roaming from Central America to Canada, M´t&ecaute; (a writer) and his wife, Candace (a painter), visit Tuscany and impulsively decide that this is where they will settle down. A year later they return and begin the hunt for their dream house. As the likeable M´t&ecaute;s (they're funny and suitably grateful for the chance to live in one of the world's garden spots) troll the countryside with a series of colourful Tuscan middlemen, it's impossible not to become emotionally involved in their quest. And when they finally discover the perfect abode--La Marinaia, a tastefully renovated stone farmhouse set amid scenery that Ferenc describes as "like being in the middle of a painting"--you're thrilled right along with them. Subsequent chapters follow the M´t&ecaute;s' growing friendship with their neighbours, who not only help rototill the garden but also reveal where to find porcini mushrooms and truffles in the nearby woods. All in all, reading The Hills of Tuscany is the next best thing to quitting your job, climbing on a plane, and finding your own Tuscan dream house. --Rebecca Gleason

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Thanks Heavens for Ferenc and Candace!
I looked for and bought my own bit of Tuscan paradise after I read Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun. I thought that it could not be bettered. Mate has written a different sort of book - which may even equal Mayes. Only time and subsequent re-readings will tell.

I am ashamed to say that I only discovered Mate's The Hills of Tuscany just now - nearly 10 years after its original publication. Mate and his wife Candace set out on their search for their Tuscan dream house while renting a house near the gorgeous unspolt village of Palazzuolo Alto, Monte San Savino, as their base. I know the area very well and this part of the book is extremely evocative to me, including their descriptions of the trattoria Il Cacciatore (still going ... Read More:

Rating:

- Not a bad effort!
Having read other books on Italy by Mayes, Dusi, Parks and Hawes I was looking for something else to read.
I came across this book with it's mixed reviews so I bought a copy from Amazon Marketplace.
For 97p you can't go wrong!
I have to say that I can see both sides to the arguments but I would say that if you enjoy reading about other peoples attempts to intergrate into Italian life, because deep down you wish it was you doing it, then buy this book.
Not the greatest read but enjoyable all the same

Rating:

- A Great Read
This book is fantastic. I loved it. It was hard to put down. I wish there was a sequal.

Rating:

- A TUSCANY BOTH SERENE AND SEDUCTIVE
Reading "The Hills of Tuscany", Ferenc Mate's exuberant, joyful ode to his adopted country, makes one eager to join that expatriate band. After occupying a series of dwellings a "houseboat, sailboat, mountain cabin, that garage in Laguna Beach, the attic in Paris, the cubbyhole in New York, and a whatsit in the Bahamas," the Hungarian-born Mate and his artist wife, Candace, deemed it time for a permanent home.

Central Italy's countryside, where "Everything was small to the measure of man," beguiled them; there "reigned the gentle Tuscan light, and silence, and a calm." They became contentedly sated by "pranzo," the four-course daily meal that resembles in quantity "our average Thanksgiving dinner," and decided to buy ... Read More:

Rating:

- A charming Winter's Tale
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend you read it and form your own opinions!!
I have read numerous such books about Italy and feel this one is just as worthy as most. True it does not have the style of Frances Mayes but she is a poet so her prose is glorious. It does not give you the marvellous history of Isabella Dusi's Vanilla Beans and Brodo but it is still a charming book and provides an excellent insight into moving to Italy but this time from a young couple's point of view.

I read it when confined to bed in the depth of a British Winter and was immediately transported to Montepulciano and in particular to the stunning scenery of the Val d'Orcia. What better way to help the grey days disappear ?

Books : The Hills of Tuscany: A New Home in an Old Land