Back to Bramasole
June 17th, 2010
Returning to Bramasole, we found the garden in full frisson. This is an especially good year for roses, after all the downpours of May. The Edens on the herb terrace wall decided to run rampant and they are a joy. Sally Holmes I always refer to as a cheerleader and this year she’s doing the twist and shout. I love the full-bouquet blooms—a bride could not do better than three stems of these and a few ribbons. From the third floor, I can smell jasmine, the yellow ginestre (broom) on the hills, lemon and orange blossoms, and the roses. Soon the lavender will join the fray. Already white and blue butterflies are dancing around the hedges, waiting for the blooms. Here’s Sally with her apricot buds and pale pink-to-white flowers:
At this time of year the sun hits our house at five a.m. and for a half hour before, all the birds are awake and singing their matins. I can’t sleep because of their divine racket and find myself editing recipes at dawn. This morning I was in the garden at six, deadheading roses and pulling weeds out of the stone terrace walls. My sunflowers are ankle high; this time next week they will double. Bramasole’s herb terrace:
I wanted to write from the cruise but the Internet was spotty on the high seas and when we were in ports, we were out walking all day. I loved going back to Lerici and was about to write about it as a “hidden” place but Ed just told me there’s a recent article and a slide show about it in The New York Times. So much for hidden. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/14/travel/20100620Lerici.html
The last stops: Nice, Marseille, Barcelona. Of these, Marseille was my favorite. Nice is just too choked with traffic. Barcelona, dreamy name, is a place I’ve never warmed to and I’m not sure why. In Spain, I’ve much preferred Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba. Walking down Las Ramblas in the rain was romantic and the market lured us until we had to sail away.
M.F. K. Fisher was right. Marseille is a considerable town. A day there is way short, but it was lovely to walk around the U-shaped port, so full of working boats, pleasure boats, service boats. A long lunch looking out over that lively scene was a highlight of the trip. We ate at Mirador, a lucky guess. My shellfish gratin:
Afterwards, we just walked and walked, marveling at all the gypsies dressed like your idea of gypsies, the Africans in their fabulous colorful fabrics, and taking in the handsome buildings.
We met many, many great people on the Corinthian II. The historian Lamar Cecil, the art historian from The Art Institute of Chicago Margaret Farr, and the three musicians Amy Cofield Williamson, Scott Williamson, and Scott Beard all enriched our days on board. The food was really good and not at all overwhelming, and we were lucky that the sea remained calm. During one of my lectures, there were a few rolls and I had to brace myself by holding on to the podium.
We’re home. Happy to be back with the flowers and birds. I can’t tear myself away from the novel Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, so Ed worked in the garden then roasted a chicken with some potatoes and made a zucchini gratin. When I finally came down to dinner, it was eight o’clock and a soft light suffused the garden and sky. Tiepolo would have hauled out his brushes. Jasmine is narcotizing!
Frances,
Thanks for your beautiful words and pictures – a bright spot in a dreary day in Normal, IL.
Tena Bliss
It was so lovely to be on the cruise with you and all the other interesting participants. It was a ‘time out of time’ while I try to figure out what my ‘new life’ will be after losing my husband of 33 years. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Unfortunately, coming home to Boston I was met with the news that my 90 year old mother, who has had Alzheimer’s for 5 years, had become very ill and is in her last days from liver failure. I have been sitting by her bedside everyday since I got back and have been finishing your book “A Year in the World” and re-reading “Bella Tuscany.” I feel the whiplash of being immersed in your lyrical descriptions of wonderful places and then suddenly being dropped back into the nursing home with my Mom breathing slowly but steadily, in and out, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Will this one be the last? This one? Her life force is so strong that she continues to breath long past what the nurses expect. Your books have been a lifeline to an outside world that is filled with beauty and joy. I think tomorrow I will take your lovely picture books, “In Tuscany” and “Bringing Tuscany Home” with me to the nursing home to help counteract the deep deep sadness I feel sitting next to my Mom watching her slowly die. Sorry this is such a downer post – I feel like I’m living a Greek tragedy at the moment. Did you ever lose your sense of joy? You certainly give me hope that I will find it again…
Christie, I felt your sadness when I read your post. I hope you are going OK.
Best wishes
Noelle (Australia)
What a treat to find this site after being such a fan of your writing for the last few years. I am a passionate reader and almost never read a book twice – too many books and so little time! I am in the middle of what you once described as ‘the important business of raising children’, a task I usually enjoy but sometimes find suffocating. I know your books so well by now that I pick one up and open it anywhere. Fifteen or twenty minutes reading is enough to send me back out to my life as a mother refreshed. Sometimes I am with you in the early days of your restoration, rolling my eyes as I read about Benito. The other day I was with you in the Medina, silently pleading with Ed – don’t eat the tangine!! Always, whether it is in the middle of winter and I need to feel the sun on my skin through your words, or at a time where my life feels just too hard, your books save me over and over again. You have even inspired me to make my own big change. This year we moved to the Blue Mountains in Australia and are in the process of beginning a new life. I started reading Under the Tuscan Sun when I was a new bride, and I am still reading it now as a 30 something mother of two. I look forward to reading about your blog. Your garden looks beautiful!
Regards,
Rebecca from NSW, Australia.
I took a trip to Tuscany, including Cortona, just because of Frances Mayes. Since reading her book, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, which she signed at Burke’s Bookstore in Memphis, Tennessee, I have read all of her books. When I want to relive my trip, I reread one of them. Her new book, EVERYDAY IN TUSCANY, is such a poetically relaxing read that I think it is my favorite so far. When I read it,I feel as if I’m in Italy, again. Regretfully, I did not see Bramasole! Recently, I have learned that she was a Chi Omega (me too) and I knew she had been a English teacher (me too). If only I could have seen her in Cortona!!
Thank you. These scenes are exactly what we’ve dreamed of, from the first page to the last. And your descriptions are as luscious as the blooms.
What a wonderful post–thank you. Here in Virginia, the Confederate Jasmine and Gardenias are in bloom (this is absolutely the northern limit for both). Add the blossoms of the Southern Magnolia and it is heaven, inside and out. Crapemyrtles are starting; Vitex is blooming, Butterflybush…etc. etc. etc. Since I am not a fan of a/c (unless it just gets unbearable), the scents just roll through the open windows. Yes, it’s hot outside, but I’d rather have the sense pleasures of my garden than the a/c.
Sadly, the Mediterranean plants just don’t do as well here…our heavy, red clay and wet humidity are too much for them, in most cases, I think.
Here, too, the birds start up at 4:30am this time of year. Sounds like a jungle. And I love it. Soon, the crickets and cicadas will descend, then it will REALLY sound jungle-like!! The lightning bugs are doing their thing and it looks like Christmas twinkle lights blinking away in all the treetops.
Down in Wilmington, NC, at my partner Steve’s place, we have tomatoes dripping off the vines. I ate the first on Saturday. Snatch some basil, a tomato, some of your oil…summer is here.
I worked in my garden this evening until last light, 9:30pm. Lord, I love summer!
All best,
Jeff
I love seeing the world through your eyes and feeling it with your beautiful prose…
Thanks, Frances, for uploading these beautiful pics. What a wonderful start into a new day!
Thanks, Jacky
We recently took our family of two sons and a few friends and rented a villa in Cortona and spent the month of May there. I wanted to say thank you for writing such wonderful books that inspired me and our family to travel to Italy and experience Tuscany. We immersed ourselves in the culture and for one month we explored, cooked and walked everywhere. It was blissful to just head out and start walking and see where we ended up. Your recipes were especially popular with growing boys!
Since we have been home I cannot stop thinking about Cortona. My husband and I have traveled many places in the world and had great vacations, however this one was different.
My question is this: is it possible for a place, a city, a town to get into your blood? To the point where you ache for it? Last night I told myself to stop looking at the pictures for a few days because it is making me “Cortona sick”.
Deb, More that ten years ago I read Under The Tuscan Sun and by chance met Frances and Ed Mayes. I have since been traveling to Cortona, ever other year renting the same house above the Santa Maria delle Calcinaio Church. Yes, you can become addicted to “Cortona”. Each year I return I go back to the same places that bring me such joy. From the first moment more than ten years ago, when I slipped off my shoes and felt the Tuscan earth under my feet and truly embraced peace and serenity, the addiction started. With all the bad things in the world to be addicted to I think I’ll keep this one.
Joseph
Hello all. I would love to know where you are finding these villas in Cortona. Like everyone else, I read the book several years and I keep reading it along with the rest of her books. It has been my dream ever since I saw the movie to rent a villa in Cortona and live like the locals. Any recommendations?
My husband is a professor in the College of Journalism at UF — Documentary Film. We have rented a villa in Cortona for 3 weeks in July.
We will have family and friends joining us during each of those weeks. What are the chances of meeting with you? Gay Roberts (Churchill Roberts)
Deb, Here is my rental agency http://www.terretrusche.com.
Wow! The photos are incredible! I know….honeysuckle and citrus blossoms perfuming the air, it’s so southern.(I’m a Florida girl in Connecticut). I miss smelling the jasmine…I wonder have you ever tried a night-blooming jasmine in Italy? Plant one by a bedroom window and you’ll have sweet dreams for sure!
Happy gardening!
Kelly
Wow! Incredible photos. I know…..honeysuckle and citrus blossoms perfuming the air…its just so southern(I’m a Florida girl in Connecticut). I really miss the scent of jasmine. I was wondering, have you ever tried a night blooming jasmine in Italy? Plant one by a bedroom window and you”ll have sweet dreams for sure!
Happy gardening,
Kelly
Frances,
My husband and I were in Cortona for a week with a UGA alumni tour (he is a graduate of their vet school — over 50 years ago!) eight years ago, and I think that it IS possible for one to infuse Cortona into his or her blood. We did! One of our participants was your sister’s college roommate, and we met you and Ed in the Piazza one morning. As soon as your books are released, I am in line at Barnes and Noble to purchase one. Still in love with Cortona, I visualize our few days there, as I still use my photos and your descriptions for my paintings.
As an aside, I have done many projects for the State Botanical Garden of GA in Athens, including the painting of the Cherokee Rose for their 40th anniversary print.
When we were in Cortona, I met a shopkeeper named Ersilia, from whom I bought a handmade batik scarf for my sister. In turn, after we had talked briefly, she gave me a necklace that she had made, a “carved” pottery pendant on a cord. Do you know her? I would love to be back in touch with her, even knowing that John and I will probably never make the trip to Cortona again.
I taught English in high schools for 21 years, leaving that in 1986 to pursue my gifts as an artist. You have followed your dream as I followed mine, and I delight in sharing yours whenever I read your books or see the movie Under the Tuscan Sun for the umpteenth time!
Dear Ms. Mayes,
I would like to thank you for your wonderful book, “Under the Tuscan Sun.” I would never have thought I’d enjoy a paper-borne documentary about someone’s life in buying and restoring a house in Italy – but, such is the case.
I am re-reading UTTS for the tenth time, it seems like. Already, my copy is dog-eared, worn, the covers curling and the places where my fingers naturally rest becoming smooth with repeated touch. It seems like I reach for UTTS during every break between semesters at my school; re-reading your book to soothe my frazzled nerves after exams and presentations.
I hope to someday acquire your other Tuscany books. I am jobless at the moment (these days, that’s hardly a surprise), but I’m six months from finishing my Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. With a degree, I’m hoping I’ll be far more marketable and will have a job soon.
On my “Pure Indulgence” list, I have your books listed as purchases to make when I have the means to do so because I enjoy your writing and your tales of Tuscany that much.
Thank you so much for starting this happy indulgence with “Under the Tuscan Sun!”
~Christine, in Alexandria, VA
Thanks Joesph, we too have already booked the villa again for the first two weeks of May. We very much enjoyed watching Cortona come to life with tourism as each week arrived. We love the intimacy of Cortona in early May hence we’re returning for the same time. I promise to not complain even if it is cool and rainy again. Honest!
Hi Ms. Mayes!
My Aunt gave me two of your books (Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany) knowing that I was going to Italy with my boyfriend and his family. Little did I know that they had a cooking class planned in Cortona! I read through all of Under the Tuscan Sun by the end of the two week vacation with them and couldn’t believe it when Alessandra drove us by Bramasole. What a beautiful view you have! Your book(s) really enhanced my trip to Italy – the culture just came alive as I personally experienced the people and places that you wrote about. I have continued my travels through several other European countries and am strongly considering traveling back to Cortona before I fly out of Rome so that I can spend more time there (we really only had time for the day-long cooking class and not much for city exploration). Thank you for bravely living out your dream and then sharing it with everyone through your writing! Perhaps I’ll be able to walk near Bramasole soon! ~Elizabeth C.
You’re the gretaset! JMHO
Dear Frances, Hello again! My husband and I are really enjoying your blog and beautiful pictures! Please keep them coming!!! Would you please be so kind as to post Gilda’s method of canning her roasted peppers that you mention in your book. We can about 125 quarts of tomatoes each summer and also add fresh basil to our jars and a teaspoon of kosher salt. I’d also like to know how she keeps the basil over the winter; does she keep it in olive oil, if so, how is it prepared and how long will it keep? We have such big, beautiful plants of sweet basil and make pesto with it, but I’d like to be able to keep it by itself to use with other foods. Also, is it possible to add an extra case of olive oil to our order? Many thanks. Ceal
Ms. Mayes, I got the message through Mr. Conrad that this is a busy time for you. But on the chance that a half hour or so will open up next week, my 13 U. of Delaware students and I will be in Cortona Monday through Thursday and could meet anywhere, any time. Thanks–Ben Yagoda (byagoda@udel.edu)
Hi Frances
We got as a gift your first book “Under the Tuscan sun” in CROATIAN translation and were astonished as well of your wonderful poeticaly written book as well from the perfect translation to Croatian (I mean not only words but substance) which is much better than the translation to German which we bought here in Austria. In German we miss the light heartedness of the Mediterranian!
We saw so many similarities with all the situations/problems reconstructing a house in the Southwith our own experiences in Croatia. Although we are originated by my father from Dalmatia/island and town of Hvar(www.hvar.hr), we spent all our working lifetime in Austria and even knowing the local language well, we are – as you are – after so many years still somewhere stranieri for most of the local people.
What impresses us most is the easyness to communicate and socialize with the inhabitants which exactly know where the borderlines to the private regions have to be and are expecting the same for themselve.
We feel as you that life there(in the South) is easier respectively not so pressurized as more North.
Thank you for lot of hours we spent reading your book being amused but also contemplative with all what you are describing.
We just bought your second book ” Back to Bramasole” in German and will order the originals in English too.
Mirko–Thanks. I met the Croatian translator here in the piazza. She happened to be sitting next to me! Hope summer is lovely in Hvar! Frances
My dear Frances,
Its been over a month since I have sent you -to bramasole- a small handmade
gift.I really hope that you have received it and like it.
Kind regards,
Marion
Yes-thank you. I mailed you a note. . . You were very sweet to think of me! Frances
Hello Frances
I just wanted to say how much I admire your books. ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ was my introduction to you, and I have read it many times and know the words to the movie off by heart. I too share a love of Italy but have only visited there twice (1977 and 2007). It’s a long way from Australia, and, like everyone, I have work commitments, but I’ll get back there again one day.
At the moment, I am almost finished ‘A year in the world’ and I think this book is just stunning. I love the way you help me revisit places I’ve been to, and also introduced me to new places that I want to go to. Your writing style is so friendly that I feel I know you and Ed! I appreciate you sharing some of yourself and your own story in your books.
I also appreciate your insight into the great poets, into the history, culture and food of the places you visit. All of these aspects have really broadened my knowledge and motivated me to learn more.
I always keep a journal when I travel and so I have joined the Queensland Writers Centre (here in Brisbane) and the lecturer there advised me to start a blog, which I have done. Because the blog got me writing at long last, and also got my subliminal mind thinking more about my writing project, I have at long last started my own travel memoir (well, 1000 words anyway). It’s about my trip to China and how I am following in my grandparents’ footsteps as they lived there from 1914 to 1920 (unfortunately with tragic consequences). So, I have begun my own writing journey – and inspirational authors like you have helped me to get to this point.
Thanks again and I look forward to reading more of your books…I have bought them and they are stacked up ready to read.
Cheers and best wishes,
Noelle (Australia)
Frances,
I’m almost finished “Every Day In Tuscany” and couldn’t help but use a quote from it on the front page of our blog.
http://supperatsummerfield.wordpress.com/
After a trip to Italy in the fall, a group of us decided to keep the idea of food and friends alive in the Italian way and “Supper at Summerfield” was born. In the new world of copyright madness, I thought it best to come clean and tell you up front rather than get a terse letter from your publisher.
Thank you for many inspirations.
Supper At Summerfield
My 2004 garden journal entry comes to mind when jasmine is mentioned. It’s lengthy, so bear with me: The pink jasmine has been my favorite find this year. It has multi-leaves and foliage looks like wisteria, my first choice, but is supposed to bloom all season from spring until fall. It’s blooms are beautiful, tight pink promises that burst into a delicate petal flower. It is described as intensely fragrant but the only flower blooming now is an inch from the ground and I just couldn’t see my end up. It is climbing up on the new arbor. Perfect tendrils so wayward, I felt like I gave them some direction. As I was introducing the vine to the arbor one of the tendrils fell out toward me in such a slow, soft, graceful arc it was as if it wanted to shake my hand. I tenderly grasped the end, shook it gently and said, “Pleaded to meet you!” Pretty crazy to find friends in plants.
I will have to try again with jasmine because this one did not make it through the winter. During the summer that it was thriving it was sheer joy to pass through the arbor and smell the scent. Narcotizing indeed!
~ sherry
Oh golly! That is, “Pleased to meet you!”
Hi Frances,
I read “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Bella Toscana” many times and, finnaly, my husband and I are going to Tuscany on next August. We will pass a day at Cortona and, of course, I want to visit Bramasole. Will I see you in the Piazza? I hope so!!! I’m really ansious! Sorry for the “bad english”, rss.
Cristina (Brazil)
Dear Mrs Frances and Mr Ed, I wish you both, a very nice day on the 5th of July at Bramasole,k “Home is where the heart is”. Kindest regards, Leny Peeters Peer Belgum.
Hi Frances, What lovely photos! I have read ALL your books and loved all of them! I visited Italy in April of this year for the first time. I fell in love with it! The people, the culture,everything! I was able to do a balloon flight over Tuscany, visited the Casa Emma vineyard,strolled through Cortona,and spent time in Pisa,Florence, San Gimgiano,and Rome. I did not have nearly the amount of time I would have loved ,to see and do so many wonderful things. The foods were amazing. I found a tettoria in Galuzzo that was delightful, the owners, the food…fantastico! I am originally from the countryside of N.C. and now live in Florida. All of the foods, countryside, etc reminded me of N.C. growing up. I went through a terrible divorce after 32 years and you have been very inspiring. I hope you keep writing more and more books and con’t sharing the lovely pics with us all. Best regards to you and ED..Sara
Hello Frances,
I just finished reading your “Every Day in Tuscany”, as usual I did not want
it to end! Bravo, once again! I love to stroll along the paths with you each time I read your books! Cannot wait until your next explorations and adventures you will share with us!
I look forward to savoring Tuscany one day myself!
Maribeth (Florida)
Dear Frances,
I have just come from Italy, and I have another great holiday. This time we were near the beautiful small town Proceno (close Aquapendente) and had amazing views from a beautiful home (http://www.podere-pantano.com).
During this holiday I have read your (again) wonderful book, ‘Every day in Tuscany’. How fantastic to directly experience the atmosphere, thanks for that!
Personally, I love Gubbio, and more small towns in Umbria and Tuscany. Spello, Pietralunga, the views from the hills of Valfabbrica and Umbertide, all great.
Of course we’ve been back in Cortona, now the third time. Again I noticed the atmosphere and the strength of the town on me.
Once I would love to refurbish a house somewhere in Umbria or Tuscany. Not only spend the holidays there, but real life experience in Italy.
I wish you all the best from the Netherlands and I hope you continue to write so beautifully. I can not wait to try your recipe, sounds so good. I am really looking forward to your next book (I read them all …:-))
Greetings,
Simone
Salve Frances,
I have been working on an ambitious dream for Rome for the past 10 years. The project Eternal Tiber is a river revival project / arts festival – and not for profit.
I would seriously enjoy meeting you…… You are such an inspiration – Your LOVE for Italy can HELP ITALY.. and bring help to bring pleasure to millions or Romans and Travelers alike.
I will be in Italy from July 28th through August 17th. Pray tell me Frances can we meet ?
Hello Frances,
I just started “Every Day in Tuscany” and just found this blog. It’s so fun to be able to see “live” photos of your garden, etc. It makes the reading experience even more enjoyable.
I did think that you should know that Lady Day, March 25th, is celebrated as the Annunciation (the day that the angel told Mary she was with child)in the Catholic Church, and in some of Medieval Europe used to be the first day of the New Year.
If you’d like a researcher for your next book, I’d love to be of assistance! (:
Buongiomo,
Melinda
Dear Ms. Mayes,
I am so glad I found your blog! I am hanging out in Massarosa, near Lucca, for 1.5 months feeling a little dispirited. Don’t know if you read about my aunt, the 87 year old rich midwife who is engaged to marry a 49 year old unemployed divorcee. The story made the Italian associated press 2 weeks ago and is even on talk shows. Decided to turn lemons into lemonaid and am writing a book about it. I have published many academic articles and have come in 4th in a statewide poetry contest (CA) but this is my first attempt at writing non-fiction. You are my inspiration. Thanks!
Liana Orsolini-Hain
Massarosa, Italy (home-San Francisco)
Hello Frances
Congratulazione on your latest book. It joins all your other books on our shelves over here in Australia. It’s been a little while since we caught up last at the luncheon in Brisbane (I know Australia is SO far away). You mentioned I should contact you when I had some news about my own book. I’m pleased to let you know that Mezza Italiana is being published and will be out in April 2011.
best wishes
a presto
Zoe
(I sent this to your email address but wasn’t sure if it went through so posted your blog – hope that’s ok.)
Zoe–Brava!! I would love to read it. Frances
Hi Frances,
We just finished watching the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun”. We felt very touched by your story. It was such a hard but great journey for you to go through. The movie is both so visually beautiful and spiritually deep and touching! We look forward to visiting Tuscany ourselves one day.
Best wishes!
Andrew and Duhong from San Jose California
Love your work. Spent a delightful week in Cortona about five years ago and visited La Foce with the charming Martin Attwood. You write of your interest in retablos and I have a book I would like to give you if you do not already have it. “Le Tavolette Votive Italiane” by Arnoldo Ciarrocchi and Ermanno Mori. Udine, 1960. Beautiful illustrations. If you like, I will send it to you at the address you designate. Best Regards, Bob Cavano.
Bob, you will be sad to hear of Martin’s death last summer. The book sounds so interesting to me. But I’m in Italy and it might get lost en route, the mail being not altogether reliable. Later? Thanks! Frances
I just finished watching UTTS for the umpteenth time, but not in a long while. I enjoy the story, but I LOVE the images of Cortona. We stayed at Casa Giotto years ago, right after your book was first published. Thank you for the gift of Cortona! We cherish each trip to Italy.
Thought I’d share our most recent find… AMAZING place to stay in Orvieto:
http://ninabaker.blogspot.com/2010/07/locanda-rosati-its-gem.html
Grazie Signiora Frances
)
Grazie per il tuo libro meraviglioso e splendide fotografie.
Chiaia sarei mai venuto a Cortona … Toscana …
Thanks Frances Signoria. Thanks for your wonderful book and wonderful photographs. While I am reading your latest book. He writes brilliantly
Please do not suggest that I know Italian. None of these things. Once I used the self-taught, but the absolute basics. I envy your life in a place like this! Keeping fingers crossed for Bramasole 
)
Chiała I would ever come to Cortona … Tuscany …
I do hope we are allowed to see, even if it is just a little, a glimpse into the 20th celebrations.
Ciao Tracey–I am trying to get some photos together. It was such fun. Thanks–Frances
Just returned from playing a trumpet concert in Siena and also visited Roma and Vinci the home of Leonardo. I was hosted one night by a family that kept producing little pizzas that were all different and very tasty.
I noticed on page 196 of Bella Tuscany that you attended the Central Methodist church in Fitzgerald, Georgia. I didn’t know that Methodists believed in transubstantiation.
Stan in Oklahoma
Dear Frances
On the website of your Polish publisher Proszynski&ska I have just found your article about the visit to Poland in 2009. If you like to visit our lovely country once again that will be an honour to have you and your husband as the guests in Sopot, “the art nouveau spa” , close to Gdańsk, at the Baltic sea coast.
I have been the admirer of your books since summer 2000. I took “Under the sun of Tuscany for the holidays in Spain and reading it on the Costa Brava beach was really fantastic and exeptional experience.
Sopot is a very special place in Poland – in fact fashionably and snobbish in summer but for the rest of year really lovely and quiet. You are cordialy welcome to our home close to the beach, numerous attractions guaranteed ! Best wishes from Poland ! Elzbieta Suchar
Elzbieta, grazie. My husband is taking his three sisters to Poland in October. After our trip, and my article about it in Smithsonian, they all decided they wanted to visit their family’s place of origin. They’ll be in Kashubia primarily but may get to Sopot. Thanks! Frances
Dear Frances,
I have just finished reading Bella Tuscany and got a text from the library saying Everyday In Tuscany is ready for me to collect.
I have loved all your books and found myself with the map out following your various trips to local towns.
Many years ago I visited Tuscany and hope to spend an extended time there in the future. A truly beautiful part of the world brought brilliantly to life through your writings.
It is freezing here in Ballarat, Australia where I live and finding this blog with your beautiful photos really made my day.
Thank you Frances and keep up your great work. Cheers, Judi.
Frances, I am re-reading Bella Tuscany – a book I find very good for the soul – and this morning read about your connection with Humphrey Repton, which put me in mind of a book I read not long ago, that I thought might appeal to you and which you may not have come across. Sorry for the presumption. The book is called, “The Brother Gardeners”, by Andrea Wulf, and tells the story of the importation from America in the 1700’s of a huge number of species of trees and shrubs to satisfy the desires of the English so that they could “paint with plants” in their gardens.
At the American end, was John Bartram, from Pennsylvania, who gathered seed from vast tracts of the country known at that time, including some trips to the south.
For me, the book was particularly interesting because is details the voyage of Captain Cook, and I learned so much more about Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander who did much to document the botany of Australia, particularly around Sydney, my home town. However, I discovered that there was much more to Banks than a dilettante with a passion for plants.
Please keep on writing as you do. I am looking forward to reading about you fulfilling your dream of a place in Carolina.
Suzanne
The other day, in the heat of another Spanish afternoon, I found myself wondering ‘how hot does it get in Tuscany? I bet Frances Mayes’ Bramasole has lovely thick concrete walls where she can escape the mid-day heat for a siesta’.
I was excited to have just found your blog. Nice to meet you, my name is Katharine. I am a Canadian would fled, with my husband, to Spain in search of re-invention. We now live in the stunning Medieval city of Toledo. Magical.
My blog is http://www.agirlinmadrid.com
I have carried your books, A year in the World in particular, on my travels around the globe. Your prose are decadent and inspirational. Thank you.
Hi Frances,
Like so many people here, I too was inspired by your writing and your descriptions and experiences of Cortona. In 2008, as a treat to me, my husband wisked me off to Cortona for two weeks. What a dream come true to meet and chat with the people of your books in person. My highlight was meeting you and Ed on the road below Bramasole (you may remember us Les and Lesley from Tasmania (Australia), I had my right forearm in a cast and seeing you both, made a right gushing fool of myself. In the short time that I had I tried to convey to you that I too was an academic and was into writing. As I left, I placed a card in you mail box on what my trip to Cortona meant and now back in Tasmania we have the Italian way of life, the garden and slow food. Oh! and the writing. Many thanks.
Dear Frances
many thanks for your “Under the Tuscan Sun”! I’ve seen the movie for the first time just 30 minutes ago. Your story is so amazing and inspiring, especially it helps during the chest cold.
By the way, I want to thank you for one discovery. From your movie I”ve heard about saint Lorenzo, that he is a patron of the chefs. It’s quite interesting for me as a blogger of food and restaurants website. That’s why I began to search about him. And what a surprise – today the 10th of August – it’s a day of saint Lorenzo. This coincidence is a good sign, I think and inspire me to read you books.
Best wishes from Ukraine,
Olena
Dear Frances
many thanks for your “Under the Tuscan Sun”! I’ve seen the movie for the first time just 30 minutes ago. Your story is so amazing and inspiring, especially it helps during chest cold.
By the way, I want to thank you for one discovery. From your movie I”ve heard about saint Lorenzo, that he is a patron of the chefs. It’s quite interesting for me as a blogger of food and restaurants website. That’s why I began to search about him. And what a surprise – today the 10th of August – it’s a day of saint Lorenzo. This coincidence is a good sign, I think and inspire me to read you books.
best wishes from Ukraine,
Olena
Yes! Olena–it’s the night of the shooting stars!
J love my country – Poland, but Toscany is magic, and the garden in special!
In preparation for our upcoming Tuscan odyssey, I’ve been re-reading your books — those I own, and those from our local library. In one of them you mentioned the largest rose gardens in the world are in Tuscany, near Lucca. I can’t remember which book it was in, so cannot find the reference again. Could the gardens be LaFoce? I googled and found them, but the reference places them south of Pienza, and suggests lunch at Monticchielo. Is this the same gardens you mentioned? We’re leaving in a week, and I’m running out of time to find the reference.
Mille Grazie,
Maureen
Maureen—The garden is nearer Florence and is called Cavriglia. Doubt is there’s a lot of bloom by now. Have fun! Frances
Buongiorno Signora Mayes…Ho letto con grande avidità il suo libro “sotto il sole della toscana” e me ne sono innamorata a tal punto da convincere i miei più cari amici a trascorrere presso Cortona le nostre prossime vacanze. Grazie alle Sue descrizioni ho creato nella mia mente immagini di Cortona e di Bramasole che hanno contribuito ad aumentare il mio desiderio di visitare quei posti. Leggendo alcuni passaggi del Suo libro ho avuto la sensazione di poter respirare gli stessi odori che Lei descriveva, leggendo le Sue ricette (parecchie sperimentate, anche se non sono sicura che il risultato sia quello corretto!!) ho assaporato i piatti della tradizione. La mia richiesta Le potrà sembrare banale, ma ci terrei veramente tanto. In primavera sto programmando un viaggio a Cortona e mi piacerebbe moltissimo poterLa incontrare. So che è una richiesta bizzarra e che probabilmente molta altra gente prima di me Le ha chiesto la stessa cosa, ma Lei ha realizzato uno dei miei sogni più grandi, cioè quello di poter avere una casa nella campagna toscana da ristrutturare per poter “aprire” una fattoria che mi consenta di vivere con le emozioni e il lavoro di un tempo. Sarebbe per me molto bello poterLa incontrare anche solo per poco e condividere con Lei alcune delle emozioni che Lei ha potuto vivere nel lavoro di restauro di Bramasole. Spero di ricevere una Sua risposta, anche se probabilmente non sarà positiva, ma anche se solo per iscritto mi piacerebbe conversare con Lei. Grazie per le emozioni che ha saputo regalarmi con il Suo libro. La stimo molto…
federica
Ms Mayes
We will be in Tuscany the first week in April. My wife and I will be with my Sister, Dr Phyllis Crain and her Husband Keith. Phyllis absolutely loves your writing and is currently writing two books of her own…We will be there to enjoy Italy with them and also to celebrate her April birthday which will be number 54. They spent two weeks in Tuscany in 2007 in a villa owned by their artist friend, Ben Long…and loved, loved, loved Italy as Phyllis would say. Ben long created a frescoe at her Crossnore School in the mountains of NC…
Phyllis was diagnosed with stage 4; yes 4; breast cancer in 2001. The cancer had matastsized to her bones and she was give 6 months to a year. This remarkable North Carolina woman; like yourself; believes in living with cancer and not dying with cancer. Her favorite quote by Eleanor Roosevelt is “Yesterday is history; Tomorrow a mystery. Today is a gift. Her cancer has now moved to the liver and she went thru 2 radical Sir Spheres treatments and will find out the results of these treatments next week. Good or bad results, we will be traveling to Italy and her doctor thinks that medicine is better than anything he could prescribe…
Another favorite quote of hers is, “Life is not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away”. If you are in Tuscany, 1st week of April, I would love for you to have dinner with us. I would love for my sister to meet you and for you to meet my sister. I think that you two remarkable North Carolina women would really enjoy each others company. I think this would be a remarkable “breath away” moment….
Sincerely
Keith Horne
Ciao Keith, buon viaggio to the four of you and my very best hopeful wishes to Phyllis. We won’t get to Italy until May this year. Many happy times! Frances
I loved the movie Under the Tuscan Sun it is a lovely movie and it really motivates me to go and live a very humble and peaceful life, Bramosole is a place I dream of having my children and living there the rest of my life even though I am a 21 year old boy who is still not married but still working his way through a Degree in Software development, i hope to meet you too Frances Mayes your a great writer with awesome words which captivates your heart and soul in one glance
I hope to buy your book “Under The Tuscan Sun” for my mum who loves culture and beautiful places
I am From Sri Lanka,Colombo-4