Frances Mayes' memoirs celebrate the fascinating lifestyle she discovered in the spectacular Tuscany countryside.

Expecting a temporary escape from the dreariness of London, two sisters accept a ten-week job grafting roses in an Italian village, but end up staying for life.

Tired of laboring in city cubicles, the author sublets her studio apartment, leaves her magazine job, and moves to Collelungo, Italy, population: 200. There, in the ancient city center of a historic Umbrian village, she sets up house with the handsome local gardener she met on vacation only weeks earlier. This impulsive decision launches an eye-opening series of misadventures when village life and romance turn out to be radically different from what...