In Maremma: Life and a House in Southern Tuscany

Rating:
Summary: In Maremma one finds the warm, Italian personalities
Review: I didn't expect David Leavitt to be humorous, but In Maremma is often quite funny and offers an observation that is priceless. Life in the Italian marshlands, the region where the author and his partner make their new home, is the off-the-beaten track in mainland Italy as one gets, where the people are authentic and down-to-earth. Each chapter engages the reader with succinct and often humorous account of the mundane, "day-to-day" life made interesting, such as going to the olive press or refurbishing a home. Despite the book's brevity, it is replete with historical tidbits and descriptions of luscious Italian foods as well as characters. The tone and voice of this book makes it a pleasure to read and you'll want to go to the Maremma as well. Buy it or borrow it from your local public library!

Rating:
Summary: In Maremma one finds the warm, Italian personalities
Review: I didn't expect David Leavitt to be humorous, but In Maremma is often quite funny and offers an observation that is priceless. Life in the Italian marshlands, the region where the author and his partner make their new home, is the off-the-beaten track in mainland Italy as one gets, where the people are authentic and down-to-earth. Each chapter engages the reader with succinct and often humorous account of the mundane, "day-to-day" life made interesting, such as going to the olive press or refurbishing a home. Despite the book's brevity, it is replete with historical tidbits and descriptions of luscious Italian foods as well as characters. The tone and voice of this book makes it a pleasure to read and you'll want to go to the Maremma as well. Buy it or borrow it from your local public library!

Rating:
Summary: Sorry - I couldn't get interested
Review: I was prepared to love this book, based on the reviews posted so far and my general love of travel and books about other cultures. While it is written well, I found it disappointing - the characters weren't fully drawn, the situations weren't interesting - overall, it just didn't grab me. And it's a lot of money for such a slim volume. If you want a good read about buying a house in Italy and adjusting to life there, try Extra Virgin instead.

Rating:
Summary: Beatufully captures Tuscan life without sentimentality
Review: Life in Maremma chronicles the trials and tribulations of the authors decision, move to and life within Maremma (literally, "marsh) in Southern Tuscany.

This slim volume is beautfully written in concise, witty prose. The authors make it easy to understand the local customs and people, and resist the urge to show off their knowledge of Italian admirably. The book is amusing in two ways: the comedy of their Maremma life and the wide camp streak that runs throughout the book. This endearing campiness boils to the surface in a couple of chapters of exstatic writing on interior decoration and a voyage of discovery into the world of fabrics that made me laugh out loud.

A large part of what makes this book so good is its refreshing approach to the overheated genre of "Anglos Move To Europe And Renovate House With Colorful Locals And Great Food". While the authors clearly fell in love with Italy, their viewpoint is balanced and clear: they nail the good and the bad even-handedly. There is none of the cloying sentimentality or blind worship of their adopted country. The authors don't build up the inhabitants of Maremma to be superbeings with all the answers to the Anglo quest for improved quality of life -- there's no subtext of "if only everyone would live like this we'd solve world peace and hunger"

Highly recommended, though a little short for a full-price hardback.

Rating:
Summary: It should have been a little longer
Review: The book was enjoyable. I would have loved for it to be a little longer. Some topics or stories could have been expounded on longer. I also read "Extra Virgin ... " by Annie Hawes and it sounds like Maremma is close to the small town she wrote about. From the description of the house, it sounds like it turned out to be gorgeous, they sould have included a picture of some of the decor of the house. I enjoy reading this genre of books, please keep them coming. I will be reading "Pasquale's Nose: Idle Days in an Italian Town" by Michael Rips soon.

Rating:
Summary: It should have been a little longer
Review: The book was enjoyable. I would have loved for it to be a little longer. Some topics or stories could have been expounded on longer. I also read "Extra Virgin ... " by Annie Hawes and it sounds like Maremma is close to the small town she wrote about. From the description of the house, it sounds like it turned out to be gorgeous, they sould have included a picture of some of the decor of the house. I enjoy reading this genre of books, please keep them coming. I will be reading "Pasquale's Nose: Idle Days in an Italian Town" by Michael Rips soon.

Rating:
Summary: The worst book I've read about Tuscany
Review: This book was the 5th memoir book I've read about life in the Tuscan region of Italy. I was very perplexed why the authors even decided to write it, why they've decided to live there, why ...... They were very sarcastic about the Tuscan life, its people, its traditions and its values, making fun of everything and everyone in a mean spirited way. They went so far as to make fun of the Italian cuisine and say that nothing is like eating at McDonald's restaurants in the US or eating peanut butter sandwitches for lunch or ...... Why they've decided to live there is a mystery to me and this book was a big disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: BECOMING ITALIAN
Review: This slim, beautifully written and beautifully designed book is a true pleasure to read. Although I've happily been to Italy several times, I had no idea where Maremma is. The answer, as evidenced by the book's subtitle, is Southern Tuscany--an area, according to the authors, that is hardly a tourist Mecca.

The book not only explains why two gay lovers would move here & why they'd buy a house that under the best of circumstances would be called a "fixer-upper," it also introduces the reader to marvelous characters, or rather marvelous people, for they're all real: Magini the cabinetmaker & Pina, the chef at Il Mulino & Pepe, the iron-fitter & Olimpia Orsini, the interior designer, are just a few of my favorites out of the dozens in the book.

We spend a happy/bittersweet Christmas with Leavitt & Mitchell; we go with them when they apply for drivers' licenses from corrupt officials; we share countless Tuscan meals with them and their generous neighbors and their neighbors' children; we watch them (snake-haters, both) kill a dangerous asp and, finally, we begin to understand why these two American writers live and flourish here...why and how they have, in their words, "become Italian."

One small touch that I found very charming was the way the authors explain situations with specific terms in English and then, parenthetically, in Italian; another is the inclusion of selections from Mitchell's diary when the men were only visitors to Italy. It is also very gratifying that the [lifestyle] of the authors is never an issue. They are obviously accepted as writers, as Americans, as men, as human beings. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: BECOMING ITALIAN
Review: This slim, beautifully written and beautifully designed book is a true pleasure to read. Although I've happily been to Italy several times, I had no idea where Maremma is. The answer, as evidenced by the book's subtitle, is Southern Tuscany--an area, according to the authors, that is hardly a tourist Mecca.

The book not only explains why two gay lovers would move here & why they'd buy a house that under the best of circumstances would be called a "fixer-upper," it also introduces the reader to marvelous characters, or rather marvelous people, for they're all real: Magini the cabinetmaker & Pina, the chef at Il Mulino & Pepe, the iron-fitter & Olimpia Orsini, the interior designer, are just a few of my favorites out of the dozens in the book.

We spend a happy/bittersweet Christmas with Leavitt & Mitchell; we go with them when they apply for drivers' licenses from corrupt officials; we share countless Tuscan meals with them and their generous neighbors and their neighbors' children; we watch them (snake-haters, both) kill a dangerous asp and, finally, we begin to understand why these two American writers live and flourish here...why and how they have, in their words, "become Italian."

One small touch that I found very charming was the way the authors explain situations with specific terms in English and then, parenthetically, in Italian; another is the inclusion of selections from Mitchell's diary when the men were only visitors to Italy. It is also very gratifying that the [lifestyle] of the authors is never an issue. They are obviously accepted as writers, as Americans, as men, as human beings. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: In Maremma: Life and a House in Southern Tuscany
Review: Two US writers conclude their charming account of life in a non- chic Tuscan town with the insight that though they moved there "... to capture a dream less of Italy than of being foreigners in Italy, figures in a Forster novel," they have become Tuscans despite maddening bureaucracy and cravings for peanut butter. One wishes for a map, farmhouse remodeling photos, and observations on how they are viewed as an apparently gay couple.