HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Keeping In Contact with the Writers

    Throughout the course of 2007 and 2008, I had been, madly buying books on Italy, Tuscany specifically, and devouring them at a frightening pace.  I had already bought all of Frances Mayes’ books, including her picture/recipe books “At Home in Tuscany” and “Bringing Tuscany Home”.   I found Dario Castagno’s first books, “Too Much Tuscan Sun”, “Too Much Tuscan Wine”, and “A Day in Tuscany”; Beppe Severgnini’s “La Bella Figura”; both of Ferenc Mate’s “The Hills of Tuscany”, and “A Vineyard in Tuscany”; Phil Doran’s very funny “The Reluctant Tuscan”; and Michael Tucker’s “Living In A Foreign Language”.   The combination of author’s had a massive impact on me. 

     I believe in letting folks know when they do a good job and I liked their work.  So, I started emailing the authors.  First was Ferenc Mate:

Re: Compliments On "A Vineyard In Tuscany" & "The Hills of Tuscany" 

Mr. Mate: 

I have now read both of your Tuscany books and I want you to know how much my 

wife and I have enjoyed them.  Thank you for sharing your life, your family, and 

passions with us.  Visiting Italy has always been high on my list of things to 

do when I retire, but, for now, reading your words will have to be enough. 

I hope that I might have the honor of visiting your winery, if open to the public, if we 

ever make it to Tuscany. 

Thank you, 

David Jones 

To my surprise he responded:

Dear Mr. Jones, 

Many thanks for your generous comments, it's always rewarding to hear that 

someone has been moved enough to write a note. 

Yes we are near La Villa, and do stop by to taste some wine when you're in 

Tuscany. 

 Best regards, 

 Ferenc Mate 

Next, I tried Phil Doran.  He wrote back, too:

Dear David,

    Thanks so much for your kind note, I can't tell you how much it means to hear you like my book. All the events in the book are true, although I did compress the time-line and consolidate some of the characters to make the story more manageable.

    The film rights to the book have been optioned by John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston who would play us in the movie. We were having discussions when they suffered the loss of their son so there hasn't been any further movement while they grieve.

    Nancy has gotten away from sculpting to pursue an art form that's physically less demanding and if you go to her website you can see the portraits she's been painting. 

     Once again David, thanks for taking the time to write, and I hope you get to Italy soon and perhaps you can visit, see Nancy's studio, and the two of you can discuss painting. 

         Ciao for now,

        Phil Doran

Wow.  These guys sound like real people.  I was inspired and wrote Dario Castagno.  He wrote back:

Ciao David 

                Thanks for your note. Fortunately due to very strict laws the 

Tuscan countryside is still unspoilt and as it has always been. Also we have a 

very low density of population so "our" Tuscany is still as we authors describe 

it. The Tuscan craze has seemed to have dimmered and because of the crises fewer 

tourists flock here. 

The podere Ferrale is on the border between the boroughs of Castellina and 

Radda, the place is quite beautiful ( I slept there in 1979 when it belonged to 

a schoolmate of mine) The etruscan tombs I mention in my book are very close and 

following our studies we believe that Ferrale was the original acropolis meaning 

2500 years ago (!) 

My second book A day in Tuscany is available in the US bookshops while 

Too Much Tuscan Wine (by far my least worst book!) at the moment is only 

available through my site.  If you decide to order it please inform me whom I should 

sign them too ( in both cases I send them direct from home) and I shall also send you 

a DVD I shot based on my second book I hope that Too Much Tuscan Wine gets 

published (I'm seeking for a new US publisher) and in that case I shall return to the 

US and Portland where I have a big following! 

Ciao 

Dario 

This was great.  He was a real person, even though he was trying to make a living, too.  In late July I sent him a follow up.  He wasn’t as cheerful this time:

Re: Tuscan Tours,etc. 

Ciao...the Palio was won by Tartuca...I will not be attending the event in 

MA...just my oil will. 

Alma Domus is well located...I think though that the snag is they have curfew 

I recomend the Comapagnia dei vinattieri, enoteca i terzi, Guido, Nello uoi really

 MUST rent a car or even a scooter (thought of that?) public transportation will 

take you to the towns but you will miss so much of the beauties of Tuscany. 

I never got hold of a publisher and am currently seeking for a job; I might be 

working as a waiter nest season  

Ciao 

Dario

     It sounded like the depression/recession had hit as hard in Italy as it had in Oregon.  I shot back a response and told him not to wait tables, I had done it in my twenties before teaching and I still have nightmares about it.     

     Now Michael Tucker has made a comfortable living being an actor, and was doing fine with his two books; he even bought a house in Umbria just writing about his eating habits.  I love to eat too and long for a cuisine that only uses fresh ingredients and a long heritage of incredible food.  Compared to Tucker, I am a ‘neophyte’ when it comes to cuisine and wine, but why, I’ve been eating (well) practically my whole life and drinking for a part of my adult life as well!  Why couldn’t I become an expert?

     I found the ‘Tucker-berry’s (Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker) website on line in February of 2008 and decided to let Mister Tucker know how much his book enticed me.  The email was a short, maybe four paragraphs, email that let him know how much we both liked his book, and that I too had the dream, not the reality, to go to Italy. 

     He actually wrote back, a month or so later thanking me for the compliments and said we should just go for it!  Go to Italy.  Well, that’s fine for him to say, he has more money than I’ll ever have.  I kept re-reading his book and wondering why Marianne and I couldn’t have an Italian experience.  I really think that between Ferenc, Phil, and Michael, (okay, and Mayes) the ‘seed’ of ‘travel Italia’ had been planted so firmly into my psyche that poor Marianne wouldn’t even have a chance of saying ‘no’ or ‘dis-swaying’ me when the un ‘bridled monster’ broke out into the open in early June.  “Feed me!  I must go to Tuscany!”