Rating: 
Summary: An Escape from my Dreary Life
Review: This book had an important characteristic which I believe all good books require: It was so descriptive and colorful, that I was able to lose myself within the pages. I have been to Italy many times, and have family in Lucca. Bella Tuscany, as well as Under a Tuscan Sun describes the differences in personalities and lifestyles between America and Italy. As far as her critism of house guests goes,I think she did a good job of defining the difference between a good guest and a bad guest.The way she talks about what she enjoys eating, and what she likes to buy, and where she likes to travel serves a purpose; and that is to make the reader want to experience the same things- to leave their lives of Starbucks, McDonald's and Wal-Mart and try something different. Nothing can be more shocking than to go to Italy, and be surrounded by relaxed, open-minded people and return to America's phobia of anything different or foreign. I have to admit, I was sometimes jealous of her, but who wouldn't be!!
Rating:
Summary: A worthy sequel to Under The Tuscan Sun.
Review: While Under The Tuscan Sun made me long to live in Italy, Bella Tuscany inspired me to travel in Tuscany. My friend Peggi and I read the book before arriving in Tuscany this past April. We carried it our car and tried to follow Ms. Mayes many daytrips. She has captured the soul of Tuscany and her Italian caretakers - and certainly enhanced our visit with her insights. I might also add that Bramasole is more beautiful even than her descriptions. Ms. Mayes has a way of taking the reader into the everyday life of Tuscany, and feeling right at home. Brava!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing meanderings of Frances Mayes mind
Review: Having read Frances Mayes "Under the Tuscan Sun" I eagerly anticipated reading her latest creation,vicariously wandering the countryside of Tuscany and enjoying Italian cuisine.Other than the enjoyable dust jacket of the book "Bella Tuscany" the book is a tremendous disappointment. I have doggedly read 203 pages and will finish Ms. Mayes metaphysical look at Italy, however,it has been more about her meandering mind than her wandering feet. I particularly missed the wonderful recipes that were interspersed throughout her first book. They all made my mouth water in anticipation of my next trip to Italy. These recipes were perfunctory and very unimaginative and left me with, not a deliciously sated feeling but hunger pangs.
Rating: 
Summary: A breathtaking view of beautiful Tuscany.
Review: Frances Mayes has brought Italy to me here in Webster, New York. The first book, "Under the Tuscan Sun," made me hungry for more about Tuscany, the people, the foods & recipes, the history & geography, and especially the descriptive manner in which Ms. Mayes tells a delightful story along with everything else. "Bella Tuscany" has moved me more than any other book I have read. I lose myself in each one of her chapters. Then I find myself, understanding why, as an Italian, I interpret things the way I do, feel the way I feel, and relate to people of all nationalities the way I do. I savor each chapter, reading each word, and sometimes having to close the book because I cannot see the words through my tears. I have never traveled to any European countries and hopefully, one day soon, I will. Cortona and Venice will be on the top of my list. One of the most moving thoughts in the book, was her description of an old widow who was selling her home and of course wanted to sell it for more money than it was worth. Ms. Mayes states that the house probably looked the same way it did in 1750! The emotional value of the home seemed to override the real physical worth of the structure. Ms. Mayes tells us that the old widow reached out to her, took her hand, and pulled her into a different world. She wanted to cry out because the woman's grip was so strong, but she didn't. As a child growing up in Rochester, New York, and having grandparents that lived in an area populated by Italians (mostly Sicilians), I have met women like the old widow. They hold you so tightly...maybe thinking some of that youthfulness will rub off on them. When they spoke of their homes in Sicily, I used to wish they had pictures of the people and towns, but I only knew of those places from their descriptive reviews. I wished I could see and feel the beauty they described, beauty that they missed, coveying that feeling only in tearful eyes. They were always so happy to see you, even if you had just been there the day before. I will happily anticipate Frances Mayes next book on her life in Cortona. I would like to see a Frances Mayes PBS special! Thank you for this opportunity to voice by opinion of this wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time!
Review: Getting through Bella Tuscany was painful! I found her annoying, insipid and elitist. Her editor failed her miserably this time around. I loved Mayes' previous prose for more than just delightful musings on home renovation in a foreign country. I couldn't agree with Orlando more when they said they will have to go back and re-read her first book. Hopefully that will get the nasty taste of out my mouth. ...Yuck!
Rating:
Summary: Monogrammed linens are stimulating stuff
Review: It was so bad I don't know where to start. I was interested in Tuscany, instead I spent my time at Ed's parents during Christmas in Minnesota, Ashley's wedding in California, hearing what Ed and Frances saw and ate .... I don't even know how to finish it. I'd like to figure out how to get my money back after having paid for the hard copy version!
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first
Review: I liked the first book better, in which the book described the ongoing risky theme of an American couple buying and restoring an ancient house in Italy. This one has none of that excitement, and shows signs of elitism and snobbery. It's apparently ok to slam Winona, Minnesota (and thus, it's people) because it gets a little cold in the Winter, and it's grocery stores don't meet her qualifications for fresh vegetables. House guests also get dumped on for eating up her private time but that's what happens when you choose to expose your life and house via a book. I prefer more humble travel writers.
Rating:
Summary: Another glorious trip to Italy -- and Minnesota
Review: I so disagree with those who are unhappy with this book, which took me on a completely absorbing visit not only to Tuscany but also to other interesting places in Italy (and even Winona, Minnesota, the one place in the book I know well!). I guess that if all you're interested in is the renovation of a house, then Bella Tuscany might disappoint, but for me, the pleasure of reading Frances Mayes' wonderful prose, no matter what she's writing about, is more than worth the admission price. (The person below who calls her a "two-bit lit prof" ought to get his/her own pretensions in order.) I greatly enjoyed her descriptions of art, of the tribulations of learning a foreign language, of the small towns and churches and vineyards they visit, of the delicious meals they create. This is a memoir in the truest sense, Frances Mayes sharing with us the pictures of a time in her life, her thoughts, her joys. It is by no stretch of the imagination a "Martha Stewart" book; it is also not a social history or a treatise on the Italians or many of the other things that some readers seem to have expected it to be. For me, Bella Tuscany was a can't-put-it-down book, one from which I derived deep pleasure, and one that I will look forward to reading again.
Rating:
Summary: Like most movies; loved the first one, hated the sequel.
Review: Having just finished reading her first book about Tuscany, "Under the Tuscan Sun", a charming and compelling narrative about restoring an old house in the hills of Tuscany and learning to live in Italy, and having just returned from a trip to Italy myself, I could hardly wait to read this book. I should have saved the $15 and spent it on a few more bowls of that wonderful Italian chocolate gelato.... I guess when you pour years worth of experiences into a book, it's hard to come up with something else to say fast enough to get a sequel out while the money machine is still spitting out bills. I think I will go back and re-read her first book, so that the impression that sticks in my mind is not the horrible sense of disappointment that grew worse with each page of this book. Sigh...
Rating:
Summary: A good book ruined by careless error.
Review: Bella Tuscany gets off to a good start, continuing the charm of Under the Tuscan Sun. And then. And then! Author Mayes, a professor of English and native Georgian, calls Sidney Lanier's classic poem "The Marshes of Glenn" instead of "Glynn." For shame!
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