A Valley in Italy

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Summary: Romantic Italy with villas in ruins and colorful locals
Review: "A Valley in Italy" is a memoir by the author Lisa St Aubin de Teran as she records the long and often tedious work one encounters in restoring a villa. Her work is reminiscent of Peter Mayle's " A Year in Provence" in the description of the local customs and people. However, the book lacked the buoyancy and good humour found in Mayle's work. A petulant air seemed to permeate throughout the book; it may be explained by the tribulations the author underwent to restore her villa. Nevertheless, it is still an engaging read for the armchair traveler and those interesting in Italy

Rating:
Summary: Romantic Italy with villas in ruins and colorful locals
Review: "A Valley in Italy" is a memoir by the author Lisa St Aubin de Teran as she records the long and often tedious work one encounters in restoring a villa. Her work is reminiscent of Peter Mayle's " A Year in Provence" in the description of the local customs and people. However, the book lacked the buoyancy and good humour found in Mayle's work. A petulant air seemed to permeate throughout the book; it may be explained by the tribulations the author underwent to restore her villa. Nevertheless, it is still an engaging read for the armchair traveler and those interesting in Italy

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Summary: A Gifted Bohemian Author Writes of Her New Home in Italy
Review: "A Villa in Italy" is especially noteworthy since it was written before memoirs such as Frances Mayes' "Bella Tuscany." St. Aubin de Teran offers us her unique perspective/insight into life in Italy, specifically in Umbria. She tells us of a fairy tale castle, the Villa Orsola, that she and her family adopt, renovate, "live and breathe," and enjoy in all its stages. De Teran describes interactions with the townspeople, which change from tentative and business-like to affectionate and personal. This memoir should not be overlooked!

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Summary: The child...
Review: A Valley in Italy surpasses Frances Mayes' writings on Italy by far. I lived in Italy for eight years and can easily relate to settling in as a foreigner in the most beautiful country in the world. Miss Lisa St Aubin de Teran writes with compassion without becoming mushy, understands the workings of a village and appears to accept the local populous as they are. She is a woman with a giving heart and that shows through in her writing. There is no pretentiousness anywhere in the book as I did find in Miss Mayes' writings. The very best to Miss St Aubin de Teran and Florence, the first Umbriana in her family.

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Summary: Superbly Written
Review: A Valley in Italy surpasses Frances Mayes' writings on Italy by far. I lived in Italy for eight years and can easily relate to settling in as a foreigner in the most beautiful country in the world. Miss Lisa St Aubin de Teran writes with compassion without becoming mushy, understands the workings of a village and appears to accept the local populous as they are. She is a woman with a giving heart and that shows through in her writing. There is no pretentiousness anywhere in the book as I did find in Miss Mayes' writings. The very best to Miss St Aubin de Teran and Florence, the first Umbriana in her family.

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Summary: Bizzare!
Review: Didn't finish it--hard to follow and was never convinced I would care when I finally figured out what the story was about.

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Summary: An artistic, impractical family finds their dream very real
Review: I enjoyed this book and have read it several times. I agree with other reviewers that de Teran always seems a little remote from her own life, but I find that to be charmingly different rather than aggravating. In a way it is rather refreshing after the tell-all values of popular American society. It also creates a strong sense of the depth of character that lies beyond the descriptions. For instance, how many men do you know who have full Highland regalia, fezzes, sword sticks, lapis lazuli watch fobs, and collections of cuff links on their dresser? This is not the stuff, these are not the people, of American suburbia. When I think of the book and its people, my mental image is of an old black and white photo that has been colored, giving a stylized but rather beautiful, dreamy effect. That effect generates some amusement in combination with the all-too-real challenges of renovating an enormous house in a new town. Although I say the family are impractical, they obviously do manage the challenges of real life in their own inimitable way and by doing so, lead a life that most people wouldn't even dream of attempting.

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Summary: A witty, quick read that made me want to go to Umbria.
Review: I found this book to be a funny, fast read. Great for anyone interested in Italy and/or old house restorations.

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Summary: A Valley In Italy: Revisited
Review: I have now read St. Aubin De Teran's "A Valley In Italy" at least three times. It is to be recommended to anyone with a love of Italy and of house restorations. Unlike Frances Mayes' book, "Under the Tuscan Sun", which came after it (and which I also enjoyed despite what follows), this is not a lifestyle book. There are no recipes and there is no dwelling on the sensuousness of eating and drinking as in Mayes. Side by side with St. Aubin De Teran's book, Mayes' appears rather superficial and solipsistic but of course, well targetted to a foreign, particularly American audience. In the course of "Under the Tuscan Sun", there is really only one Italian the main American characters seem to have any continuing relationship with, albeit very fleeting, the man who found the house for them. There is never any sense that they are anything but very middle class tourists who just happen to have a house in bella Tuscany they visit in their holidays. In "A Valley in Italy" the family of the writer who speaks fluent Italian, actually lives in the villa all the year around and engages with the local community on a daily basis and through all their festivities. The two children are pivotal in propelling them immediately into Italian society, an advantage Mayes and her partner did not enjoy. Where Mayes is obsessed with her own personal sensations and can rhapsodize over a sun-dried tomato, St. Aubin De Teran is a cool observer of the inhabitants of San Orsola and documents their lives with a detail that shows her fascination with the objective world rather than simply how it impinges on her. It is a memorable account both of a small Italian village and its tight community life and the achievement of a fantastic dream, the renovation and partial rebuilding of a derelict villa of palatial proportions, boasting 72 windows, considerably larger than the more modest peasant abode Mayes takes on. Everyone I have recommended the Mayes and St. Aubin De Teran books to have loved the latter and found the former rather self-indulgent. It has to be said that St. Aubin De Teran's family are eccentric in the grand English style but as the focus is outwards upon place and people this is not an irritant like Mayes' precious harping on peculiar obsessions like other people's linen in "Bella Donna." Rather, the idiosyncrasies documented are viewed as bizarre and impractical in the Italian setting like the mouldy jars of homemade facial potions the daughter replaces for all the necessities of camping in the ruined villa or the Scottish artist husband's prancing about in full highland regalia which is his way of mocking the traditonal role of almighty pater familias assigned him by the Italian builder who forces him on tours of inspection. This book only improves with rereading. I heartily recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A Valley In Italy: Revisited
Review: I have now read St. Aubin De Teran's "A Valley In Italy" at least three times. It is to be recommended to anyone with a love of Italy and of house restorations. Unlike Frances Mayes' book, "Under the Tuscan Sun", which came after it (and which I also enjoyed despite what follows), this is not a lifestyle book. There are no recipes and there is no dwelling on the sensuousness of eating and drinking as in Mayes. Side by side with St. Aubin De Teran's book, Mayes' appears rather superficial and solipsistic but of course, well targetted to a foreign, particularly American audience. In the course of "Under the Tuscan Sun", there is really only one Italian the main American characters seem to have any continuing relationship with, albeit very fleeting, the man who found the house for them. There is never any sense that they are anything but very middle class tourists who just happen to have a house in bella Tuscany they visit in their holidays. In "A Valley in Italy" the family of the writer who speaks fluent Italian, actually lives in the villa all the year around and engages with the local community on a daily basis and through all their festivities. The two children are pivotal in propelling them immediately into Italian society, an advantage Mayes and her partner did not enjoy. Where Mayes is obsessed with her own personal sensations and can rhapsodize over a sun-dried tomato, St. Aubin De Teran is a cool observer of the inhabitants of San Orsola and documents their lives with a detail that shows her fascination with the objective world rather than simply how it impinges on her. It is a memorable account both of a small Italian village and its tight community life and the achievement of a fantastic dream, the renovation and partial rebuilding of a derelict villa of palatial proportions, boasting 72 windows, considerably larger than the more modest peasant abode Mayes takes on. Everyone I have recommended the Mayes and St. Aubin De Teran books to have loved the latter and found the former rather self-indulgent. It has to be said that St. Aubin De Teran's family are eccentric in the grand English style but as the focus is outwards upon place and people this is not an irritant like Mayes' precious harping on peculiar obsessions like other people's linen in "Bella Donna." Rather, the idiosyncrasies documented are viewed as bizarre and impractical in the Italian setting like the mouldy jars of homemade facial potions the daughter replaces for all the necessities of camping in the ruined villa or the Scottish artist husband's prancing about in full highland regalia which is his way of mocking the traditonal role of almighty pater familias assigned him by the Italian builder who forces him on tours of inspection. This book only improves with rereading. I heartily recommend it.