Rating: 
Summary: Second course
Review: This book is like a second course in a sumptuous dinner. Frances and Ed have now cpmpleted most of the major alterations to their villa in Tuscany and are now able to spend more time touring the rest of the region, sampling the local wines and cuisine, enjoying the magnificent architecture and generally continuing their love affair with Italy.
This book definitely inspires the reader to visit this wonderful sounding region of Italy and to be able to feel part of such a warm, rich culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely Dreamscapes into the Heart of Italy
Review: Who has not dreamt of escaping to a colorful villa in Europe, preferably Provence (France), Tuscany in Italy or some obscure litle hillside in Central Europe? Frances Mays did just that! She describes the delicious details of this idyllic existence in this precious and charming book.Her sensitive, seductive descriptions are irresisible reading.
The reader is introduced to the sights, sounds, and smells of this magnificent dreamy region of the world. The book is interspersed with Italian phrases, increasing the allure of her exotic choice for a second home, Tuscany, Italy. All the senses of the reader are aroused into full alert by the aroma of freshly baked bread, the smell of newly turned earth awaiting seeds for the vegetable garden, and the enticement of early morning capuccino ...One can just hear the Italian accent in the greeting, "Buon giorno, una bella giornata" ("Good morning, a beautiful day")!
Along with the author, the reader participates in selecting flowers for a garden path and making a trip to the wine region for "sfuso" (house wine) ... bought from local vintners from their own local brew. We take side trips to Venice, and a gondola ride down the main canal, reminiscing of the past. We take a trip to the famous Capella Palatina, a former residence of kings. It has Arabic and Byzantine architechtural influences from many hundreds of years historical importance ... We go to Sicily and taste the local seafood at a restaurant recommended by the hotel clerk, who assures us, this the restaurant the locals choose for the "best seafood". Indeed, there is no disappointment, the appetizer is "futta di mare", a variety of fried fish and a spicy eggplant dish made with cinnamon and pine nuts. We are served stuffed squid and veal, rolled around with a layer of herbs and cheese. The day concludes with a visit to the market, where lamb, fish, shrimp, candied fruits and various cooking utensils as well as a large variety of food is sold.
This book is richly detailed with the experience of creating a new life in a foreign country. The reader along with the author is learning many things ... building a garden with hearty plants that survive all year round, planting the proper vegetables by the right season, remodeling a home, and partaking of customs and religious feast days of the region. It has wonderful descriptions of side trips to local and distant places of historical interest and of physical beauty ...I have never read Frances Mays first book so have no basis of comparison. However, this book is clearly an artistic achievement similar to a painting on canvas. This author possesses the power of selecting the right words to create nostalgia and longing in the reader ... to experience *her* Tuscany. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Rating:
Summary: a diamond with some flaws
Review: OK--Many of the customers who wrote previous reviews about Bella Tuscany have some valid complaints. It is several chapters too long and we do get tired of Mayes' whining. We have little pity for her trying to restore two houses at once and we don't need to hear about every meal and shopping excursion. It certainly does not surpass her first effort, "Under the Tuscan Sun." Still, as someone who has never been to Tuscany (or Italy for that matter), many of the descriptions in "Bella Tuscany" are little treasures. Who wouldn't want to live where you can go to one local farm for ricotta, another for pecorino romano and a third for wine? Or where Roman and Etruscan ruins are to be found in so many unsuspecting places? Or where fabulous meals can be made with only the simple ingredients you grow in your garden? Or where every small local church has a major work or art or two? I do have two recommendations that would have made this book more enjoyable; a map of Tuscany and Italy would have been helpful in identifying the many places Mayes visited. Also, I would have enjoyed more photographs other than those on the dust jacket. Maybe the few "teaser" pictures are to whet our appetite for her 3rd book, "In Tuscany." In any case, while this book has some character flaws, I think potential readers need to try to overlook these and to dig deeper for the jewel within.
Rating:
Summary: a good follow-up book
Review: Just as good as the first book, this time the author focuses more on daily living in Tuscany, rather than the restoration of the house. I love the descriptions of her garden and her fascination with making it a lovely place. If you enjoyed the first book, you'll love this one too.
Rating: 
Summary: Fresh voice is corrupted in Bella Tuscany
Review: The magic of Tuscany fades with this novel, where Mayes looses her objective and foreign voice, and trades it in for a more settled and self-centered opinion. Understanding that it is the journal of the love of a house and a country, i finished the book. Yet, i couldn't help but feel, that this novel was more of a documentary of her lame trials: juggling a great career with finding the "right" home in California, dealing with her personal relationship, and getting tired of friends wanting visit her in Tuscany (who could blame them!). Rather than be the continuing saga of a great house in an amazing region, with some of the strongest cultural roots on the planet, Bella Tuscany folds itself into the day in-day out of a privedge and educated woman. The first novel was fresh and new, maybe because Tuscany wasn't as "discovered" by the time the second one hit the shelves. All in all, I simply feel that Mayes' voice of discovery has abandonded her, with Bella Tuscany.
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