In Maremma: Life and a House in Southern Tuscany

by David Leavitt and Mark Mitchell

Book Overview

With stunning illustrations and color photographs, this expanded edition of In Maremma recounts the restoration of a dilapidated 1950s farmhouse in southern Tuscany. Beautifully written, witty, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582432112
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Beatufully captures Tuscan life without sentimentality

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.

In Maremma one finds the warm, Italian personalities

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!

BECOMING ITALIAN

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.