What is Under the Tuscan Sun actually about?
Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy (1996) is Frances Mayes's memoir of buying and restoring Bramasole, an abandoned villa in the countryside near Cortona, and of the seasons, food and landscape that came with it, recipes included. It is a slow, sensual book about a house and a place. The 2003 film with Diane Lane keeps the house but invents a new story around it, with a fresh divorce, an impulse purchase and a romance.
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Few books have sent as many people to look at estate agents' windows in Tuscany. Frances Mayes, a poet, cook and travel writer, published Under the Tuscan Sun in 1996. It spent more than two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list, was a New York Times Notable Book of 1997, and then became a much-loved film. The book and the film, however, are surprisingly different animals.
What the memoir is about
At its heart the book is about a house. Mayes buys Bramasole, an abandoned villa in the countryside near Cortona, and sets about bringing it back to life. That means a long restoration, and a long apprenticeship in a new place.
Around the renovation, the book becomes a celebration of a place and its rhythms:
- Food. The pleasures of the table run all through it, with chapters of seasonal recipes.
- Landscape. The Tuscan countryside, described with a poet's eye and an appetite for detail.
- Change. Underneath it all is a story of someone remaking her life by remaking a house.
It is less a narrative than a long, sensory stay. Very little happens in the dramatic sense, and that is the point.
The book versus the film
The 2003 film, written and directed by Audrey Wells, stars Diane Lane as a recently divorced San Francisco writer who joins a tour of Tuscany, sees a villa for sale when the bus stops in Cortona, and buys it on a whim. From there it becomes a story about starting over, with new friends and a brief affair with a charming Italian.
The two differ greatly: the memoir is about the house, the food and the place, and the film builds a romantic plot around them. If you loved the film and pick up the book expecting the same story, you will be surprised; if you loved the book, the film is best seen as a cheerful cousin. Both share the house, the light and the sense of a life opened up by a place.
The Italy-dream genre
Under the Tuscan Sun sits at the centre of a familiar shelf: memoirs of people from elsewhere who buy a ruin in Italy, restore it, cook, and fall in love with the place. The appeal is obvious. Who hasn't stood in a hill town at dusk and wondered?
These books are best enjoyed for what they are: dream holidays in print, usually seen through the eyes of a newcomer. Read them alongside books by Italians about their own country and you get the full picture, sun and shadow both.
How to read it
Slowly, in summer, ideally with a bowl of tomatoes on the table. Dip in and out; the chapters work as separate pieces. Try one of the recipes when a chapter makes you hungry, which it will. And if it makes you want to go, our page on an active Italian holiday has ideas beyond the sun lounger.
FAQ
Is Under the Tuscan Sun a novel?
No. It is a memoir of real events, though the film made from it is fiction built around the same house.
Is Bramasole a real house?
Yes. It is the villa near Cortona that Mayes bought and restored, and the subject of the book.
Are there recipes in the book?
Yes. Several chapters include recipes, and the publisher's description of the anniversary edition mentions dozens of seasonal ones.
Is the book worth reading if you have seen the film?
Yes, as long as you expect a different experience: less plot, more texture, and much more food and landscape.
Sources
Written by the Zestasy editors. General information for curious adults, not medical, nutrition or training advice.