Left wanting more from Ms. DeBlasi's previous book, I moved with her from Venice to Tuscany and never wanted to leave. The prose in these books is as sumptuous as the life seems to be--rich in detail, rich in emotion and rich in love for the place, the people and the food. Through Ms. DeBlasi's pen, we are immersed in tender moments, breathtaking settings and relationships of great depth, which brought tears and laughter and a hunger to share such a life. Most surprisingly, I came away thinking life can be more deeply appreciated no matter where we are. Once again I couldn't bear to leave this delicious tale and moved right along to read the next chapter The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria. This story ranks right up there with my favorite books about Tuscany.

This book was my introduction to Marlena De Blasi's collection of stories. In my opinion, "Tuscany" is the best story of the series. De Blasi paints beautiful pictures of the people, places and food on her adventure in Tuscany. Her humor and lust for food are always evident and her ability to weave the story tightly with these elements succeeds in transporting the reader to the kitchens, vineyards and orchards of this little village. This book launched me on the path to continue to read more of Marlena's stories, but perhaps like a first love...those that follow pale by comparison.

Thank you, Marlena and Fernando, for the warmest, loveliest winter reading experience (s) I have had in a long time! You got me through the howling winter evenings, and the dreary grey days, armchair travelling to your beloved Italy from my upstate NY lakeside community. I have told many of my friends about your books, and cannot WAIT for the latest installment, with old friend and new acquaintences filling your cornucopia of Life to overflowing.

It is evident you had a love at first sight, as we have reading your story.

My hope for you both to continue in good health (and great food and interesting beloved friends) as you make this life's journey together. Your story is an inspiration for those of us afraid of major life changes at 'any age.' GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!

I love this book and would love to give a copy to everyone I know. I wish I had MDB in my life too. Reading that books moves you to look around and enjoy/love the life you find yourself living. The food and recipes are great, but what I really take away from this book is the philosophy/life lessons.

My favorite quote from the book, "First prize for not waiting, for not waiting to splash in a river, for not promising myself that I would someday splash in a river, but for doing it now, right now."

A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY is Marlena de Blasi's second memoir recounting her life in Italy, after 2002's A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE. In the book's opening pages, she and her husband and soul mate, Fernando, have left Venice for a dilapidated farmouse deep in the Tuscan countryside. The residents of the idyllic village near their new home welcome them with a meal, which inevitably lasts for hours, ending with a dessert whose cream was just milked from a blue-eyed cow that morning. Subsequently, Marlena and Fernando are befriended by Barlozzo, one of the town's oldest residents, who is eager to share stories about the locals and to introduce them to timeless Tuscan traditions: hunting for truffles, baking bread, picking olives for olive oil, crushing grapes for wine, harvesting chestnuts... But it's not just Tuscany that Marlena and Fernando learn about during their stay in one of the world's most beautiful places; they also learn a lot about each other and about themselves, and a lot about what it means to slow down and enjoy a life free from the hustle and bustle of the modern world.

This was a beautiful, beautiful book, with some of the most stunning writing I've ever come across. De Blasi's descriptions bring Old World Tuscany utterly and completely to life; you can almost taste the olive oil, can almost feel the grapes bursting under your feet, can almost imagine yourself there, in an old Tuscan farmhouse, starting out the window at that marvelous landscape. The pictures de Blasi paints of the townspeople are insightful and vibrant, and the recipes at the end of every chapter are completely succulent, including the recipe for the "one true bruschetta" (no tomatoes, no garlic, no onion or herbs...just fresh-baked toasted bread doused in olive oil and topped with a little bit of sea salt). It's really obvious from her writing that de Blasi loves everything about Italy: her people, her food, her breathtaking vistas and her sun-drenched, relaxed way of life.

I fell in love with Marlena de Blasi's Italy, with her gorgeous writing, her delicious traditional Tuscan recipes, and her vivid portrayals of the people who live in the beauty and romance of Tuscany every day. There were moments when I felt like her writing bordered on pretentious, but mostly I just thought everything about this book was gorgeous. I haven't read A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE, but I'm definitely going to. You can definitely tell how much Fernando and Marlena are in love in this book, but I'm eager to learn how their love story began.

The Tuscan state of mind can best be summed up with the following passage, spoken by one of Marlena's dearest Tuscan friends: "Maybe the only thing that matters is to make our lives last as long as we do. You know, to make a life last until it ends, to make all the parts come out even, like when you rub the last piece of bread in the last drop of oil on your plate and eat it with the last sip of wine in your glass." A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY is a book for people in love, for people who long for a simpler way of life, for people who go to that idyllic Tuscan countryside every night in their dreams. I loved everything about this book!

I found myself reading slower as I got near the end of this story. I didn't want it to end. A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE was a delightful book but I found this one more captivating. Ms. De Blasi weaves a beautiful, true adventure as if the reader was traveling along with her each step of the way. Her descriptions and characters are so real in her words I thought I might be there. BRAVA, de Blasi!!!!!!!!!

I've read A Thousand Days in Venice, A Thousand Days in Tuscany and The Lady in the Palazzo. Once I started the first, A Thousand Days in Venice, I was hooked. These are love stories about an American woman of a certain age who fell in love with a Venetian man of a certain age, and more. De Blasi loves this blueberry eyed man with a passion not to be duplicated. She also loves the people, the food, the customs the land. She learns to live in Italy, speak the language, read and dream in Italian and she pushes the box each time she reaches out to someone, which is often. Her recipes are wonderfull. I'm trying to figure out if I can find walnut flour in Minnesota.

Read it as a travelog, as a cookbook, as a love story. Just read all of the books.

I wish there was a way to give this book a negative number of stars. Not because it was that bad (although it was pretty awful) but because it seems that friends of the author have given less than accurate reviews to put it mildly. This self published book is very amateurish and downright annoying. How many times do you need to explain how to pronounce San Gimignano (Sahn-Jim-ee-NYAH-noh). After about the twentieth time you will be ready to scream, not to mention when she switches to calling it San Gim and feels the need to explain that pronunciation also. The story goes something like this - Our villa was near San Gen (San JIM). It had a pool and a terrazzo (tair-AHT-sah); terrace. There was a ristorante (ri-store-AHN-tay); restaurant nearby. You had to pay in lire (LEE-ray) plural of lira. We were very hungry. The waiter said "Va bene?"
(vah-BEN-ay). We said "Si, Va bene" (See Vah-BEN-ay)... You get the picture.

And if you are a novice to foreign travel, please don't take advice from a woman who makes lunch reservations from the U.S. six months in advance, and paid $210 to ship a box to Italy with disposable cameras, a pillow, plastic wrap, soap, detergent, candles, writing paper and "reliable" pens. She learns how to say "taste", degustazione in Italian and when she sees grape vines, goes and knocks on people's door and asks to taste their wine. When they look at her like she's crazy she asks to buy some and is accommodated. If she had been able to laugh at herself and her faux pas, this could have been a hilarious book; however she seems to think she is extremely clever to have planned this trip and learned a few words of Italian.

I love travel, Italy, and travel narratives. I adored 1000 Days in Tuscany, The Reluctant Tuscan, Extra Virgin and was hoping for a similar read with A Summer in Tuscany but instead got a poorly written journal that never went any deeper than "got up, went swimming, ate a pastry, read a book".

It is a good book but rather slow. However, I will have to say I have enjoyed reading about this woman's time living in Tuscany. The recipes that she wrote really sound good. I will be trying some.

I read her first book A Thousand Days in Venice and enjoyed it very much. It seemed so real like we were sitting over coffee discussing her life. It made me want to walk the same places she walked and see the same markets to bring it to life for me too.
She has a smooth way of writing that is enjoyable. And the recipes are wonderful.
She again brought Tuscany to life for me and I wanted to see the villages and cucina's there. I am looking forward to the 2007 book.

I like the way MDB writes, and this sequel has the benefit of not making her husband, Fernando, seem as obnoxious as he did in the Venice book. This book is more about food (my God, is she obsessed with food!), the villagers, and the various other characters they meet around Tuscany. In this book MDB seems to have settled into her marriage and learned how to handle Fernando and his moodiness (yay).
I tried the recipe for white beans cooked with herbs, wine and olive oil and the flavor was sublime, although the cooking time was much too long. (Cook's note: Don't pre-cook them in plain water -- just mix the pre-soaked, drained, uncooked beans with all of the other ingredients EXCEPT the salt; simmer 20 min., add the salt, then test them after another 20 min. of cooking. You can also get away with much less oil -- fewer calories!). Anyway, I'll definitely make them again, as well as the Castagnaccio (chestnut-flour bread).

A pleasant read, this book made me both hungry and desire to visit Tuscany. I wished I had read A Thousand Days in Venice first though. It is not a sequel but the story begins in Venice and the same characters are in both books.

A pleasant read, this book made me both hungry and desire to visit Tuscany. I wished I had read A Thousand Days in Venice first though. It is not a sequel but the story begins in Venice and the same characters are in both books.

I could relate to the author because I am soon turning 50. I loved her descriptions and all the people she talked about there in venice. I enjoyed the list at the back of the book of places and things to do if ever in Venice.
Made me think about things in my own life

If you can, read Marlena De Blasi's earlier book "A Thousand Days in Venice" before reading this one. I was glad I knew about De Blasi's life in the U.S. and Venice, and how she met and married her "Stranger" as she calls her Venetian husband Fernando. Fernando has a tendency to melancholy and melodrama. He feels trapped by his past of unhappiness and his stifling job in a bank. Marlena is horrified when he comes home and announces that he has quit his secure, life-long job. She's a city girl, in love with Venice, and he has decided to move to a rural Tuscan village. But Marlena is also adaptable and adventurous, and makes the most of the beautiful Tuscan countryside, amazing food experiences (she is a former chef and food writer), and people who embrace her and make her feel welcome. I expected a book like "Under the Tuscan Sun", where the writer has buckets of money and views the locals as humorous bumpkins and overpriced servants, but De Blasi becomes close to the natives of her new home and learns about the privations of their past and the sorrows of their present (the subtitle of the book is "A Bittersweet Adventure"). She falls in love with the "Duke", who was born in the building her new apartment is in and who remembers the hunger of the war years. He takes the younger couple under his wing and teaches them the lessons that go with the food De Blasi loves: during the hungry periods, chestnuts were all the Tuscans had to eat. They ground the shells for coffee, and made a paste of the nutmeats and water, and baked it into cakes. There was no olive oil, honey, or cream to make it sumptuous. Soldiers returning to their home were not feted by their families with the roasting of the fatted calf, but with starvation. They ate the grass. Marlena reveals that money is tight for her and Fernando, $75.00 per week must cover everything. There is worry in the winter as the woodpile is depleted too quickly, and the bread is set to rise under the bedcovers, the only warm place in the house! They harvest grapes and olives with their new friends, learn to prepare wild boar, and learn to love the land. If you love food and travel, read this book!

If you can, do read Marlena De Blasi's earlier book "A Thousand Days in Venice" before reading this one. I was glad I knew about De Blasi's life in the U.S. and Venice, and how she met and married her "Stranger" as she calls her Venitian husband. The Stranger has a tendency to melancholy and melodrama which is kind of unattractive (but that's real life for you). Marlena is horrified when he comes home and announces that he has quit his secure, life-long job as a banker just as she is adjusting to life in her beloved city of Venice. She's a city girl, and a girly-girl, and he has decided to move to a rural Tuscan village. But Marlena is also adaptable and adventurous, though no longer young, and makes the most of the beautiful Tuscan countryside, amazing food experiences (she is a former chef and food writer), and people who embrace her and make her feel welcome. If you love food and travel, read this book!

A small gem!

Every once in a while a book comes along that really moves me with its quiet beauty; "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" fits easily into this category.

Wonderfully written and easy to read with its soft descriptive prose; the words transport you from your comfortable sofa to a magnificent area of Italy that is renowned for its people and its unique landscape.

The book follows two new arrivals to the Tuscan region of Italy and tells of their interactions with the local residents; people who soon become part of their daily routine. Each chapter is a small vignette describing a situation (usually with a local personage), a trip and, above all, food; in fact all chapters get around to the discussion of, or preparation of food. Most chapters end with a recipe for the main dish that was describe in the chapter involved.

All in all, a warm, quiet and beautifully descriptive short book about an area of the world that all of us would probably love to visit at least once in our lifetime. Highly recommended.

A small gem!

Every once in a while a book comes along that really moves me with its quiet beauty; "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" fits easily into this category.

Wonderfully written and easy to read with its soft descriptive prose; the words transport you from your comfortable sofa to a magnificent area of Italy that is renowned for its people and its unique landscape.

The book follows two new arrivals to the Tuscan region of Italy and tells of their interactions with the local residents who soon become part of their daily routine. Each chapter is a small vignette describing a situation (usually with a local personage), a trip and, above all, food; in fact all chapters get around to the discussion of, or preparation of food. Most chapters end with a recipe for the main dish that was describe in the chapter involved.

All in all, a warm, quiet and beautifully descriptive short book about an area of the world that all of us would probably love to visit at least once in our lifetime. Highly recommended.

A small gem!

Every once in a while a book comes along that really moves me with its quiet beauty; "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" fits easily into this category.

Beautifully written and easy to read with its soft descriptive prose; the words transport you from your comfortable sofa to a magnificent area of Italy that is renowned for its people and its unique landscape.

The book basically follows two new arrivals to the Tuscan region of Italy and their interaction with the local residents who become part of their daily routine. Each chapter is a small vignette describing a situation with a local personage, a trip and, above all, food; in fact all chapters get around to the discussion of, or preparation of food. Most chapters end with a recipe for the main dish that was describe in the chapter involved.

All in all, a warm, quiet and beautifully descriptive short book about an area of the world that all of us would probably love to visit at least once in our lifetime. Highly recommended.

This is a book that pulls you into the everyday, little moments that make up life. Marlena De Blasi not only captures a truly wonderful part of her life but also makes you want to re-examine yours. Her writing on food is wonderful and makes your mouth water but her book is so much more than food. She lets you catch glimps of other peoples lives that are in one way so profound and yet in another she reliazes that life is what is. I would recomend this book to anyone who appreciates and enjoys a novel that is so much more than words.

This is definitely an interesting book about a couple living in Tuscany. Moving from their beloved Venice they are embraced by the locals of Tuscany and welcomed into the community. They are befriended by an elder there and shown the local customs and the old ways of the times. They make new friends, learn more about each other and delve headlong into their new life.
This is the story of a couple, a insight into Italian food with recipes given, and a great look into life in Tuscany. We even have some of the book written in Italian with what is being said shown, great way to pick up a few phrases. I did not read the previous work of this author, "A Thousand Days in Venice," however I found this work to be a different read, to me not the norm, but yet quite compelling and interesting.I believe to sum it up, this is a story of life, love and learning about themselves, others and the world they live in.
Shirley Johnson

Marlena de Blasi follows up her Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance, with her newest book, A Thousand Days in Tuscany.

This begins with the arrival of American food writer Marlena, and her Venetian husband Fernando, in the small Tuscan village of San Casciano de Bagni, where they rent an ancient farmhouse, with no telephone, central heat, or television. Fernando has given up his job in a Venetian bank; and they will be living on their small savings and Marlena's earnings for her writing.

Her children are grown and settled; now they are on their own grand adventure. On the day they move in, the villagers gather around, and help them clean and unpack; then there is an impromptu potluck party in the piazza around the town bar, with fired zucchini blossoms as the main feature. They become especially close to Floriana and old Barlozzo, who regales them with tales of the past; of instructions on how to bake, build an outdoor oven, gather and forage; and who imparts much of his wisdom.

We follow them when they harvest grapes for wine as well as figs, olives and chestnuts. They forage for spring greens and truffles and harvest eggs from under chickens. This is a beautifully constructed symphony of words, philosophy, sounds, scents, tastes, wonderful characters, beautiful rustic scenery, history, and of course love...love for Fernando, Floriana and Barlozzo, the villagers, the food, for Tuscany, for Italy, for life.

Interview with the author and reading group guide are located at the back of the book.

Armchair Interviews warns: You will immediately want to have wine with each meal, and drizzle bruschetta (brew-sket'-ah) with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and simmer some beans along with herbs and maybe some pancetta.

Having lived and worked in Italy during the 60s and early 70s, I found Marlena De Blasi's recounting of her time spent in a very small town in Tuscany more in sync with what actually happens in such a place. It was easy for me to bring forth a picture in my mind and actually feel as if I was there. Mrs. Blasi's characterizations of persons encountered was complete.

I would highly recommend "A Thousand Days in Venice" as an accurate interpretation of what happens in Italy on a daily basis.

shipment arrived quickly and book is in brand new condition

As good as A Thousand Days in Venice, possibly better!

Do yourself a favor and read de Blasi's "A Thousand Days in Venice" before embarking on the sequel "A Thousand Days in Tuscany". It is not required reading, but you would be missing out on a delightful and unusual love story which sets up this book so perfectly.

Do not mistake this book for a cook book. It is so much more. De Blasi's writing is a feast of sumptuous descriptions of not only food, but life in Tuscany and the joy of knowing she is living her life exactly as she wants to. After reading the book, I was taken aback to find how strongly I wanted to meet this person and be a part of her circle of friends. She is as warm and senuous as the olive oil drizzled on the crusty, roasted, tuscan breads. This book could have been filled with photographs, but they weren't necessary. De Blasi's descriptions will fill your mind's eye with amazing visuals of life in rural Tuscany. I hope when you finish the book(s) you will feel, like I do, that your heart and soul have been amptly nourished .... and your taste-buds truly inspired!

By the time I was halfway through A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena de Blasi, I wanted to get up at six each morning and bake the day's bread with rosemary and olive oil. I wanted to walk up a hill and go to breakfast at a local bar and chat with the duke, a local man who took Marlena and her husband under his wing and showed them what life in the Tuscan village where they settled for a thousand days was really like.

Reading this book was a wonderful experience for me as I followed this couple through their days of integrating into the life, lives and especially the foods, wines and cooking of this area of Italy. Harvesting grapes for wine, picking olives and chestnuts are all part of a way of life that hasn't changed for centuries in this part of the world, and de Blasi does an excellent job of taking us in our armchairs into that world. The natural romance of the area just adds to the romantic relationship that de Blasi and her husband have, and as the reader I experienced every lovely minute of their time in Tuscany.

The only thing I would have liked in addition to de Blasi's lyrical writing was a collection of photos from her time there, but maybe the imagination does a better job.

`A Thousand Days in Tuscany' by American (transplanted to Italy), Marlena De Blasi is a sequel to her `A Thousand Days in Venice'. While I have not read the earlier work, I sense that both are personal memoirs of her life in Italy with her companion Fernando, with culinary grace notes and comments.

The number of stars to be rewarded to Ms. De Blasi's work is complicated by the fact that there are several excellent works on living and eating in Tuscany, so the bar is set pretty high. Leading the pack by far is the great culinary memoir by Patience Gray, `Honey from a Weed'. Another very high quality work is `The Tuscan Year' by Elizabeth Romer. On culinary points alone, Ms. De Blasi's work is pretty weak, as the book contains a scant nine recipes for pretty routine stuff.

Fortunately, this book should not be weighed on this score alone, even though Amazon.com conned me into buying it by having it come up in new releases of culinary titles. The book is more valuable as a picture of life through the seasons as seen by an American, with much the same tone as Frances Mayes `Under the Tuscan Sun'.

And yet, the book is less than perfect on this score as well. I am a little puzzled by the fact that while the title of the book promises a thousand days, the text covers one calendar year. I also found some of the narrative just a bit confusing. For many pages, the writing seemed to confuse Barlozzo with the character of their ducal landlord, about whom Barlozzo often complains. I also found some of the writing just a bit inept in the use of some words, as when the author describes Barlozzo's speech as `semantic'. I quite honestly believe the author simply did not have a firm grip on the meaning of `semantic' when she used it in this context. As a former professional philosopher and student of the philosophy of language, I assure you dear reader that this word use was at least confusing.

In spite of all those rants, this is an exceedingly pleasant book to read. It evokes Italian rural life in such a way that I an literally encouraged to get on a plane to Italy and spend a year there myself, if Madame Mayes and De Blasi and company have not already convinced half the English speaking world to do the same thing.

I will not bore you with recounting the events of the book, as other reviews have covered this very well. I will say that this volume is much better than some other discussions of Tuscan life such as those from Mary Ann Esposito (`Chao Italia in Tuscany') and Pino Luongo (`Simply Tuscan'). While these volumes have a lot of worthy culinary material, they fail as genuine reflections of Tuscan life.

Recommended to anyone who enjoys Frances Mayes books on living in Tuscany.

This was a marvelous read, one that you can learn from. At times I almost felt embarrassed by my lifestye, so non-materialistic the author's was in this book. The focus of her life is interacting with people, and with great warmth. She writes of her experiences with these people so beautifully. I couldn't help but compare her with Francis Mayes. What was really interesting was to read "Under the Tuscan Sun", "Bella Tuscany", and then "A Thousand Days in Tuscany." You end up with two entirely different perceptions of this region, its people,and their culture. Marlene De Blasi is someone I would want to meet and spend time with. I never had that feeling reading Francis Mayes books. For those who saw the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", the character in the movie is much more like the author of this book, and nothing like the author of the book the movie was based on. That ironic wit of hers in this book was so much fun to read. I would recommend "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" to those of you who are looking for a glimpse into village life in Tuscany. The portrayals of these people were rich and colorful, and very rewarding to read.

There's no doubt that she's ardent, intense; sometimes fiery. Marlena De Blasi is a passionate woman. Make that passionate with a capital P. A chef, she has a passion for food. Married to Fernando, a Venetian with "blueberry eyes, " she has a passion for Italy. Her exuberance is so contagious that readers will relish every page of "A Thousand Days In Tuscany" (as well as the recipe that ends each chapter).

Ms. De Blasi waxes so enthusiastically about her subjects that it almost seems she writes in bold print to extol the virtues of wild herbs, fresh cheese, and the Tuscan twilight. She is a firm believer in love, and an advocate of life, as well as the living of it.

As many will remember with "A Thousand Days In Venice," Ms. De Blasi first visited Italy perhaps a dozen years ago. On her first day there as she was sitting in a caf� with her traveling companions, she noticed an attractive man who seemed to be looking at her. Next, in true Danielle Steel style, a waiter told her that she had a phone call. It was, of course, the mysterious man urging her to meet him. She declined but returned to the caf� a few days later to find him there. They saw one another until she returned to St. Louis.

He soon followed. Fernando, we learned, was a banker who had never married. He would later say that he knew she was the one the moment he saw her. Although she did not share this initial surety she gave in to his pleas. Much to the astonishment and concern of her grown children and friends she returned with him to Venice where they married. She had imagined an apartment overlooking the Grand Canal. Instead she found a square concrete house on the Lido. Little did that matter - there was Fernando.

And, there is still Fernando who came home one day to announce that he has quit his job at the bank, and they're moving to Tuscany. A redone stable lacking central heating, a phone, and other amenities in the small village of San Casciano dei Bagni becomes their new home. It does boast a closet size kitchen with a refrigerator akin to what one might find by a hotel mini bar. She writes of their contract with the stable owner: "There had been a well-defined agreement with Signora Lucci that the house would be clean and that it would be empty. Neither is the case." The signora's furniture is "all in the form of irrefutable junk."

Nonetheless, the ever resourceful De Blasi is soon trimming the windows in her Venetian drapes complete with tasseled tiebacks, and delighting in her first taste of fried zucchini blossoms. The bar or restaurant in the village becomes almost their second home. It is there that they meet the villagers and take their morning espresso.

They're adopted by an elderly gentleman, Barlozzo, who tells fascinating stories and indoctrinates them into the ways of the region. He teaches them how to pick olives- one by one, harvest grapes, and hunt for wild mushrooms. Florina or Flori becomes another special friend. She of the shy smile and warm heart. Times, we learn, have changed very little in San Casciano dei Bagni.

It is here by the site of the ancient Roman baths, where Horace and Ottaviano Augustus vacationed, that Ms. De Blasi learns "the great secret that living in the moment and being content with one's portion makes for the best of all lives."

If the reader is fortunate, that is only one small lesson learned during this idyllic sojourn in the Tuscan hills.

- Gail Cooke