Under the Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy (1996) is a nonfiction book about author Frances Mayes’s efforts to renovate an abandoned villa in Cortona, Italy, alongside her husband. The book is part memoir, part travelogue, part cookbook: it’s filled with Mayes’s own Italian recipes, gardening advice, and musings on the Tuscany region of Italy, as well as her ongoing renovation of the villa. Mayes served as the department head of San Francisco University’s creative writing department and is now a full-time writer. She has published several volumes of poetry, a novel, and served as the editor of Best American Travel Writing 2002.

The book begins with Frances waiting for news from her bank. She is in the process of buying an abandoned villa in Cortona in the Tuscany region of Italy, and she has to make sure her transfer of funds has gone through. She fell in love with the area on frequent visits with her boyfriend, Ed, whom she met after divorcing her first husband. They grew tired of renting homes for their travels and decided to buy a vacation home of their own. The house they buy is called Bramasole, which Frances explains means “yearning for the sun.”

Though the villa is so old, its price is not cheap. Frances is nervous about the purchase because she knows she and Ed will be putting all their savings into it. The purchase is a lengthy process, but when it’s complete, she is excited, ready to start renovating and making the place into a home once more. Once she and Ed are allowed to move in, they begin the arduous process of cleaning the house. And there is more red tape ahead. Now that they own the house, they must apply for and be granted permits before they can move forward with the bulk of their renovation plans.



Weeds grow in and around the home’s terraces, and Frances sets to work clearing them out. She and Ed hire a local man to repair a stonewall that has collapsed. They also meet a group of Polish workers willing to help them, men who also become their friends along the way.

They encounter many issues with the language barrier; their Italian is not perfect and their vocabularies not extensive. They find local contractors have a more lackadaisical approach to work than they expected. One hired contractor gets sick and bows out of the project; when Frances and Ed hire a replacement, he fails to show up as scheduled.

As summer ends, renovations are just beginning, and it’s time for Frances and Ed to go back to America to resume their jobs. Both work as professors at a university. The next summer, they return to Italy. To their relief, a well has been dug providing a source of fresh water for their new home. The required permits have finally been approved, and the real work on their villa can begin. Frances hopes that the villa will be ready for them by Christmas so they can spend the holiday there with her daughter, Ashley.



However, each new fix to the villa reveals additional problems that must be resolved. When the three of them arrive at Christmas, the villa is a shambles. The workers have departed without cleaning up after themselves, and Frances is displeased to find a phone number written on a beautifully frescoed wall. The family is forced to spend Christmas at a family friend’s house instead.

But amid the trials of renovation, Frances and Ed also find unexpected delights. They discover a natural spring under the house while sprucing up the garden, and while converting an old stable into a modern kitchen, they discover the building was once a chapel.

Frances frequently imagines the life and personality of the villa’s previous owner. She pictures an elderly nonna, someone grandmotherly who loved plants and cooking. She fondly thinks about what this nonna would say or how she would react to the ongoing renovations to her home.



By the next spring, the house is finished. Frances is thrilled to begin living at Bramasole. She and Ed build a dining table outside so they can enjoy dinners outside and entertain friends in the fresh air.

From here, Frances describes her seasonal visits to the villa in Tuscany and her life as an occasional resident in Italy. She and Ed spend a summer traveling the Tuscan countryside, buying wines and touring old tombs. Another time, they host a spectacular destination wedding for a friend. In winter, Frances and Ed collect oil from their olive trees. At last, they are able to spend family Christmases at the house.

Under the Tuscan Sun rose to number one on the New York Times Best Seller list, and stayed on the list for two years. Mayes later wrote two follow-up memoirs, Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy in 1999, and In Tuscany in 2000. In 2003, Under the Tuscan Sun was loosely adapted into a feature film starring Diane Lane.