Burnt by the Tuscan Sun is a book all about life in Italy by Francesca Maggi, an author who has been living in Italy for many, many years.
As you may have guessed from its title, Burnt by the Tuscan Sun takes a humorous look at the quirkier aspects of life in Italy. Italy has more than its fair share of quirks, this Italy resident can assure you! While the title of the book may imply it’s only about Tuscany, it is not. What Maggi observes is applicable to most of the crooked peninsula.
Burnt by the Tuscan Sun by Francesca Maggi
People who come to live in overwhelmingly beautiful Italy often expect life here to be a bed of roses. Most come across one, or more, of the Italian rose’s many prickly little thorns, sooner or later. Some of these thorns can be mildly amusing, while others are painfully irritating.
My Italy residing blogging colleague Michelle Fabio of Bleeding Espresso liked Burnt by the Tuscan Sun a lot, awarding it five espresso cups out of five on her Bleeding Espresso Italy blog.
Michelle had this to say about Maggi’s book:
You’re not going to find flowery passages about the quaintness of restoring a Tuscan villa here, but you will read about some of Italy’s unique ways from its customer service and mail delivery, erm, techniques to the reverence of La Mamma and when it is perfectly appropriate to bend the law — and when it’s not.
Burnt by the Tuscan Sun is, however, only one person’s impression and this might make you wonder at times whether the writer is being fair to Italy. Well, don’t worry, the writer is being perfectly fair, I assure you. Other books like Italian Neighbours by Tim Parks and Never Trust a Thin Cook by Eric Dregni, both of which I have read, also reveal Italy’s plentiful quirks.
“Forewarned is forearmed”, as the old saying goes, and this makes Burnt by the Tuscan Sun a must read for anyone thinking of coming to live in Italy. Those who are brave enough to contemplate setting up a business in Italy may also find this book well worth reading too.
You can find Maggi’s amusing look at Italy on Amazon:
Burnt by the Tuscan Sun on Amazon.com
Burnt by the Tuscan Sun
Don’t forget to check out Francesca Maggi’s Burnt By the Tuscan Sun blog.
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About Alex Roe
Thanks so much for the mention, Alex!
Prego, Michelle. Good to see you found Burnt by the Tuscan Sun fun
I hope all is well.
Best,
Alex
Ciao Alex – Thanks for the writeup!
If they order from my blog site, people will receive a signed copy.
http://burntbythetuscansun.blogspot.com
There’s seems to be a plethora of books written by English Speaking people about Italy and how ‘quirky’ it is and that somehow it is not like home. Does any other country gets this sort of treatment?
Assolutamente d’accordo. Forse c’entra l’attitudine tutta anglosassone di fare i soldi sulle disgrazie altrui?
Translation:
I absolutely agree. Maybe it’s got something to do with the Anglo-Saxon habit of making money off the misfortunes of others?
Quale attitudine tutta anglosassone di fare i soldi sulle disgrazie altrui?
Translation:
What Anglo-Saxon habit of making money off the misfortunes of others?
As for other countries, Try the book series, A Year in the Merde – hilarious fun. Anything by Bill Bryson (who also writes about – could it be? Two Anglo countries: The UK & the USA).
The USA has about 420000 comics and counting, endless satirical cartoonists, writers, bloggers, playrwrights and entire websites (I’m thinking walmartpeople.com) which shows the pox marks of places.
My book, in specific, isn’t about the ‘disgrazia altrui’ – it reveals simply italianness, which is just a bit different than what one might be used to (although you could look at Calvino or Barzini or heck, even Shakespeare – not that I consider myself at that level) as to what others write about.
But, considering that there are gazillions of websites, articles and books dedicated to Italy’s ‘Quality of Life’, it’s nice to get a different perspective. Open up an Italian newspaper, watch Italian comedians, look at daily cartoons, check out every so often ‘Striscia la Notizia’ or ‘Mi manda RAI3′ for the latest in Italian ‘disgrazie’, and you might find that it’s not foreigners who like to ‘pick on’ Italy. In fact, if you are honest with yourself, just listen in on your own conversations at dinnertime…
As for making money off the misfortunes of others? I only wish. The only ones making money off the misfortunes of others seem to be the Italian politicians, the crooks, and the telecoms companies.
So, why shoot the messenger?
i miei due centesimi:
I began studying Italian from a distance (NY) 3.5 years ago. I read all kind of things on the internet, from blogs to comments on Youtube videos, to popular books like those of Beppi Severgnini etc.. and one of the first things I was struck by was the level of self-deprecation in the culture. I was sometimes touched and sometimes just surprised. Other than Tim Parks book (which I found to be a rather loving tribute of sorts to his vicini) I have mostly read about Italians on Italians.
Ci sono tanti italiani che adorano prendersi in giro a vicenda. I might have written that wrong….but there are plenty of Italians that love to make fun of their own culture!
Thanks for you blog Alex !