The Hills of Tuscany

A sensuous valentine to author Ferenc M´t&ecaute;'s adopted homeland, The Hills of Tuscany brims with lush descriptions of golden dales, scrumptious meals, rich wines, and friendly natives. After years of nomadic roaming from Central America to Canada, M´t&ecaute; (a writer) and his wife, Candace (a painter), visit Tuscany and impulsively decide that this is where they will settle down. A year later they return and begin the hunt for their dream house. As the likeable M´t&ecaute;s (they're funny and suitably grateful for the chance to live in one of the world's garden spots) troll the countryside with a series of colourful Tuscan middlemen, it's impossible not to become emotionally involved in their quest. And when they finally discover the perfect abode--La Marinaia, a tastefully renovated stone farmhouse set amid scenery that Ferenc describes as "like being in the middle of a painting"--you're thrilled right along with them. Subsequent chapters follow the M´t&ecaute;s' growing friendship with their neighbours, who not only help rototill the garden but also reveal where to find porcini mushrooms and truffles in the nearby woods. All in all, reading The Hills of Tuscany is the next best thing to quitting your job, climbing on a plane, and finding your own Tuscan dream house. --Rebecca Gleason

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Thanks Heavens for Ferenc and Candace! - Rated
I looked for and bought my own bit of Tuscan paradise after I read Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun. I thought that it could not be bettered. Mate has written a different sort of book - which may even equal Mayes. Only time and subsequent re-readings will tell.

I am ashamed to say that I only discovered Mate's The Hills of Tuscany just now - nearly 10 years after its original publication. Mate and his wife Candace set out on their search for their Tuscan dream house while renting a house near the gorgeous unspolt village of Palazzuolo Alto, Monte San Savino, as their base. I know the area very well and this part of the book is extremely evocative to me, including their descriptions of the trattoria Il Cacciatore (still going strong and still as good as he describes) outside Monte San Savino. Their descriptions of Monte San Savino itself, the life there, and the antique dealers Roberto and Maria, are true to life. Mate can write and re-create what he sees - I cannot so I am eternally grateful to him.

The second part of the book, dealing with the house they eventually found near Montepulciano is delightful. The Mates must be extraordinary people to break through the reserve which Italians and rural Tuscans usually have for foreigners. They must also have made a dash driving their sports car through deepest Tuscany - a good talking point to meet car-mad Italians if ever there was one.

For all the book's apparent openness, the book is reserved. We do not really get Mate's inner feelings or the story of his relationship with Candace. We find out surprisingly little about them except that they have obviously had a much travelled, and richly varied past. Nor does he tell us where one of his friends (Nebbia, the antique dealer) lives, probably wanting to keep his little village unspoiled. He is however surprisingly indiscreet - maybe he did not realise his book would become so well-known: such as when he writes that the Mayor of his adopted town is called Brioche "because he is mostly air".

The result is a genuinely charming book: not a primer on "how to restore a house in Tuscany" - but an eloquent and sometimes very funny memoir of what was obviously a very happy time for Ferenc and Candace when they first started to live in Tuscany. We are lucky to be able to share the moment vicariously.

I gather that the story continues in a new book, A Vineyard in Tuscany. I am fascinated to see what will happen.

Thank you Ferenc and Candace for this rare treat.

Not a bad effort! - Rated
Having read other books on Italy by Mayes, Dusi, Parks and Hawes I was looking for something else to read.
I came across this book with it's mixed reviews so I bought a copy from Amazon Marketplace.
For 97p you can't go wrong!
I have to say that I can see both sides to the arguments but I would say that if you enjoy reading about other peoples attempts to intergrate into Italian life, because deep down you wish it was you doing it, then buy this book.
Not the greatest read but enjoyable all the same

A Great Read - Rated
This book is fantastic. I loved it. It was hard to put down. I wish there was a sequal.

A TUSCANY BOTH SERENE AND SEDUCTIVE - Rated
Reading "The Hills of Tuscany", Ferenc Mate's exuberant, joyful ode to his adopted country, makes one eager to join that expatriate band. After occupying a series of dwellings a "houseboat, sailboat, mountain cabin, that garage in Laguna Beach, the attic in Paris, the cubbyhole in New York, and a whatsit in the Bahamas," the Hungarian-born Mate and his artist wife, Candace, deemed it time for a permanent home.

Central Italy's countryside, where "Everything was small to the measure of man," beguiled them; there "reigned the gentle Tuscan light, and silence, and a calm." They became contentedly sated by "pranzo," the four-course daily meal that resembles in quantity "our average Thanksgiving dinner," and decided to buy a farmhouse, to put down roots in the idyllic Tuscan hills.

Their enchanting dream was a challenging task. Mate spoke no Italian and was woefully ignorant of the vagaries of an agrarian existence. Nonetheless, he set about his search for their perfect home with a Quixote-like zeal, undaunted by a real estate agent cum undertaker who stored his listings with names of the recently departed in a shoe box. A parade of touted homesteads in abject disrepair didn't discourage him. Collapsed fireplaces and gaping roof holes were the norm. Mate zigzagged his way across unfamiliar terrain, following unmapped rutted paths, bouncing over rocky roads until he found his utopia, "a structure with perfect rhythm." La Marinaia The Sailor's Wife. Once that purchase was accomplished, attempts to have utilities turned on introduced him to an implacable, inscrutable Italian bureaucracy. It was explained that there are an almost infinite number of regulations in Italy, " . . . many dating from Roman times, some contradictory, some incomprehensible."

Settling in also meant becoming a part of the nearest town, Montepulciano, "built for humans not for cars, so the main street was just wide enough for conducting daily affairs, evening promenades, and small festive processions." The couple delighted in exploring closet-size shops run by often absent, usually amiable owners. Their nearest neighbor welcomed them with fresh goat cheese covered by a large fig leaf, and they attempted to improve their Italian by watching Telegiornale, the local televised news an "Italian version of reality, a flexible amalgam of fresh headlines, old footage, and clips from Steve McQueen movies."

More than an enthusiastic tribute to the ever astounding beauties of the Italian countryside, "The Hills Of Tuscany" is a paean to the pleasures of the palate as Mate describes in rapturous detail ravioli stuffed with ricotta and wild mushrooms, crostini spread with tuna and capers, rabbit ragu "spicy with tomatoes" plus a legion of dishes bathed, basted, stir-fried, swathed in or caressed by olive oil. He is also unreservedly passionate about the local wine, "wine as robust as the clay," "wine with a deep complexity that tingled all the taste buds."

Today, Mate lives with his wife and young son at La Marinaia, tending his olives and vineyard. It is there, he writes, that "we learned to live and enjoy life as the Tuscans do piano, piano, con calma." Slowly, slowly, with calm. The author's enthusiastic prose is infectious. His word pictures are captivating, as he unveils a Tuscany that is both serene and seductive. "The Hills Of Tuscany" is an invitation to follow your dream . . . especially if it leads to Italy.

- Gail Cooke

A charming Winter's Tale - Rated
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend you read it and form your own opinions!!
I have read numerous such books about Italy and feel this one is just as worthy as most. True it does not have the style of Frances Mayes but she is a poet so her prose is glorious. It does not give you the marvellous history of Isabella Dusi's Vanilla Beans and Brodo but it is still a charming book and provides an excellent insight into moving to Italy but this time from a young couple's point of view.

I read it when confined to bed in the depth of a British Winter and was immediately transported to Montepulciano and in particular to the stunning scenery of the Val d'Orcia. What better way to help the grey days disappear ?