Vanilla Beans & Brodo; Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany

by Isabella Dusi

• ISBN13: 9780743234610
• ISBN10: 0743234618
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-07-30
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• More Book Details
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Summary

A captivating and beautifully written travel memoir which evokes the real Tuscany and its people in all their passion, color, eccentricity, and charm.

Foreign writers living in Tuscany too often treat locals as an exotic species meant to provide amusing vignettes for their readers, and mischaracterize its villages as tranquil idylls. In Vanilla Beans & Bordo, Isabella Dusi, an Australian immigrant to Montalcino, Italy, returns the favor of her hard-won acceptance into this close-knit community by revealing the town and its inhabitants in all their true richness and drama.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	x
Map of Montalcino	xi
Preface Arrivederci Iron Lady...Ciao, Signora Isabella!	xv
AUTUMN
Under the Holm Oaks	3	(14)
Twenty Arrows in Half an Hour	17	(19)
Vanilla Beans and Brodo	36	(13)
Primo - the First-born	49	(20)
Fooled by the Moon and Tricked by the Wind	69	(40)
WINTER
Pianello...Pianello...Pianello!	109	(23)
One Winter's Night	132	(36)
A Little Bit of Silence while the Bishop Speaks!	168	(31)
SPRING
Alternative Tea and Jonquils	199	(19)
Quarantesimo	218	(16)
In the End the Ball is Always Round!	234	(27)
A Woodcutter's Legend and a Woodcutter's Wife	261	(30)
SUMMER
The Next Bus Back to Siena	291	(44)
A Prophet, A Sweeper and A Winemaker	335	(22)
White Canyons in the Sky	357	(32)
Sailing into Cyberspace...Digging up the Past	389	(32)
AUTUMN
Twenty Arrows in Half an Hour	421	(22)
Glossary About Montalcino Italian Words and Phrases	443	(4)
Index	447