Over the past several years, "the American in Tuscany" has become a
literary subgenre. Launched by the phenomenal success of Frances
Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun, bookstores now burgeon with nimble,
witty accounts of this clash in cultures-Americans trying to do
American things in Italy and bumping against a brick wall of
tradition. Before this subgenre exhausts itself, it's only fair
that we hear the other side of the story-that of a native Tuscan
and of dozens of Americans who have stormed through his life and
homeland, determined to find in it whatever they are looking for,
whether quaintness or wisdom, submission or direction. There is no
one better to provide this view than Dario Castagno. A Tuscan guide
whose client base is predominantly American, Dario has spent more
than a decade taking individuals and small groups on customized
tours through the Chianti region of Tuscany. Reared in Britain
through early childhood, he speaks English fluently and is
therefore capable of fully engaging his American clients and
getting to know them. Too Much Tuscan Sun is Dario's account of
some of his more remarkable customers, from the obsessive and the
oblivious to the downright lunatic. It is also a primer on
Tuscany--its charms and its culture. Structured around a typical
Tuscan year, Dario takes us through the sights, smells, and sounds
of Chianti during each of the twelve months, including the
festivities and pageantry that accord with the season, most notable
the Palio-the bareback horse race that consumes the social energies
of the people of Siena for all of July and August. Dario also
intersperses an account of his own life and times-that of a
transplanted British "little lord" who learns to love the wilds of
Chianti; of his discovery and adoption of abandoned peasant
farmhouses; of his apprenticeship in the wine industry; and of his
arduous transformation from bohemian layabout to thriving Tuscan
guide. But the bulk of the book is devoted, with humor and
affection, to the Americans he has met-the vain, the silly, the
ignorant, the ambitious, the horny, the condescending, the
charming, and the outright pathological. Some of them have made his
life hell and live in his nightmares; others became lifelong
friends.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
