She didn't come "with money and pretentions". She spent summers there while a college writing teacher. I love her story (personally) and loved the book when I first read it. It has very little to do with the movie that was made from the book, but who really faults an author from finally making money from their writing? I traveled to hear her speak. She's a lovely lady.

A bit of her story -
https://www.notablebiographies.com/n...s-Frances.html

Newby's books are absolute classics (three cheers for Wanda!). Parks' books are very accessible. BritishCaicos, those Mafia books are very interesting. I had not one, but two, high school mates whose families were directly involved with the mob. Had lunch with one of them (the Calabrian connection) just a couple weeks ago. Mayes and Mayle certainly stoked the fire for many.
Italy and France seem custom-made as locations for books, both fiction and non-fiction. The cities and towns, the hinterlands, the history and culture.
Ripe settings for fantasy.
I am done. The end.

zebec, lucky you to meet da Mosto!

We made 'da most of it.
I am done. I am done.

Another fav is the Alec Blume novels by Conor Fitzgerald, I loved Aurelio Zen too.

I've enjoyed several books by Beppe Severgnini, including "Ciao, America", which I read when I was still living in the US.

He also wrote an amusing book about the idiosyncrasies of the English language, called, "L'inglese. Lezioni semiserie." (Semi-serious lessons on English). In both of these books, there are some things about the language and the country tgat he didn't really understand. But those are interesting, too, because they demonstrate the confusion that a change of culture comports.

oh my, I already have a tall stack from the library, and now must go back for more. Thank you everyone. And love the stories about linguistic confusion. I pity people trying to make sense of American English. I'm sure I've put my foot in it many times trying to speak in another language, but people always seem to appreciate the effort.

The Italians by Luigi Barzini. It's an older book but readers still find it relevant.

Enchanted April inspired a girl's trip several years ago- one month in and around Florence. A Thousand Days in Venice later inspired an evening in Piazza San Marco sipping prosecco. We had the piazza to ourselves, as there was a very light mist of rain, and the orchestra played music just for us!