Too Much Tuscan Sun Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide-Book of the year!!
 

All I can say is read this book, absolutely hilarious!! I purchased it in Siena, its not available yet in the US but can be ordered if you contact the author directly. I am still laughing, its i-n-c-r-d-e-b-i-l-e!!!<BR>Ah i nearly forgot the author is someone that is rather well known on this site Dario <BR>[email protected]

Clue me in here -- why do you consider the author as &quot;rather well known&quot; here?<BR>I did a search of his name and came up with 27 hits. Most were just terse responses to Italy questions. <BR><BR><BR>

Yes, the only post I remember from him was telling about how he stood up in a restaurant reading his book aloud to a tour group and someone complained which he just couldn't understand. He came off as a total jerk here.

First, I think Fodors indexing system must be acting up again - I think there have been a lot more than 27 posts by Dario here, but maybe I'm wrong.<BR><BR>Second, he did not come off as a total jerk, rather as someone who had a very unpleasant experience in a caf&eacute; in Italy and who shared it in less than totally fluent English. <BR><BR>I cant wait to get hold of his book, personally.

It amazes me how some people can create reputations for themselves on a couple of message boards in cyberspace. <BR>And PeterHolm, you nearly forgot the author is highly &quot;advertised&quot; on this board. Were we born yesterday?

Oh, what a surprise. Someone trying to sell Dario's book on Fodors. Its too bad that Dario made such a fool of himself with his rant against the French. Gives him much less credibility.

Even bad publicity is good publicity. Some of the best selling books are controversial. The best way to find out if the book is any good is to read it! By whacking the author's reputation on the board, you are no different from the one you accuse.

A fool of himself? why? I know Dario and have used his services many times in the last 15 years. I can assure you that he is a very polite reserved person, so reserved that very often he replies to many questions posted here with a false name as he does'nt want people to think that he is trying to sell his services. Its thanks to those type of&quot;fools&quot; if this site exists. I am very happy that he has got his book published, he deserves it as well as he deserves a big thanks by all the hundreds of people he has helped out on Fodors.

Its funny watching people trying to defend Dario's behaviour on that thread. He made remarks about the French for which anyone else would have been castigated on this board. His comments were childish and insulting and have lowered his &quot;stature&quot; significantly. As for his book, you need to read the policy about commercial promotion on this board. Its not allowed, for Dario, his multiple aliases, or anyone else.

Ok, lets see I checked out the thread about that incident, Dario was reading a chapter of his book to two (2) people sitting down in a bar (not a tour group as someone wrote) A nasty French tourist together shock the entire clientele because according to them one is not allowed to talk in a restaurant. Dario ignores the arrogant tourist who spits in his face. The owner kicks out the French tourist and his wife, the other people applaud. Dario writes about this incident the same day it happened maybe still a bit shocked and angry and points out that after that he had always defended the French who get often labeled as rude he now agrees that some can be pretty bad (how would you feel if a tourist asked you to shut up and spat in your face in your home town?). Now he is considered to be a jerk, a fool. I repeat I have known Dario for years and is no jerk. About publicizing on this forum, ok from now on you are not intitled to reccomend a hotel,restaurant,bus companies, drivers ,train,guides,books and even countries. I wonder if that incident will make it in his next book?

brrrr! There's a 'shill' in the autumn air - I need a sweater.

I'll tell you Jim, if a tourist was rude to me, I wouldn't attribute it to his nationality and attempt to vilify an entire group of people because of an unpleasant incident with ONE person. Your comments do nothing to explain or excuse what Dario wrote on this board.

...and may I know what he wrote that was so terrible and shocking please?

The very offensive terrible phrase that you are talking is &quot;....now I know why so many people speak badly of the French&quot; wow!! don't let your children read this thread, its filthy!

That's right Jim. Pretty childish coming from a professional guide who caters to tourists for a living. As I said, you've failed miserably in your attempts to excuse Dario's comments.