'Bard of Tuscany' discusses Italian life

Best-selling author Frances Mayes will speak about her latest book, "Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life," at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 18, at the New Canaan Library. Event co-sponsor Elm Street Books will sell copies, available for signing after the talk.

Mayes, who has been dubbed the "Bard of Tuscany" by "The New York Times," lyrically recounts her continuing, two-decade-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine and lifestyle.

Twenty years ago, the author, who had ended a long marriage and begun a new relationship, was traveling in Italy and happened upon an abandoned, grand, but dilapidated three-story house called Bramasole just outside the Tuscan hill town of Cortona. She immediately fell in love with the house and eventually bought it and began a long, arduous restoration.

The process of making Bramasole her home -- and simultaneously establishing a new life in Italy-- was the subject of her bestselling memoirs "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany." Since then she has gone from being a proud resident of Cortona to one of its most esteemed citizens, as well as Tuscany's literary doyenne.

In her new memoir, Mayes offers her readers another deeply personal account of her present-day life in Tuscany, encompassing both the changes she has experienced since the first two books and sensuous, evocative reflections on the timeless, unchanging beauty and simple pleasures of Italian life.

Interspersed throughout the chapters are 25 sumptuous recipes, including main dishes, such as Petto d'Anatra Glassato al Caramello Speziato e Carciofi (duck breast with caramelized spices and artichokes) and the playful Pollo al Mattone (chicken under a brick) as well as desserts.

Throughout the book, Mayes thoughtfully muses on the many concrete joys of building an Italian life: Tuscan icons that connect with her life and have become for her storehouses of memory; crucible moments from which bigger ideas have emerged; how a significant part of her adjustment to Italian metabolism has awakened her to the possibilities of spontaneity and trust in instinct; and reflections on the writing life she has enjoyed in the room where "Under the Tuscan Sun" began and on the wider view she's gained since then.

In addition to her Tuscany memoirs, Mayes is the author of the travel memoir "A Year in the World," the illustrated books "In Tuscany" and "Bringing Tuscany Home," the novel "Swan," "The Discovery of Poetry," which is a text for readers and five books of poetry. She divides her time between homes in Italy and North Carolina. Visit: www.francesmayesbooks.com.

Admission is free, but reservations are required. Call Elm Street Books at 966-4545, the library at 594-5003 or email clahey@newcanaanlibrary.org.