If this is real life in the hills of Tuscany then this woman is dead from the neck up. Boring boring Boring. I tried, beleive me I tried to read this book. The writing is stilted to say the least. It's all romans and history, told in an even more boring manner than any history book I've ever read (and I've read some as a history major) There is a brief initial sortie into what an amazing super-business woman she was before and a hint at romanitic, free spirited youth, but forget it it's so short-lived in terms of pages. The rest of it, it's terrible. Don't buy this book. There are much better books out there, eg. The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater, Peter Mayle's books and even Frances Mayes but don't buy this book unless to give to someone really tedious and, well boring.