Under the Olive Trees

You can read the Hungarian version of the interwiew in the August 2022 issue of OTTHON magazine.

Frences Mayes best-selling novelist and poet is the expert of Tuscany; the landscape and her holiday home in Cortona inspire her novels, travel and cookbooks.

Her most famous book and the inspiration for the popular movie is "Under the Tuscan Sun". Since its release, her Tuscan villa called Bramasole has been a place of fan pilgrimage.

When not staying and working in Italy, she lives in North Carolina with her husband Ed, and had been a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University.

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"Summer means a long outdoor table set with candles and flowers, a day of cooking special dishes for friends, and a glass of my favourite local wine."

"What great mornings around a table, just ordering cappuccino and watching the sun arc over the piazza."

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Almost thirty years have passed since the release of "Under the Tuscan Sun", but it still inspires many. What do you love most about your second home?

Its beauty! So many divine landscapes that look exactly like the backgrounds of Renaissance paintings, and the exquisite villages, old as time, where life still revolves around a central piazza. These form a background for a vivacious lifestyle and a sense that all is well. Maybe this is why I have spent all my summers here for decades now. I have had wanderlust since childhood, always seeking what living is like in foreign or new places. Travel, for me, stimulates the imagination as well as letting me have a little insight into other people’s realities. Tuscany is just like that, it always offers something new.

Even if we cannot travel there, at least we can try to create its atmosphere.  What gives the charm of this region? 

A good question! I wrote a book, Bringing Tuscany Home, where I made lots of suggestions. Tuscans often live an indoor/outdoor life, so crucial for me would be, wherever possible, having a relaxed living and dining space in the garden, or even on a balcony. A herb garden, even if it is in pots, adds so much atmosphere and, of course, cooking with lots of herbs is transformative. (I use one cup of chopped fresh mixed herbs in my tomato sauce.) At my house in North Carolina, I have a collection of typical Tuscan linens and ceramics. When I am there, setting my table takes me right to Tuscany. Overall, I think more than objects, the key to that dream of Tuscany is a philosophy. La casa aperta, the open house. Be open minded and open to friends, a cheerful and comfortable place that personifies home.

Why are Tuscan homes so adorable?

I found the answear to that at the monthly antique market near Arezzo – am a fan of it! Most of my furniture and paintings come from there. Except for the grand palazzi, the décor in traditional Tuscany tends to be simple. Cotto (brick) floors, waxed to a shine over the years, curly iron beds, big armadios, since there were no closets in the old houses, with small bathrooms often added to the back. Of course, these are now updated but still there’s almost always a table in the middle of the kitchen; not an island, but a gathering place for shelling peas, doing homework, having a coffee with a good book, and of course for rolling out the pasta. It is the symbol of life.

The Tuscan experience is not complete without getting to know its gastronomy. What makes it so unique?

A great word genuino, genuine. Start with the best ingredients and you hardly can go wrong. Food here is still seasonal. The asparagus has just finished and we won’t see it for another year. The long traditions of the rural farmers endure — the hearty pastas and roasts and the huge variety of vegetables and lettuces. The key to all is fresh-pressed olive oil, fruity, pungent and used copiously. A good oil is a blessing in the kitchen! We press our own and even have a small online business, and so we can share it with people all over the world. In season, festas in the countryside celebrate the cherry, big garlic, wild boar – even snails! If traveling, look for signs advertising a sagra. The dinners are fun, often with music and dancing. Si mangia bene in Tuscany. One eats well.

It seems Bramasole means stability and change at the same time; it feels like some kind of a living creature.

That’s so funny! But it is true. It is always shifting, as I am guilty of being a serial remodeler. I have just revised many parts of the garden. Right now as I write, two blacksmiths are installing a pergola, a lovely spot for an aperitivo or for taking notes for my next novel. My new book, A Place in the World: Finding the Meaning of Home takes on trying to answer questions about how a sense of home is created, when it is right, when it’s time to leave. In writing it and reexamining all the places I’ve lived, I saw a thread running through, the constant desire to put my own stamp on whatever four walls I am living in. I love old places and bringing one back to its full potential is a pleasure.

Does that mean you live with the house?

We found the remnants of a blue and white striped wall in a bedroom and recreated it. I liked the stripes so much that I painted a tiny bathroom with melon and white stripes. In Tuscany, often homeowners discover frescoes or stenciled rooms. Some elaborate, some simple like the stripes. But most often these Tuscan farmhouses have plain whitewashed walls that suited the dark chestnut furniture of the time and now look great with very modern pieces as well. It connects the past and the present, just like Tuscany.

Quick questions:

Which is the object you would never get rid of in Bramasole?

One object? That would have to be my big, blue stove with eight burners and two ovens. Or maybe it would be my study’s bookcase, jammed with novels, poetry, and travel narratives.

Your new book observe the meaning of home. What makes your home a home?

Home is where my husband is, where my family comes to visit often, where my books are. Everything else is portable.

What do you miss the most when traveling to Italy or back to the USA?

In both places, people. I miss my friends from the other place all the time. Fortunately, my American friends often visit Italy. My Italian friends visit less often but it is great fun when they come and we talk about it for years afterwards.

Would you recommend buying a house in a foreign country, following a sudden idea?

Worked for me! This is a very personal decision. I would say look into it carefully, and if your heart keeps saying yes, this is where I belong, then go for it.

Photo: Frances Mayes, portrait picture: Edward Mayes, interview: Dóra Volter-Horváth