A Thousand Days in Tuscany - Marlena De Blasi

...first encountered Marlena de Blasi a couple of years ago when I read (and reviewed) "A Thousand Days in Venice"; in that book the food writer and restaurant critic recounts how she met an Italian bank manager and left her home in St Louis to marry him and live in Venice. I wasn't very complimentary about the book; this was partly because it didn't meet my expectations (I had anticipated more recipes and information about food) and partly ...
...Nevertheless when I chanced upon a copy of "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" I resolved to give the author another chance.

Now the couple's story moves to Tuscany, to the backwater of San Casciano dei Bagni where Marlena and Fernando rent an old stone house. There, with the expert guidance of their self-appointed teacher Barluzzo, whom they affectionately nickname "the Duke", Marlena and Fernando throw themselves into ... more

I first encountered Marlena de Blasi a couple of years ago when I read (and reviewed) "A Thousand Days in Venice"; in that book the food writer and restaurant critic recounts how she met an Italian bank manager and left her home in St Louis to marry him and live in Venice. I wasn't very complimentary about the book; this was partly because it didn't meet my expectations (I had anticipated more recipes and information about food) and partly because I found Marlena de Blasi's writing too descriptive, drowning in adjectives. Nevertheless when I chanced upon a copy of "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" I resolved to give the author another chance.

Now the couple's story moves to Tuscany, to the backwater of San Casciano dei Bagni where Marlena and Fernando rent an old stone house. There, with the expert guidance of their self-appointed teacher Barluzzo, whom they affectionately nickname "the Duke", Marlena and Fernando throw themselves into learning the local traditions. They join the wine harvesting gangs, pick olives, build an outdoor oven and find the best and most secret places to forage for mushrooms. While Marlena struggles to fulfill her journalistic commitments amid the new distractions, Fernando finally has a chance to live without the pressures of the bank and its grinding daily routine.

Much more than "A Thousand Days in Venice" this chapter of Marlena de Blasi's story plunges the reader into a very specific part of Italy, one with ancient traditions and where the people have entrenched views on how to approach life, in particular when it comes to food. I felt that Marlena's contact with Italian's other than her husband was not really explored in the first book so I was delighted that the locals feature much more in this one. Although Barluzzo and Flori - whose relationship later becomes a touching and interesting additional string to the book - feature most, Marlena shows how the simple pleasures unite the people of San Casciano, creating a sense of loyalty and generosity that can't be had in the city.

Barluzzo is such a compelling character; through Marlena's description of him I could picture him patiently explaining some technique or other for preparing a local dish while shaking his head in amusement that his protégés still had so much to learn. I found the irritatingly reasonable Flori rather annoying but it didn't spoil my enjoyment, besides it was so nice to have some other people to focus on instead of the tedious intensity of Fernando and Marlena. Fernando is given to bouts of depression and self-doubt which I think attract too much focus and in expending so much effort on detailing the finer details of their marriage, Marlena de Blasi misses the point. People read this genre for pleasure, even if it is vicarious; we'd like to give up work and live in the country, growing our own food and escaping the rat race. While we know it's not always plain sailing we expect some kind local to step in and help, thus averting disaster; Marlena's tendency to enthusiastically self-analyse is too heavy for this kind of book and confuses the reader. Is this a book about their relationship, or is it a book about Tuscan cooking and culture?

The story of the couple's time in Tuscany is related according to the seasons and this was what I most enjoyed. Writing about food is what de Blasi does best and she really makes the mouth water whether she's described a much labored over dish or a simple snack of something that's just been picked from a tree. When the couple arrive in the village, the locals come to the house to help clean it and afterwards there is an impromptu banquet at the local bar with the villagers popping home and bringing with them whatever they'd been making for dinner that evening. It's a heart-warming scene and one that certainly made me want to book a flight immediately! If you're interested in Tuscan food, there's much pleasure to be gained from this book.

This time there are more recipes but that wasn't necessarily as exciting as I'd anticipated because the recipes weren't always ones I'd realistically be able to do myself: for example, there is a wonderful description of the preparation (and the consumption) of deep-fried courgette flowers in the opening chapter and a full recipe and method for preparing the dish at the end of the chapter but the chances of me ever getting my hands on enough (or any) courgette flowers in Gateshead is slim. Admittedly she probably wasn't thinking of Tyneside supermarkets when she compiled the recipes but I do think they could have been better chosen.

I was quite sensitive to those things that annoyed me as I read "A Thousand Days in Tuscany" but by the end I felt quite inspired and satisfied. Although she can be given to excessive introspection, Marlena has an infectious "seize the day" attitude that many of us could learn from and in spite of the rather sad events that take place towards the end of the book, the feel good factor that I think is required from this genre is there in bucketloads.

I don't expect to bother with any further instalments if they come along but I'll certainly look our some of the cookbooks that Marlena has produced as a result of her time in Italy. I'd much rather she focused on the food journalism that she excels at than the deep and meaningful (and very boring) analysis of her marriage.

320 pages

 

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