A Goodreads user
asked
Frances Mayes:
Frances, thank you so much for ALL of your books. The concept of place figures heavily into your writing. Your books set in Italy home in on the piazza as the hub of town life in that country. What would you say is the Southern equivalent to the piazza, if there is one? And do you have any plans to travel in Canada, either on a book tour or to write about the True North?
Frances Mayes
I'd love to go to Canada again, as I did on the cookbook tour. So far, no plans have materialized. The downtown of Fitzgerald, where I grew up, was a thriving and busy place and everyone went there on Saturdays, just as the Cortona people go to the piazza that day. Now, so many American downtowns have been gutted by shopping malls. It's tragic. The mall just doesn't have soul. Now I live in a small town in NC, as well as in Tuscany, and here, there is a great sense of community. An independent bookstore and a good coffee shop are great magnets.
More Answered Questions
Dorette
asked
Frances Mayes:
In Under Magnolia, (and all your work, really...) the rich sound details ~~ "I imagine fleas and snoring and sweat and couplings.." weave through the narrative as well as the beautiful scents of memory, "an outbreak of quartz, a clutch of blue bachelor's buttons" and I wonder what path in the present enticed you to begin the walk back to Fitzgerald?
Guy
asked
Frances Mayes:
Hello Professor - like you, we're San Franciscans that fell in love with Italy many years ago and spend time there each year. Also like you we love renaissance religious art and enjoy exploring the churches we come across. In your opinion, what are a few of the lesser-known but shouldn't-miss churches in Tuscany and Umbria?
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