Amy Fremgen asked Frances Mayes:

What inspired you to turn your experiences with renovating an Italian home into a book?. Did you keep a journal, did your agent suggest it, or ? I love the book, have read it several times, and also a couple of times have listened to it on tape while walking. We were in Italy in October/November, including Cortona, and every place is so crowded. Except Sicily which is still pleasant.

Frances Mayes I do keep notebooks, not journals really, but notebooks of words, impressions, quick ideas, images. The one I kept when I first bought my house did aid in forming Under the Tuscan Sun. I had no agent at that time, since I was a poet. I was planning to write poetry there, but the lines just kept getting longer and longer and finally I was, to my surprise, writing prose.
Cortona is crowded at certain times, especially holidays and over a "ponte" (bridge)--a three day weekend. Often, it's calm and normal and in the winter, almost deserted. Sicily is wonderful. I've been only three times but would like to explore more, especially the interior now.

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