See You in the Piazza: A Travel Narrative of Italy by Frances Mayes

FINDING ITALIA
 

When author Frances Mayes came to Piattino restaurant in Summit earlier this year to promote her new book, her first editor was in the room. Charlie Conrad was in his first week with Broadway Books in 1996 when an agent sent him Under the Tuscan Sun. He read the book in two days and immediately recognized its breakout potential.

“This is one of those undiscovered gems. This has ‘woman reinvents her life’ done in a very poetic way.” Under the Tuscan Sun was on the best-seller list for more than two and a half years.

See You in the Piazza, (Crown, $27) is the author’s latest work. The book is a travel narrative of Italy, one that takes the reader on a tour of undiscovered gems not found in a typical guidebook The book is also filled with recipes that celebrate contemporary Italian cuisine.

In Summit, Mayes joined New Jersey’s Kathy McCabe, host of the PBS television series “Dream of Italy.” McCabe features the author’s Tuscan home, Bramasole (made famous by the book), in an episode to be aired in August.

Privately, Mayes admitted that her decision to buy a home in Italy was impulsive and risky, but also one of self-trust. “Pay attention to those real, deep instincts you have about a place," she says. In Tuscany, one of the first things Mayes did was plant basil. “By the end of the month, they had put down their roots. I had too.”