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Book Report: A Day in Tuscany
by Alli Marshall on 01/16/2008
Book Report: A Day in Tuscany
by Alli Marshall on 01/16/2008
Of his sophomore effort, A Day in Tuscany: More Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide, author Dario Castagno admits, “I was rather amazed that I wrote it in just a few months.” Actually, the book’s loose structure and folksy sensibility give that away in a matter of pages. The fact that Castagno begins the book surmising that not only is he not a writer, but he didn’t even finish school, makes it a little hard to stomach the fact that he’s now three books (Too Much Tuscan Wine is due for completion this year) into a literary career. Then again, it’s impossible to hate Castagno, a tour guide and collector of local lore in Italy’s Tuscany region.
“During my book tour, many people asked if I was working on a sequel, at the time I wasn’t but when I returned to my beloved Chianti hills an incredible series of events occurred in a day. So many as a matter of fact that all I had to do was to have the patience to write them down and in no time A Day in Tuscany was conceived.” You kind of have to hand it to the guy: He fell into a story and had the good sense to write it down.
And indeed, Tuscany is a nice read. I haven’t been to Tuscany but would love to. The next best thing (especially on a blustery winter day) is to read about some place sunny, distant, and swimming in good wine. And there have been plenty of great travel-memoir books based in Tuscany, such as Marlena De Blasi’s A Thousand Days in Tuscany and Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (now a movie).
Now, Castagno’s book doesn’t really compare to either of these sweeping (and at time, heart-wrenching) volumes, and Tuscany‘s weakness is that it’s told as a series of vignettes, each chapter dedicated to a single character, with no story continuing past a handful of pages. There’s a sense of the landscape ("Chianti is mostly lovely rolling woodland that begins just south of Florence and extends all the way to Siena"), of the food, of the village life and changing times, but the reader isn’t allowed the time to bask in any of these elements.
The book is organized into seemingly arbitrary hours in the day. 9:49 a.m.; 2:31 p.m. It’s a clever idea (these stops on the clock represent the time at which the author had some experience which triggered a memory leading to a story from his past) that falls short. The problem is, the stories, which make up the bulk of the chapters, don’t relate to 9:49 a.m. or 2:31 p.m. Nor are the stories in any sort of chronological order, or organized by seasons, so there’s a sense of bouncing through the decades with random stops for a new time to be read off a pointless wristwatch.
“I remain in contemplation for awhile, perched on the highest branch of the tree. I, too, feel eternity ebb around me as I face my old house, which represents the past, stirring more memories ...” Castagno recites at the opening of one tale. This is how he leads the reader from his present-day musings to his tales of child and young adulthood. There’s a sweetness in the author’s telling, and his sensitivity and poetic leanings are apparent, but still the stories fall just short of revelatory.
“’Urka, Dario, you know at my age I’ve learned ugly women don’t exist, its all a matter of the wine you drink!’” Says one character. There are these golden moments of a good anecdote, and Castagno’s cast of acquaintances — living and dead — are all deserving of entire books of their own. Strangely, the one character woven throughout the text, Castagno’s ex-girlfriend (wife, maybe?) Cristina, is never fleshed out. We’re told that he misses her, that she’s left and he doesn’t know why, and that, were she there, he’d be telling these stories to her. And really, that’s how this book comes across. As the sweet, end-of-day musings one lover might murmur to another. Pillow talk between two kindred souls who know each other’s back-stories and can jump into an anecdote without much lead-in. Personally, I was all-consumed with figuring out what happened to the wayward Cristina. I read ahead. I searched his website. I did a Google search. I came up empty handed.
Still, Tuscany offers beauty and amusement and is a quick read, and the author is a wholly likable character who, no doubt, attracts an ever-increasing tourist cliental based on his friendly forays into the literary world.
—Alli Marshall, A&E reporter
Choice of Literary Travel Guides Is Expanding -New york Times
In TOO MUCH TUSCAN SUN: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide (Globe Pequot, paper, $14.95), by Dario Castagno with Robert Rodi, you look to Castagno, a tour guide turned author, to toss some vinegar on the lot. Self-published in Italy (with 30,000 copies sold), ''Too Much Tuscan Sun'' seems to suggest that Italians, pummeled by throngs of American tourists, long for the same approach. But Castagno, a former local party boy and vineyard laborer, is more charming than churlish. He prefers to highlight Tuscany's social structure and traditions rather than skewer the Americans who overlook them -- though he does mock their fondness for Diet Coke and pharmacies, lambasting the laziest and least considerate of his charges. Most refreshingly, his book doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: a light, engaging jaunt into the Italian countryside, unfiltered by an outsider's prejudice and romanticism
Choice of Literary Travel Guides Is Expanding -New York Times
Speaking of Mayes, what would the holiday season be without another slew of books about whiling away the time in some wine-soaked nook of Tuscany or Provence? (And which comes first, the plane ticket or the book contract?) In TOO MUCH TUSCAN SUN: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide (Globe Pequot, paper, $14.95), by Dario Castagno with Robert Rodi, you look to Castagno, a tour guide turned author, to toss some vinegar on the lot. Self-published in Italy (with 30,000 copies sold), ''Too Much Tuscan Sun'' seems to suggest that Italians, pummeled by throngs of American tourists, long for the same approach. But Castagno, a former local party boy and vineyard laborer, is more charming than churlish. He prefers to highlight Tuscany's social structure and traditions rather than skewer the Americans who overlook them -- though he does mock their fondness for Diet Coke and pharmacies, lambasting the laziest and least considerate of his charges. Most refreshingly, his book doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: a light, engaging jaunt into the Italian countryside, unfiltered by an outsider's prejudice and romanticism.
Article published Sunday, November 18, 2007
Tuscan Hermit Turns into Succesful Author
Dario Castagno of Vagliagli, Tuscany is a friend. And a phenom.
Just how he got to be both of these things is worth the telling.
We first heard his name from a helpful hotel clerk in Siena when we were looking for someone to take small groups for an inside look at the Chianti wine country.
“You could try Dario,” said the clerk, as he handed over the smart Chianti Rooster Tours brochure. “He’s got a van. Speaks good English. And really knows his wines.”
Once back in the States, we fired off a fax and began to receive tour itineraries, prices, and other details. Dario sounded like our kind of guy. Our kind of guide. So we booked his services for the following year, not entirely sure what to expect.
Our first face-to-face was at a hotel in Florence, when a bohemian-looking twentysomething with long hair and an earring arrived to introduce himself. His spoken English was impeccable, his style distinctly laid-back.
He told us that he had grown up in England — Wimbledon, actually, where his Italian father had been a wine distributor. When Dario was 10, the family moved back home to Tuscany.
He left school at 17, spent his year of obligatory military service “lounging around” at the headquarters of the Siena Fire Brigade (thanks to the timely intervention of a well-connected girlfriend) and then half-heartedly followed his father into the wine trade, beginning work at a large Chianti winery.
But the weekends were his own. And Dario, ever curious about his heritage, began riding through the surrounding countryside on his motorcycle, poking around the isolated Tuscan hill villages, learning about the area viniculture, and making friends with the local eccentrics.
Then came Dario’s “Big Idea.” Using all of his lovingly acquired local intelligence, he launched a one-man tour company, focussed mainly on Americans and Brits. We were to be some of his earliest clients.
We needn’t have worried, for Chianti Rooster Tours was exactly what we had hoped for: an inside look at Tuscan history and Chianti viniculture interwoven with personal passion.
In his little Mitsubishi five-passenger van, Dario drove us down forest trails to Etruscan tombs he’d helped excavate, high into the hills to fortified villages, and to wineries large and small for private tastings. Lunch was a sumptuous affair in some hilltop redoubt where multiple courses and an unstoppable flow of local wine caused everyone to fall asleep on the ride back.
On subsequent Tuscan adventures, we rode with Dario again. We’ve recommended him to friends and column readers, and have always received positive feedback.
One day in 2002, a book arrived in our mailbox: Too Much Tuscan Sun — Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide written by Dario. Five years later, another Dario book dropped onto our mat: A Day in Tuscany. It was sent to us by his California agent who noted that Dario would be in Cleveland to give a talk at the Botanical Garden and meet his many Midwest fans.
So on a rain-soaked Saturday in October we drove to Cleveland’ and in the back room of an Italian restaurant joined some 40 “groupies” — Dario fans — some of whom had been on one of his tours and others who had only read his books. They had traveled from places such as Chicago, Baltimore, Kentucky, and Toronto to rub shoulders with their Tuscan idol.
His third book, Too Much Tuscan Wine, will be out early next year, as will a DVD based on A Day in Tuscany. In January and February, Dario will back in the U.S. for a second book tour.
Not bad for a shy, self-proclaimed Tuscan hermit!
Travel advisers Roger Holliday and Claudia Fischer write a weekly column for The Blade.
» Readers may write to them at P.O. Box 272, Bowling Green, OH 43402. If a reply is desired, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
» Read more Holliday and Fischer columns at www.toledoblade.com/holliday
CHIANTI CLASSICO
Trekking under the Tuscan Sun
By Peter I. Rose from TravelworldMagazine
On a beautiful fall day in the little village of Valpaia in the hills of Chianti I was introduced to an impish Italian tour guide and fellow writer, Dario Castagno. He was sitting with two American clients, sharing a bottle of Chianti Classico and eating a sumptuous luncheon of Tuscan specialties, ribollita, made of cannelloni beans and vegetables, a rabbit stew, and a desert of tiramasu. He offered me a glass of wine and we discussed his just-published book, Too Much Tuscan Sun, the title being a not-too-subtle play on Frances Maye's best-seller, Under the Tuscan Sun.
Maye's book, which seems to have been read by every other visitor to the area, is one American's view of Tuscany. Castagno's irreverent treatise, which I bought on the spot and read that night, is a Tuscan's view of Americans - well, some Americans, mainly Dario's more colorful charges.
I was both amused and chagrined by what he revealed about my countrymen, not least because many of the characters he featured were all familiar types. There are portraits of grand tourers with little interest in what they were seeing; young lovers oblivious to the world around them – or to their guide; desperate but ever-hopeful singles; compulsive talkers; compulsive shoppers, ever on the lookout for that latest example of globalization, "The Outlet" - overbearing know-it-alls, and several others.
But, the more I read, the more I realized his sampler did not include many categories of the vast army of visitors to one of Italy's most popular provinces. I thought of those who could never afford a private guide: middle-class first timers, such as schoolteachers, who had assiduously saved for their special tour of Italy. I thought of all those third generation Italian-Americans I had met who were looking for their roots. I thought of artists and writers and others doing their own things, and those on well-organized specialty tours on buses or bikes or afoot run by travel agencies, alumni
associations, and trekking companies.
Although a frequent visitor to the country, I had entered Dario Castagno's turf and his favorite lunch spot, as a member of that last named cohort - a walking tour.
Our group of 17 men and women, including three guides, ranged in age from the mid-twenties to 70, but most were in their 50's and 60's. Professionals, business people, and educators, we hailed from all parts of the U.S. and hardly fit any of the standard stereotypes.
Although many of those in our party had been to Italy before, some to that very area, what united us was the love of hiking and the desire to take in what we could in a week's time, walking in the countryside with visits to a number of small towns and some serious urban hiking in the towered city of San Gimignano and Florence's age-old rival, the hilly city of Siena. Even those for whom hiking long distances -in Italy or anywhere in the world - was the prime motivator were also eager to see much of the art and architecture that they had heard and read about.
The trip, organized by Clare Grabher, the owner and director of the implausibly (for Italians at least) named New England Hiking Holidays, which operates walking tours in many parts of the U.S., the U.K., and Europe, was everything claimed in her colorful and appealing brochure.
We had three spirited guides: Nancy Fitts, a hyper-active professional outdoors-person from France who has long resided in New Hampshire; Elizabeth Wicks, an American art restorer from New England who has lived and worked in Italy for more than 20 years, and Liza Luppino, a young Italian artist who also grows and harvests olives in a tiny village near Florence now owned by her family. With the leadership of Nancy, Liz, and Lisa, and our own insatiable curiosity, we never got too much of the Tuscan sun, or the Tuscan spirit.
We saw much of what most tourists, such as those led by Dario Castagno would see on his tours. But we also saw other things - from the ground up. Especially memorable were long rambles above the town of Greve, visits to medieval cities like Castellina and Volpaia, the tiny fortress of Monteriggione, the long uphill approach to San Gimignano and the much longer and more rugged treks along the ridge of the Apennine mountains.
The places we hiked varied as did the places we stayed. All of the latter were first class respites to return to after long days on roman roads, country lanes, city streets, and mountain trails. The first was the elegant Hotel Villa Aurora in the town of Fiesole, perched above the city of Florence, where we would also spend our eighth and last night.
The next base was the Villa Casalecchi near Castellina di Chianti. The hotel, at the center of an old estate, still features gracious living replete with white-coated waiters in its elegant dining room and first-class fare at the table. Three days later we moved from the classy country comfort of the Casalecchi to the more folksy ambience of the Albergo Granduca, a former Medici hunting lodge in the Campigna woods in the center of the Casentino National Park.
From the Granduca we spent three days hiking anywhere from 5 to 15 miles through magnificent stands of chestnut and pine. One trip led to the top of the highest peak, Monte Falco (1658 meters above sea level); a second,, the longest of all, took us along the ridge of the Appenines to the little town of Camaldoli to a very old Eremo (Hermitage); the last, a speedy descent down the Adriatic side of the mountain from the Granduca, a rest and then an invigorating climb back up.
The first two hotels were located in places with picture-book familiarity: stone farmhouses, hillside vineyards and olive groves, stately cypress trees and long vistas with tiny villages on distant hilltops. We were especially fortunate to have been there in the harvest season and were able to watch the gathering of grapes and their processing and the picking of olives and their pressing. Luckily, we had many chances to sample both.
The last hotel was very high in the mountains, just over the Passo della Callo where a major battle between allied forces and German soldiers had been waged in 1943. While signposts reminded us that the world had once come to these tranquil woods, we felt we felt we were very far from any madding crowds.
In fact, the only sounds we ever heard during our nights in the lodge were the roar of the wind, the rustling of wild boars running through the underbrush, and the guttural come-hither rutting cries of cervi stags, the male members of the elk-like deer family. On the trail, we heard fewer sounds. One member of the group called it a "magical forest." - it was.
Withal, our trip was magical in many ways. Great venues, great hikes, great food, great wine, great guides and, perhaps most important (though rarely mentioned in travel essays), a most compatible group of far-from-ugly Americans.
Many of those on our very brief Tuscan odyssey were veterans of New England Hiking Holidays', one couple having been on 14 trips, many of them in back in the States, some abroad. After only a week with this company, my wife and I were ready to sign on for another of the excursions offered by NEHH, maybe the one in the Pyrenees or the one in the Scottish highlands.
But, for now, I am going to write to Dario Costagno, urging him to spend a day with the next gang from NEHH. He may then add another set of portraits to his sketches of those variegated odd birds in the genusTourista Americano.
If interested in having a similar experience, write to:
New England Hiking Holidays
P.O. Box 1648
North Conway, NH 03860
www.nehikingholidays.com
Phone 800-869-0949
E-mail NEHH@aol.com
Mens Vogue
he day before the July Palio, it was good to be a Caterpillar. Il Bruco, the neighborhood association that takes that insect as its emblem, was the favorite in Siena's bareback horse race, which pits the city's 17 wards—or contrade—against one another each year on July 2 and August 16. The Caterpillar had won three Palios in 10 years. They had just gotten first choice in the random drawing of horses. And they had the legendary Luigi "Trecciolino" Bruschelli, one of the most successful riders in a century, as their jockey.
Weeks earlier, when I'd been offered a ticket to il Bruco's pre-race dinner, I accepted without much thought. One contrada seemed as good as any other. I wasn't even sure if the Caterpillar would race (10 of the 17 contrade ride in each contest). But when I arrived in Siena, the local newspapers were practically guaranteeing a victory for my adopted clan. Drums were beating all around me, and a never-ending stream of revelers, wrapped in green-and-yellow il Bruco scarves, flooded the streets. I fell under the spell of the Caterpillar.
Looking to share my enthusiasm, I met up with Dario Castagno, author of A Day in Tuscany and a passionate Caterpillar. When I asked him about the race, though, he looked anxious. "I don't think we're going to win," he said. "We can't afford it." Perhaps he was just being superstitious, but I sensed there was something more at hand. The Palio isn't just a sport.
"You have the best horse. What else do you need?" I asked.
"We've won three Palios in 10 years," he said. "We don't have enough favors left." He rolled his eyes conspiratorially. "There are too many people who don't want us to win."
The Palio is a violent, unruly race. The start is chaos. Then the horses must circle the steeply angled Piazza del Campo three times. The track is narrow. The curves are tight. The jockeys carry stiff whips to spur on their horses and lash out at their opponents. Riders are often thrown and horses stumble. If the horses make it to the starting line in full health (allegations of doping and other pre-race tampering are common), there are plenty of chances for one rider to sabotage another or for a group of riders to work together. The Palio is famous for bribery and backroom deals.
"If you don't race, but your rival is racing," Cristina Amberti, another Caterpillar told me, "you can make agreements with other contrade to help stop your enemy." The night after the horses are chosen, the wheeling and dealing begins. "The three elements of the Palio horse race," said Amberti, "are luck, money, and political strategy."
Il Bruco did have a few advantages. The Caterpillar is only one of three contrade without a sworn enemy. "That has helped us," Castagno said. "The Owl and the Unicorn, the SHE-Wolf and the Porcupine—there are many others—they are always rivals." Plus, il Bruco had a master of brute force and Machiavellian cunning on their side. Known universally as Trecciolino ("the Ponytail") but affectionately called "Gigi" by his Caterpillar fans, the jockey had built a remarkable résumé—10 wins in 10 years—and had carved a larger-than-life persona. He was a short, thin man, but he carried himself with intense confidence. He almost never spoke and never smiled. Members of the Caterpillar treated him more like a mafia boss than a sports star. "There goes Gigi," they would say quietly and nod slowly, as if they were on intimate terms with him, but didn?t want to disturb the great man. "He is a very powerful character," one Caterpillar told me. "He can make many agreements."
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What Frances Mayes Won't Tell You
A Review by J.K. Kelle
Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide
Author: Castagno, Dario
Genre: Travel
Publisher: Globe Pequot
Released: 2004
y
05/17/2006
Tuscany just can't get any peace nowadays. It was already touristy before Frances Mayes hit it big with Under the Tuscan Sun, and that blew the lid off. Tuscany was an idyllic mixture of ancient and modern, a place of Old World Charm. A place to pig out and drink fancy wine, to be imperious, the place to be able to say that you visited. Only a Visigothic knuckle-dragger could fail to appreciate it--or that's the vibe the travel bios give.
This boom was a good deal for Dario Castagno, a Tuscan fluent in English, who hung out his tour guide shingle some years ago. Too Much Tuscan Sun is a combination of comic storytelling, cultural exposition on the Siena region of Tuscany, and the author's vented frustration at travelers' foibles. It's not really a travel narrative, but it's not really not a travel narrative. I kept asking myself whether the book had an identity crisis, and the answer is no; it should have, but it doesn't. I'm not sure to praise Castagno or his writing collaborator for that deftness--my gut says the latter--but that hardly matters to the reader.
The venting part is more appealing than it sounds. There are a lot of ways an author can use his or her book to complain; often it comes off petty and mean-spirited. There is the James Herriot way, which is sympathetic and balanced, and then there's the snippy, whiny way of most flight attendant books these days. Would this author like me or hate me? asks the reader. Castagno succeeds because his genuine warmth and enthusiasm for his work, clients and region shine through. He is patient with eccentrics and does his best to please. If you go to enjoy and appreciate Siena and Tuscany, you and he will get on fabulously, even if you're a bit weird. And you know you are.
Castagno's chapter format follows the calendar year as it applies to his work. This could be constraining, except that the author steps far enough afield from the format to keep the narrative interesting. The book's heartbeat is the stories, mostly of Americans being Americans: gauche, brash, weird, bossy, but often very funny. If you are a large-haired mid-American matron of fifty in skintight polyester pants who believes that foreign rules don't apply to you, and who will demand Diet Coke and Big Macs over Chianti and bruschette, I'd say don't sign on with one of Castagno's tours, or buy his book--you wouldn't get it.
Perhaps my favourite aspect of Too Much Tuscan Sun is that it's not jaded. I have read many dozens of travel books, and the worst ones are by authors afflicted with Journalists' Disease. This debilitating malady saps the psyche of all ability to feel any genuine joy or excitement or enthusiasm, resulting in a book no one else can be passionate about. In my experience, few professional journalists escape this occupational hazard. (What is worse, workmen's compensation doesn't recognize it, so treatment is usually not available. The logical consequence is alcoholism, leading to a condition called Sports Columnist's Liver.) Castagno isn't a journalist. He loves his hometown of Siena with all its traditions, events and delights of the senses. He is passionate, and he is not ashamed of that.
Novel concept. I'd like to see it catch on.
Of course, if your world view insists that everything American is best and ideal, and can never be criticized or chuckled at by a non-American, this story is going to go over like a plate of French snails. Of course, if that's your world view, you usually don't read books about other countries because they don't matter anyway. The other thing some might not care about is the detail Castagno gives about the culture of Siena. This adds up to more than a chapter, and it says:
1) Siena is to Firenze (Florence) as Auburn is to Alabama or the Red Sox are to the Yankees. When Siena and Firenze compete in basketball, it is socially acceptable for the fans to riot, charge the court, chant profanities at each other, and otherwise show violent disrespect (kind of like Philly). This section had me laughing until I was in pain, no joke.
2) Siena is divided up into 'hoods that stick together, called contrade. Castagno's contrada is the Caterpillar. If you're Sienese, you hang with your contrada homies all year. Foreigners can be adopted into contrade but it doesn't happen every day. The Caterpillar are apparently the Chicago Cubs of Siena. Contrade are respectable; these are not gangs and there is no crime in Siena (except in the aftermath of basketball games against Firenze, when crime is permitted and encouraged).
3) The most important event of the Sienese year is a three-minute horse race called the Palio, in which ten of the seventeen contrade enter horses and jockeys. There is a lot of associated skullduggery leading up to it. People weep with rage, frustration or joy. I am dead serious. In a way, NASCAR lovers can probably feel some community with Sienese.
If this sounds interesting, this is the Italian travel book for you. I liked it quite a bit.
© Copyright ToxicUniverse.com 05/17/2006
Los Angeles News
Presentazione di Dario Castagna del libro “A Day in Tuscany” at IIC
Il 5 febbraio 2008 presso l’Istituto Italiano di Cultura Dario Castagno ha presentato “A Day in Tuscany. More Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide” (The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford Connecticut, 2007). L’autore fa riferimento nel suo libro al suo piccolo borgo, Vagliagli, che significa “valle degli agli”. Sorto intorno al 500 a. C., probabilmente d’origine etrusca, come testimoniano alcuni resti di tombe, fu, poi, trasformato in colonia romana, per diventare nel Medio Evo un avamposto fortificato e teatro delle infinite battaglie tra Siena e Firenze.
Oggi è, invece, una tranquilla località abitata da sole 300 persone. La vita lì scorre nella quiete, tra i campi, le vigne, gli oliveti e nella piazza rettangolare con il piccolo bar, il fruttivendolo, la posta (che sta ora per chiudere definitivamente), una farmacia aperta tre volte la settimana, un rinomato ristorante ed una vineria, che lavora soltanto nelle ore serali.
È un mondo magico, dove anche la tempesta più violenta si stempera lentamente; il sereno ritorna insieme al sole, che risplende trionfante sulle colline, mentre la natura è rigogliosa dappertutto, anche nel più piccolo ed insignificante elemento, come il sinuoso e smeraldino bruco. Ma è anche il luogo in cui Dario Castagno si sente in perfetta armonia e dove può isolarsi, concentrarsi, ricordare e scrivere intorno alla sua giovinezza vissuta all’aperto, alla scoperta di bellezze naturali e di ambienti umani in equilibrio con il proprio habitat.
Dopo un lungo tour di tre mesi in America per presentare il suo primo libro “Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confession of a Chianti Tour Guide” (The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford Connecticut, 2004), tornato alla calma e al silenzio di Vagliagli, in poco tempo, lui che non si è mai considerato un vero scrittore, realizza questo secondo lavoro, che è un vero tributo d’amore alla regione del Chianti, a Siena e al Palio, mentre i suoi personaggi, le scene e le situazioni si scolpiscono per sempre nella memoria del lettore. L’umorismo e la tristezza sono le fondamentali e naturali caratteristiche, che vengono usate da questo straordinario affabulatore/cantastorie, che parla e scrive in inglese, come se fosse la sua lingua nativa.
Dopo la presentazione del libro, accompagnata da immagini filmiche, prese dal vivo e veramente emozionanti, delle varie fasi del Palio, è, poi, seguita la proiezione del DVD My Chianty. Il documentario, che ha partecipato a vari festival, oltre a presentare il paesaggio e l’indescrivibile bellezza delle colline cantigiane, immerse nel loro calmo, lento ed armonioso ritmo, descrive la vita di Dario, i suoi vicini ed amici del piccolo centro di Vagliagli.
Realizzato in soli tre giorni con personaggi reali, situazioni del tutto improvvisate, cattura scene e personaggi, che poi ritroviamo in A Day in Toscany. ll pubblico, molto numeroso ed entusiasta, ha, infine, rivolto diverse domande a Dario Castagno, riguardanti soprattutto il Palio. L’autore, ha, infine, firmato i suoi libri, mentre la serata si è conclusa con la degustazione dell’olio extra vergine di Dario Castagno e dei vini del Chianti Classico di Borgo Scopeto.
Il Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Book News Biography/True Travel/Italian Interest, San Francisco Chronicle, Library Journal, New York Times, USA Today e Globe Newspaper Company hanno espresso giudizi molto positivi su A Day in Tuscany. Prima di Los Angeles, Dario Castagno ha presentato il suo libro ed il suo DVD a New York, Boston, Manchester, Philadelphia, Washington, Asheville, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco. Dopo Los Angeles, ha proseguito il suo tour in Colorado, Denver, Salt Lake, La Jolla, Houston, Dallas e a Scottsdale ai primi di marzo.
Nella primavera del 2005, sempre all’Istitituto Italiano di Cultura, Dario Castagno con altrettanto successo ha presentato, oltre al DVD sul Palio di Siena, curato dall’Ente del Turismo di Siena, il suo primo volume Too Much Tuscan Sun. Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide. Considerato dal pubblico americano un vero e proprio best seller con oltre 150 mila copie vendute negli Stati Uniti, è stato giudicato positivamente dal Pubisher’s Weekly e dal New York Times, che lo hanno classificato tra i notable books del 2005.
Un suo terzo libro, Too Much Tuscan Wine, è prossimo ad uscire. Dario Castagno è nato nel distretto londinese di Wimbledon da padre piemontese e da madre toscana. Il padre, enologo, importava vini italiani per la Gran Bretagna. Poi, quando Dario aveva 9 anni, i suoi genitori, hanno deciso di ritrarsi in Italia e di vivere definitivamente nella valle del Chianti. Per contattare l’autore l’indirizzo e-mail è: Rasna@dada.it
Giuseppina Candia
IIC Los Angeles
TOO MUCH SUN IN TUSCANY,” THE BESTSELLER THAT HAS CONQUERED THE AMERICANS
Chianti Classico Wine Consortium On-line monthly
Issue 20 - Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006
2006
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“TOO MUCH SUN IN TUSCANY,” THE BESTSELLER THAT HAS CONQUERED THE AMERICANS
Written almost as a joke by a dealer in olive oil, the book has sold more than 150,000 copies in the United States and will soon be published in Germany, the Scandinavian countries and Australia.
Name: Dario Castagno. Age: 40. First profession: seller of extra virgin olive oil of a connoisseur class. Second profession: ever since he unexpectedly found a pen in his hand, writer.
A writer who writes in English although he is as Italian as they come. A writer, as he himself says, almost by accident. And, especially, a Chianti writer who is also today the author of a book that is a bestseller in the United States. It’s “Italiano,” which he says must be enclosed in quotation marks as if to say the book is in English although the title is in Italian.
Dario Castagno’s story is an unusual tale of a 40-year-old ex-pat living happily in Chianti at Vagliagli where he carries on a brisk trade in olive oil and where for many years he accompanied tourists, especially Americans, on tours during which they visited the monuments and viewed the landscapes of this magical land.
Then something happened and Castagno became the writer of a bestseller. He provides us the following account of what it’s all about.
Born in Britain to Italian parents but until 10 years ago, London was his hometown so that for him English and Italian are the same. From London he moved on to Staggia Senese in the shadow of a magnificent medieval fortress and on into nearby Chianti. “For me, it was a discovery, a beautiful discovery,” he said. He feels that he is a 100% Sienese Chiantigiano. To begin the story: “The tourists I accompanied in Chianti were nearly all Americans. They adored this land without any filters.
“They constantly asked me about this Circa family whose members were patrons for centuries of works of art. At that time, I couldn’t understand. Then it occurred to me that they could not comprehend the approximation of the type: “a work of about (circa) 1400 or circa 1350. Meanwhile, Frances Mayers, the famous writer enjoyed an enormous success with her Under the Tuscan Sun. The visitors all arrived with this book as a sort of vademecum. And, then, I had this stroke of genius. I collected anecdotes and unusual stories of these Americans who came to Chianti. And I wrote, with a bit of irony, in English, Too Much Tuscan Sun.”
The writer and critic Robert Rodi played a role in the enormous success of this book. It succeeded like a thunderclap. “At the beginning I auto-published and auto-distributed the book and I soon realized that it was a good idea. Three thousand books sold in 15 days and then a further 10,000. Then I was contacted by a U.S. publisher. “Why,” he asked me, “can’t we find this book in the United States?” “Yeah, why?” Because Castagno, enough but not too much of a prophet in his own country, fell, as they say, from the clouds. “Don’t worry about it,” the publisher said. “We’ll take care of publication and distribution in the States.” They tended to it and the result was as follows: Too Much Tuscan Sun sold more than 150,000 copies in the United States, it’s the bestselling book and Italian author in America and now it is being published in Germany, the Scandinavian countries and Australia And it continues to sell.
Castagno was literally taken up by a whirlwind. They kept him “prisoner” in the United States for three months in which he presented his book. It was reviewed in such prestigious publications as The Washington Post. Castagno has kept a scrapbook of all the reviews, memorabilia of receptions and photographs that testify to the level of importance his book attained in the United States. “At the beginning we feared that the book might cause some irritation because of its touch of irony,” Castagno said. “Its success was exactly the contrary.”
To the question, “do you feel like a writer,” Castagno replied, “At this point, yes. In the spring, my second book will be released. The provisional title is A Day in Tuscany.” A journey through Chianti in which I encounter personalities and stories. It seems that in America, they’re prepared to ‘requisition’ me for more months.
Andrea Ciappi
Chianti Classico Wine Consortium On-line monthly
Tribunnal of Florence Authorization No. 2542 – 11/17/1977 - Responsible Director: Leonardo Torrini.
La Nazione -Famoso in America
CIAPPI-ANDREA
di Andrea Ciappi
SIENA - Scrittore che scrive in inglese pur essendo italianissimo. Scrittore, come dice lui stesso, quasi per caso. E soprattutto scrittore chiantigiano oggi autore del libro "italiano" (bisogna metterlo tra virgolette giacché come s'è detto è in inglese) più venduto negli Stati Uniti. Storia singolare questa di Dario Castagno, quarant'anni e una vita felice in Chianti, a Vagliagli, dove ha un piccolo ma robusto commercio d'olio d'oliva e dove per anni e anni ha accompagnato turisti, in specie americani, in "tour" per visitare monumenti e paesaggi di questa magica terra.
Poi è successo qualcosa, e Castagno è diventato scrittore da best-seller. Premessa: è nato in Inghilterra da genitori italiani, ma sino a dieci anni Londra è stata la sua patria dunque per lui inglese e italiano sono la stessa cosa. Da Londra è approdato a Staggia, poi in Chianti. "Per me una scoperta, una bellissima scoperta". Altra premessa: si sente chiantigiano-senese al 100% ed è contradaiolo del Bruco. Cominciamo con la storia: "I turisti che accompagnavo ed accompagno in Chianti sono quasi tutti americani. Amano questa terra senza alcun filtro. Tanto per dire: mi chiedevano chi fosse questa famiglia Circa che patrocinava nei secoli tante opere d'arte. Sul momento non riuscivo a capire, poi mi accorsi che non comprendevano le approssimazioni tipo: 'opera del 1400 circa, o del 1350 circa.'. Successe che Frances Mayers, la scrittrice, ebbe successo enorme con 'Under the Tuscan Sun', Sotto il Sole di Toscana. Tutti arrivavano con questo libro, una sorta di vademecum. E allora mi si accese la scintilla, e raccogliendo gli aneddoti, le storie singolari, di questi americani che venivano in Chianti, con un po' d'ironia ho scritto in inglese 'Too Much Tuscan Sun', Troppo Sole di Toscana". Lo scrittore e critico Robert Rodi avrà parte in causa nell'enorme successo di questo libro. Scoppiato d'improvviso: "All'inizio ho 'autopubblicato' e 'autodiffuso' il libro, e mi sono accorto che l'idea piaceva: tremila copie vendute in 15 giorni. Poi altre diecimila. Poi fui contattato da un editore Usa: 'perché - mi chiesero - questo libro non si trova negli Stati Uniti ?'.
Già, perché ? Perché Castagno abbastanza ma non troppo profeta in patria cade, come dire, dalle nuvole. "Non si preoccupi - dice l'editore - per la pubblicazione e diffusione in Usa ci pensiamo noi".
Ci hanno pensato e il risultato è questo: "Troppo Sole di Toscana" ha superato in Usa le 150mila copie, libro di scrittore italiano più venduto in America, ora edito anche in Germania, Paesi Scandinavi, Australia. E continua a vendere. Castagno è letteralmente tirato per le maniche, l'hanno tenuto "prigioniero" (si fa per dire) in America per tre mesi per presentare il libro, vanta recensioni di prestigio tra cui il Washington Post.
Una domanda, ma Castagno "si sente" scrittore ? "A questo punto sì. In primavera uscirà il secondo libro, 'A Day in Tuscany' titolo provvisorio. Passeggiata nel Chianti dove mi imbatto in personaggi e storie. Sembra che in America siano già pronti - scherza - a 'requisirmi' per altri mesi".
CIAPPI-ANDREA
di Andrea Ciappi
SIENA - Scrittore che scrive in inglese pur essendo italianissimo. Scrittore, come dice lui stesso, quasi per caso. E soprattutto scrittore chiantigiano oggi autore del libro "italiano" (bisogna metterlo tra virgolette giacché come s'è detto è in inglese) più venduto negli Stati Uniti. Storia singolare questa di Dario Castagno, quarant'anni e una vita felice in Chianti, a Vagliagli, dove ha un piccolo ma robusto commercio d'olio d'oliva e dove per anni e anni ha accompagnato turisti, in specie americani, in "tour" per visitare monumenti e paesaggi di questa magica terra.
Poi è successo qualcosa, e Castagno è diventato scrittore da best-seller. Premessa: è nato in Inghilterra da genitori italiani, ma sino a dieci anni Londra è stata la sua patria dunque per lui inglese e italiano sono la stessa cosa. Da Londra è approdato a Staggia, poi in Chianti. "Per me una scoperta, una bellissima scoperta". Altra premessa: si sente chiantigiano-senese al 100% ed è contradaiolo del Bruco. Cominciamo con la storia: "I turisti che accompagnavo ed accompagno in Chianti sono quasi tutti americani. Amano questa terra senza alcun filtro. Tanto per dire: mi chiedevano chi fosse questa famiglia Circa che patrocinava nei secoli tante opere d'arte. Sul momento non riuscivo a capire, poi mi accorsi che non comprendevano le approssimazioni tipo: 'opera del 1400 circa, o del 1350 circa.'. Successe che Frances Mayers, la scrittrice, ebbe successo enorme con 'Under the Tuscan Sun', Sotto il Sole di Toscana. Tutti arrivavano con questo libro, una sorta di vademecum. E allora mi si accese la scintilla, e raccogliendo gli aneddoti, le storie singolari, di questi americani che venivano in Chianti, con un po' d'ironia ho scritto in inglese 'Too Much Tuscan Sun', Troppo Sole di Toscana". Lo scrittore e critico Robert Rodi avrà parte in causa nell'enorme successo di questo libro. Scoppiato d'improvviso: "All'inizio ho 'autopubblicato' e 'autodiffuso' il libro, e mi sono accorto che l'idea piaceva: tremila copie vendute in 15 giorni. Poi altre diecimila. Poi fui contattato da un editore Usa: 'perché - mi chiesero - questo libro non si trova negli Stati Uniti ?'.
Già, perché ? Perché Castagno abbastanza ma non troppo profeta in patria cade, come dire, dalle nuvole. "Non si preoccupi - dice l'editore - per la pubblicazione e diffusione in Usa ci pensiamo noi".
Ci hanno pensato e il risultato è questo: "Troppo Sole di Toscana" ha superato in Usa le 150mila copie, libro di scrittore italiano più venduto in America, ora edito anche in Germania, Paesi Scandinavi, Australia. E continua a vendere. Castagno è letteralmente tirato per le maniche, l'hanno tenuto "prigioniero" (si fa per dire) in America per tre mesi per presentare il libro, vanta recensioni di prestigio tra cui il Washington Post.
Una domanda, ma Castagno "si sente" scrittore ? "A questo punto sì. In primavera uscirà il secondo libro, 'A Day in Tuscany' titolo provvisorio. Passeggiata nel Chianti dove mi imbatto in personaggi e storie. Sembra che in America siano già pronti - scherza - a 'requisirmi' per altri mesi".
Mamma mia! The Washington Post
Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide," by Dario Castagno; Globe Pequot Press, $14.95
Author: A young Italian, born in England, who moved back to Tuscany at age 10. After working in a winery, he opened his own biz as a guide.
Venue: Tuscany's Chianti region. Loves Siena, sees Florence, where he picks up clients, as a pain-in-the-butt kind of place.
How's it read? Sometimes amusing but mostly stereotypical look at the Americans who hired Castagno. His growing up in Chianti and starting a business is more interesting.
Insights: So-so. He's at his best when writing about growing up as a Chiantigiano.
Sample quote: "They pile into my van, drink their first Diet Cokes of the day ... " (Every American in this book is obsessed with Diet Coke.)
Recipes: No recipes, but lots about people drinking copious amounts of red wine.
Bottom line: The Ugly American stuff gets old, but the author's love of Siena is sweet and courses through the book.
Who-cares factor: Middling.
Too Much Tuscan Sun – Print review coverage through 1/19/05
Arizona Republic
Phoenix, AZ 01/19/2005
"New guides to wines and spirits"
(Impressions: 413,268 )
TIMES
TRENTON, NJ 01/02/2005
"Tuscan sun"
(Impressions: 78,176 )
News-Times
Danbury, CT 12/22/2004
"Weird and wonderful wine books for holiday giving"
(Impressions: 33,391 )
DAILY NEWS
Los Angeles, CA 12/22/2004
"For the literate wine lover on your list"
(Impressions: 190,010 )
FREE LANCE-STAR
Fredericksburg, VA 12/15/2004
"Wine lovers have plenty to read"
(Impressions: 47,925 )
Huntsville Times
Huntsville, AL 12/15/2004
"Wine books make holiday list"
(Impressions: 57,968 )
TRI-CITY HERALD
PASCO, WA 12/15/2004
"Stores foil of books for every savvy sipper"
(Impressions: 41,544 )
READING EAGLE
READING, PA 12/08/2004
"Tomes and tidbits for savvy sippers"
(Impressions: 64,600 )
New York Times
New York, NY 12/05/2004
"TRAVEL"
(Impressions: 1,680,583 )
NEW YORK TIMES (NATIONAL EDITION)
New York, NY 12/05/2004
"Travel"
(Impressions: 1,672,965 )
Sunday Telegram
WORCESTER, MA 11/28/2004
"Ready for takeoff"
(Impressions: 103,477 )
Sunday Record
Middletown, NY 11/07/2004
"'Further illuminated by the 'Tuscan Sun'"
(Impressions: 101,269 )
San Jose Mercury News
San Jose, CA 11/07/2004
"TravelTipsheet"
(Impressions: 306,576 )
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 10/31/2004
"Books"
(Impressions: 375,145 )
SUNDAY PRESS DEMOCRAT
Santa Rosa, CA 10/31/2004
""Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide""
(Impressions: 95,972 )
Province
VANCOUVER,BC, CN 10/24/2004
"Tuscan tour guide bares his ."
(Impressions: 250,000 )
Chicago Tribune
Chicago, IL 10/17/2004
"THE RESOURCEFUL TRAVELER"
(Impressions: 963,927 )
LIBRARY JOURNAL
New York, NY 10/15/2004
"TRAVEL & GEOGRAPHY"
(Impressions: 23,431 )
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, CA 10/10/2004
"Tuscan Sun' craze burns some Italians"
(Impressions: 553,983)
Italian vistas open up in these books
By Kathy Balog, Special to USA TODAY
Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno with Robert Rodi (Globe Pequot, $14.95)
Castagno worked as a tour guide for more than a decade in the Chianti region of Italy. Part of the region's enduring charm, Castagno finds, is that agriculture and the wine industry have helped to preserve the area's natural beauty and stave off commercial development.
Castagno's perspective may be less romantic than that of Americans who flock to Italy in search of a unique cultural experience, but his emotional connection to his homeland and countrymen is authentic.
BOOK REVIEW
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Reviewed by Rick Price, Ph.D., co-owner & founder of ExperiencePlus!
Too Much Tuscan Sun (Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide)
By Dario Castagno (with Robert Rodi)
Anyone with a foot in two cultures and fluency in two languages is a lucky person. This describes Dario Castagno, author of "Too Much Tuscan Sun." Born in England of Italian parents, his family moved to the Chianti region of Tuscany when Dario was ten years old. He worked in a winery for ten years and then decided to leverage his bicultural-bilingual background into a job that allowed him to continue to explore his beloved Tuscany. So he became a free-lance tour guide, showing Americans, mostly, around Tuscany. Judging from the life he describes in this memoir, he has succeeded with his objective, though at some cost to quality of life insofar as the people he ends up guiding.
This is an entertaining book, although a bit shallow. It is heavy on anecdotes about those tourists you hope you'll never encounter, light on natural history, and with just enough historical and cultural vignettes to make it worth your while. There is so much to know about this fascinating region of Tuscany that we can't expect Dario to tell all, nor to have the background to tell all in one short volume. As a first book, though, this is worth reading. We can hope that he'll add more depth in future books.
Paola and I have been tourists or involved in tourism and travel for fun and education for about forty years. Mostly we've traveled with students and with ExperiencePlus! customers during those years or we've enjoyed our own experiential learning and travel opportunities. We've rarely dealt with diet-coke-swigging, pink-sweat-suit-clad, quarreling tourists whose primary interest is in shopping or pointing out that Italian food really isn't up to quality!
So you'll find the anecdotes about his "clients" amusing and entertaining until they become tiresome, at which point you'll be delighted that you don't have to travel with people like these!
Dario Castagno is no Gary Paul Nabhan (whose book, Songbirds, Truffles and Wolves (An American Naturalist in Italy) is one of my favorites about the natural environment in Italy). Indeed, Castagno is not a naturalist. Yet his book has an amateur naturalist premise insofar as he tries to set his scenes with chapters divided by month and by seasons of the year.
His "June" chapter begins, for example, with lists of wildflowers - roses, Spanish broom, poppies, chamomile, cornflowers and more. But he tells you next to nothing about these flowers. At least Nabhan gives us the naturalist's perspective on imported plants and, when appropriate, the life cycles of those plants. Castagno misses an opportunity to talk about Tuscany as being in a transition zone from traditional Mediterranean vegetation to the sub-continental or mountain vegetation of the Apennine Mountains. And he writes about white acacia flowers (quite honestly, I'm familiar only with yellow acacia in Italy) without discussing at all the prized honey that acacia makes - prized among honey connoisseurs because of its low viscosity and easy digestibility.
The author does a better job with his cultural and historical vignettes. You get a real feel for the centuries-old rivalry between the Sienese and the Florentines. You can also appreciate his love and understanding for the Palio in Siena. His brief description of the basketball game to which he took two American customers in Siena (a game between Siena and Bologna) is a real eye-opener that sounds more like American hockey than basketball. And the antics of a teenager growing up in Tuscany, exploring abandoned farm houses on his motor bike, gives Dario Castagno some credibility.
The anecdotes about Dario Castagno's customers are entertaining initially, tedious secondly, and downright depressing by the end. Can these people be real, you might ask? Do people really engage a guide for the day, then change their mind, rent a car to drive to Rome, then cancel it, rent it again, then cancel (three times in one instance?) Yes, these things happen. And yes, some of the people he describes never should have left home!
Credit is due, I believe, to Robert Rodi, the American author and customer of Dario Castagno for rendering this book into a readable and entertaining volume. Castagno first wrote the manuscript in Italian then translated it himself. Rodi re-translated the translation making this accessible to the general traveling public. (Hooray for Marvel comics, where Rodi got his start!)
For further reading on Tuscany see the following book reviews or essays on the ExperiencePlus! web site:
A Guide's Guide to the Best Travel Guide Books reviewed by Rick Price
Songbirds, Truffles, and Wolves by Gary Paul Nabhan
The History and Geography of Tuscany - The Magic of Tuscany by Rick Price
The History & Geography of Italy's Cinque Terre by Rick Price
ExperiencePlus! reviews books every month. For our complete list of book reviews, go to the ExperiencePlus! book review archive.
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Rick Price, and wife Paola Malpezzi-Price, are the owners and founders of ExperiencePlus! Together, they have walked and bicycled throughout Europe for the past 30 years, exploring local cultures and collecting stories. They have drawn from these experiences in creating our tours, which focus on the culture, history, and geography of the countries that we visit. If you would like to contact Rick, send an e-mail to Rick@ExperiencePlus.com
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New York Times
Choice of Literary Travel Guides Is Expanding
By PAMELA PAUL
Speaking of Mayes, what would the holiday season be without another slew of books about whiling away the time in some wine-soaked nook of Tuscany or Provence? (And which comes first, the plane ticket or the book contract?) In TOO MUCH TUSCAN SUN: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide (Globe Pequot, paper, $14.95), by Dario Castagno with Robert Rodi, you look to Castagno, a tour guide turned author, to toss some vinegar on the lot. Self-published in Italy (with 30,000 copies sold), ''Too Much Tuscan Sun'' seems to suggest that Italians, pummeled by throngs of American tourists, long for the same approach. But Castagno, a former local party boy and vineyard laborer, is more charming than churlish. He prefers to highlight Tuscany's social structure and traditions rather than skewer the Americans who overlook them -- though he does mock their fondness for Diet Coke and pharmacies, lambasting the laziest and least considerate of his charges. Most refreshingly, his book doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: a light, engaging jaunt into the Italian countryside, unfiltered by an outsider's prejudice and romanticism.
The Boston Globe
Boston Globe, The (MA)
The Boston Globe
Boston Globe, The (MA)
November 28, 2004
SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Author: DIANE DANIEL
Edition: THIRD
Section: Travel
Page: M2
Estimated printed pages: 1
Article Text:
After years of infatuated Americans' views of all things Tuscany, turnabout is fair play. In "Too Much Tuscan Sun" (Globe Pequot, 268 pp., $14.95) Tuscan guide Dario Castagno writes his views of Americans in his overly romanticized part of the world.
Castagno, English-born but Tuscan-raised, politely laughs as much with his American customers as he does at them, and does not begrudge their presence in any way. Consider the couple who chose McDonald's over a local trattoria, because, they said, "Italians didn't know how to cook Italian food." Or crazy questions, like, "Where is the Tower of Pisa?"
Along with poking fun at the Yanks, Castagno devotes chapters to the local scene: a Chianti harvest, a behind-the-scenes look at the annual Siena Palio, the famed horse race that Castagno competes in. "Too Much Tuscan Sun" gives readers an untinted version of this now legendary land.
Memo:
READY FOR TAKEOFF
Copyright (c) 2004 Globe Newspaper Company
Record Number: 0411300255
Reviewed by Bill Marsano on October 25, 2004
Too Much Tuscan Sun : Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno, Robert Rodi
Reason Enough to Blush
Reviewed by Bill Marsano on October 25, 2004
Too Much Tuscan Sun : Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno, Robert Rodi
Reason Enough to Blush
By Bill Marsano. This comes as a necessary tonic after years of fake-Italy books. Under the Tuscan Sun was charming until Frances Mayes began strip-mining Italy as if it were her personal franchise. A couple of cheap little books cashed in on her fame; then a PBS series (always the kiss of death to authenticity) and after that, the major motion picture, in itself blessed by bearing no resemblance to her book. Now she's shamelessly stooped to Tuscan-decor-for-your-home. Elsewhere there's ritualized 'roots' sagas, such as Mark Rotella's gag-inducing Stolen Figs, and pseudo-intellectualizations of similarly emetic effect (Francine Prose's Sicilian Odyssey takes the cake here, and with only a little effort would make a satiric comedy).
Now here at last the Italians have their say, or one Italian does, anyway. And that's enough, because even though he's never malicious, the tourists who descend on Italy in general and guide Dario Castagno in particvular are embarrassing and even humilitating.
Castagno was reared in England and so speaks the language as a native, but when he returned to Italy as you young man that didn't do him much good for some time. W
jhat will surprise many here is that he spent several years working at a very ordinary winery job before setting up as a guide. That's becauser it's only over the past couple of decades that Tuscany (the actual place) has become TUSCANY! the illusory media darling.
When he does start out he meets more than his share of perfectly appalling tourists. There are the overdressed (spike heels in the vineyards), the bullying, the utterly ignorant (one of whom expects to tour Chianti in the morning and shop in the Veneto on the same day), the self-deluded (a couple of superbly outfitted health fanatics whose ability to walk deserts them in Hour One) and the utterly clueless (a fellow who buys a valuable antique coin dated "42 B.C.").
Of course not all are that bad; it's only the egregious that are amusing to read about. But there are certainly more than enough of those. They'll make us mind our manners--I hope--the nect time we go abroad.
Interspersed with these misadventures is a goodly view of Castagno's personal history and glimpses of the Tuscany that has disappeared beneath the veneer of modern tourism. It's enough to make me wish I hadn't missed the boat--but at the same time, back there there was hardly a decent hotel or restaurant to be found.--Writer and editor Bill Marsano has been visiting relatives and winemakers in Italy three or four times a year since the 1980s.
Reviewed by Bill Marsano on October 24, 2004
Chicago Tribune
> THE RESOURCEFUL TRAVELER
> By June Sawyers
>
> October 17, 2004
>
> Travel narratives
>
> "Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide"
>
> (Globe Pequot; $14.95)
>
> Look what Frances Mayes has wrought. With the ongoing success of her
> phenomenal best-seller (and subsequent movie) "Under the Tuscan Sun" and
> its various offshoots, poor Tuscany has never been the same. In this
> charmer of a book, Dario Castagno, an English-born, Tuscan-raised tour
> guide, offers another side of the story: what life is like in the Tuscany
> he knows and loves. Castagno has made his living for more than a dozen
> years by escorting small groups to the Chianti region--the heart of Tuscan
> Italy. In "Too Much Tuscan Sun," Castagno discusses, with various degrees
> of affection and exasperation, the people he has escorted over the years:
> an American couple who insist that Italians in Italy don't know how to
cook
> "genuine" Italian food; another American with an inexhaustible knowledge
of
> wine, and equally inexhaustible financial resources; two Dutch couples
with
> prodigious appetites for food and drink (and in a part of the world where
a
> typical lunch lasts as long as five hours). He also introduces us to the
> Tuscany that visitors seldom see: the old men of the villages and the
> stories they tell if given half a chance, the abandoned farmhouses that
dot
> the countryside. And then there are all the questions--both intellectual
> and inane--that Castagno has to answer. My favorites are the query from a
> New Yorker who asks, in all seriousness, where the Tower of Pisa is
located
> and, even more bizarre, the woman from Atlanta who asks why everyone in
> Italy is speaking Italian. Ever the gentleman, Castagno plays the gracious
> host with great humor and abundant humility. (ISBN 0-7627-3670-4)
>
>
Library Journal
October 15, 2004
Too Much Tuscan Sun
This work generates much of its humor from the clash of cultures, told from the Italian perspective at the gentle expense of Americans. Castagno, born in England of Italian parents, has lived in the Chianti region of Tuscany long enough to consider himself a chiantigiano, and his love for the history, culture, and people of the area inspired him to start his own business as a personal tour guide for small groups. He has met clients who have exasperated him; others who amused, disgusted, or even impressed; and many who have become his personal friends. Readers who travel will certainly find some of his clients familiar. The book is organized according to the months of the year, and each chapter includes a description of Tuscany at that time, little bits of history, and an amusing story of one of his tour groups. Sometimes funny, sometimes sentimental, this book will be a welcome addition to large travel collections.
SAn francisco Chronicle
Sunday, October 10, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
'Tuscan Sun' craze burns some Italians
David Armstrong
Sunday, October 10, 2004 (SF Chronicle)
'Tuscan Sun' craze burns some Italians
David Armstrong
With the scorching success of "Under the Tuscan Sun" -- the charming book,
not the giddy, helium-infused movie -- the American infatuation with
Tuscany came to a full boil. Since then, Tuscan cookbooks, guidebooks and
still more memoirs by smitten Yanks have crowded bookstore shelves. It was
only a matter of time before a more jaundiced view emerged, and the
inevitable backlash set in.
"Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide," by Dario
Castagno with Robert Rodi (Globe Pequot, 268 pages, $14.95) tells the
American- Tuscan love story from an Italian perspective. The author is a
good-natured anecdotalist who writes at an ambling pace, but some jaundice
is in evidence. That figures, though. As Castagno, a guide who escorts
well-heeled Americans around Chianti and other parts of Tuscany, points
out, Tuscans can no longer afford to live in the gentrified farmhouses
that sell to affluent newcomers. That leaves the bemused locals feeling
left out in their own homeland.
In brief, easily digestible chapters, Castagno tells some very funny
stories about often-ignorant and occasionally exasperating foreign
tourists:
One visiting couple, convinced that Dario must be the Latin lover of fond
fantasy, tries to set him up with their college-age daughter. Another
couple, declaring Italian food to be much better back in America, repairs
to McDonald's with their Diet Cokes rather than inhale all that pasta and
wine and those funny stewed hare dishes. A Yank asks what the Italian word
for cappuccino is, and another visitor, after viewing Renaissance art, is
impressed that so many splendid paintings were done by an artist called
circa.
In short, "Too Much Tuscan Sun" is not so much about the Ugly American as
the Hopelessly Clueless American.
Castagno, who wrote this book, his first, with the help of Chicago
novelist Robert Rodi, saves his most scathing comments for bargain-hunters
who decide they simply must own a rustic home in the Tuscan hills -- not
because they have any love for the area but because it would be a status
symbol back home. Castagno, by contrast, does love the area, and his
descriptions of seasonal cycles and benign countryside characters convey a
finely tuned sense of place.
"Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother
Country," by Joe Queenan (Henry Holt, 240 pages, $22). New York writer
Queenan ventures into Bill Bryson territory with this amused and amusing
look at Blighty, and holds his own. Like Bryson, Queenan (who is married
to an Englishwoman) is funny, but he has more of an edge than the genial
Bryson and is sometimes scabrous when comparing Brits and Yanks and
assessing the foibles of each. Queenan is especially keen on obscure
English rock bands and recounts, in his book's set-piece, a meeting with a
Liverpool cabbie and ex-musician who claims to be an old pal of John
Lennon's.
Queenan is also very fond of English eccentricity, examples of which he
scatters throughout. Such as this sign, spotted in the town of Stroud:
If you want to know who assassinated the tree that is now chopped neatly
in two between our two houses, consult the residents next door.
"Americans would never do this," Queenan writes. "They would simply move
or sue or fetch the shotgun. But they wouldn't post an arch, abusive sign
outside their homes, and if they did resort to a written communique, it
wouldn't be funny, much less correctly punctuated."
"Land and Light in the American West," photographs by John Ward (Trinity
University Press, 136 pages, $45). A Harvard-educated scientist turned
photographer, Ward has made luminous photographs of arid landscapes
throughout the West. Ninety of his black-and-white images, printed as
full-page duotones, are reproduced here, and the best are striking indeed.
Inspired by Ansel Adams, Ward is a master of form and his command of light
and shadow are impressive.
"The Most Beautiful Villages of Normandy," by Hugh Palmer (Thames and
Hudson, 208 pages, $45). The traveler yearning to hit the road will
appreciate the detailed, back-of-the-book guide to the 30-plus Norman
villages pictured here in vivid color. The armchair traveler will feast on
the eye candy of the 256 photos that grace the large-format hardcover. I
never realized Normandy had so many half-timbered houses, recalling
venerable English Tudor homes, but here they are, resplendent. The flowery
gardens and ancient stone walls have a look both graceful and stolid. All
are nicely photographed in this superior coffee table book.
The Literate Traveler appears the second Sunday of every month in Travel.
E-mail Chronicle staff writer David Armstrong at
davidarmstrong@sfchroniclecom. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle
Review from Publishers Weekly magazine
TOO MUCH TUSCAN SUN: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide
> Dario Castagno. Globe Pequot, $14.95 paper (224p) ISBN 0-7627-3670-4
> Unlike Under the Tuscan Sun and the flood of cookbooks touting the
delights of the Tuscan table, this endearing, lightweight memoir was written
by a native of the area. The author recounts the history and character of
Chianti-the famous wine region at Tuscany> '> s geographic and cultural
heart-and shares his most unforgettable experiences working as a Chianti
tour guide for more than 12 years. Raised in Britain, Castagno began
exploring Chianti> '> s countryside as a teenager and fell in love with its
dilapidated farmhouses, abandoned in Italy> '> s post-WWII period of
industrialization; for him, their stone walls, terracotta roofs and chestnut
beams formed "well nigh irresistible" windows into Tuscany> '> s romantic
past. As a guide, he shared these journeys with his clients, most of them
Americans, including T.T., an overly curious businessman for whom a winery
visit "was like taking a child to a chocolate factory"; and an Alabama
couple who, sweetly, tried to set Castagno up with their daughter. The
farmhouses were also the site of Castagno> '> s startling encounter with a
couple of teenage artists and subsequent discovery about Tonio, a local,
94-year-old love machine. Castagno delivers his life story in simple,
honest, heartfelt terms, though, unfortunately for readers, there are few
true surprises or insights. It> '> s brain candy to be enjoyed with a bottle
of red. (Sept.)
>
World Travel Magazine
CHIANTI CLASSICO
Trekking under the Tuscan Sun
By Peter I. Rose
On a beautiful fall day in the little village of Valpaia in the hills of Chianti I was introduced to an impish Italian tour guide and fellow writer, Dario Castagno. He was sitting with two American clients, sharing a bottle of Chianti Classico and eating a sumptuous luncheon of Tuscan specialties, ribollita, made of cannelloni beans and vegetables, a rabbit stew, and a desert of tiramasu. He offered me a glass of wine and we discussed his just-published book, Too Much Tuscan Sun, the title being a not-too-subtle play on Frances Maye's best-seller, Under the Tuscan Sun.
Maye's book, which seems to have been read by every other visitor to the area, is one American's view of Tuscany. Castagno's irreverent treatise, which I bought on the spot and read that night, is a Tuscan's view of Americans - well, some Americans, mainly Dario's more colorful charges.
I was both amused and chagrined by what he revealed about my countrymen, not least because many of the characters he featured were all familiar types. There are portraits of grand tourers with little interest in what they were seeing; young lovers oblivious to the world around them – or to their guide; desperate but ever-hopeful singles; compulsive talkers; compulsive shoppers, ever on the lookout for that latest example of globalization, "The Outlet;" overbearing know-it-alls, and several others.
But, the more I read, the more I realized his sampler did not include many categories of the vast army of visitors to one of Italy's most popular provinces. I thought of those who could never afford a private guide: middle-class first timers, such as schoolteachers, who had assiduously saved for their special tour of Italy. I thought of all those third generation Italian-Americans I had met who were looking for their roots. I thought of artists and writers and others doing their own things, and those on well-organized specialty tours on buses or bikes or afoot run by travel agencies, alumni
associations, and trekking companies.
Although a frequent visitor to the country, I had entered Dario Castagno's turf and his favorite lunch spot, as a member of that last named cohort, a walking tour.
Our group of 17 men and women, including three guides, ranged in age from the mid-twenties to 70, but most were in their 50's and 60's. Professionals, business people, and educators, we hailed from all parts of the U.S. and hardly fit any of the standard stereotypes.
Although many of those in our party had been to Italy before, some to that very area, what united us was the love of hiking and the desire to take in what we could in a week's time, walking in the countryside with visits to a number of small towns and some serious urban hiking in the towered city of San Gimignano and Florence's age-old rival, the hilly city of Siena. Even those for whom hiking long distances -in Italy or anywhere in the world - was the prime motivator were also eager to see much of the art and architecture that they had heard and read about.
The trip, organized by Clare Grabher, the owner and director of the implausibly (for Italians at least) named New England Hiking Holidays, which runs walking tours in many parts of the U.S., the U.K., and Europe, was everything claimed in her colorful and appealing brochure.
We had three spirited guides: Nancy Fitts, a hyper-active professional outdoors-person from France who has long resided in New Hampshire; Elizabeth Wicks, an American art restorer from New England who has lived and worked in Italy for more than 20 years, and Liza Luppino, a young Italian artist who also grows and harvests olives in a tiny village near Florence now owned by her family. With the leadership of Nancy, Liz, and Lisa, and our own insatiable curiosity, we never got too much of the Tuscan sun, or the Tuscan spirit.
We saw much of what most tourists, such as those led by Dario Castagno would see on his tours. But we also saw other things. From the ground up. Especially memorable were long rambles above the town of Greve, visits to medieval cities like Castellina and Volpaia, the tiny fortress of Monteriggione, the long uphill approach to San Gimignano and the much longer and more rugged treks along the ridge of the Apennine mountains.
The places we hiked varied as did the places we stayed. All of the latter were first class respites to return to after long days on roman roads, country lanes, city streets, and mountain trails. The first was the elegant Hotel Villa Aurora in the town of Fiesole, perched above the city of Florence, where we would also spend our eighth and last night.
The next base was the Villa Casalecchi near Castellina di Chianti. The hotel, at the center of an old estate, still features gracious living replete with white-coated waiters in its elegant dining room and first-class fare at the table. Three days later we moved from the classy country comfort of the Casalecchi to the more folksy ambience of the Albergo Granduca, a former Medici hunting lodge in the Campigna woods in the center of the Casentino National Park.
From the Granduca we spent three days hiking anywhere from 5 to 15 miles through magnificent stands of chestnut and pine. One trip led to the top of the highest peak, Monte Falco (1658 meters above sea level); a second,, the longest of all, took us along the ridge of the Appenines to the little town of Camaldoli to a very old Eremo (Hermitage); the last, a speedy descent down the Adriatic side of the mountain from the Granduca, a rest and then an invigorating climb back up.
The first two hotels were located in places with picture-book familiarity: stone farmhouses, hillside vineyards and olive groves, stately cypress trees and long vistas with tiny villages on distant hilltops. We were especially fortunate to have been there in the harvest season and were able to watch the gathering of grapes and their processing and the picking of olives and their pressing. And we had many chances to sample both!
The last hotel was very high in the mountains, just over the Passo della Callo where a major battle between allied forces and German soldiers had been waged in 1943. While signposts reminded us that the world had once come to these tranquil woods, we felt we felt we were very far from any madding crowds.
In fact, the only sounds we ever heard during our nights in the lodge were the roar of the wind, the rustling of wild boars running through the underbrush, and the guttural come-hither rutting cries of cervi stags, the male members of the elk-like deer family. On the trail, we heard fewer sounds. One member of the group called in a "magical forest." It was.
Withal, our trip was magical in many ways. Great venues, great hikes, great food, great wine, great guides and, perhaps most important (though rarely mentioned in travel essays), a most compatible group of far-from-ugly Americans.
Many of those on our very brief Tuscan odyssey were veterans of New England Hiking Holidays', one couple having been on 14 trips, many of them in back in the States, some abroad. After only a week with this company, my wife and I were ready to sign on for another of the excursions offered by NEHH, maybe the one in the Pyrenees or the one in the Scottish highlands.
But, for now, I am going to write to Dario Costagno, urging him to spend a day with the next gang from NEHH. He may then add another set of portraits to his sketches of those variegated odd birds in the genusTourista Americano.
If you are interested in having a similar experience, write to:
New England Hiking Holidays
P.O. Box 1648
North Conway, NH 03860
www.nehikingholidays.com
Phone 800-869-0949
E-mail NEHH@aol.com
Posted on Sun, Sep. 14, 2003
American Rhythms | Importing the charms of tumbledown Tuscany
Perhaps you've read the book, or seen promotions for the film of the same name opening soon. For anyone journeying to that sumptuous region of Italy, Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes has become a fixture of travel preparation, as necessary as sunscreen in summer and a wine opener any time of year.
The book is engaging, if overwritten; early reviews say the filmis little more than a well-photographed chick flick. No matter. The story of a depressed divorcee who impulsively buys a dilapidated Tuscan villa in an effort to find a home and reclaim her life surely will resonate.
This is what we wish we could do when life is a mess: escape to a land where the elusive sense of home can be found amid ruins and olive groves.
But this archetype of the American in Europe, drooling over the continent's sophistication and style while bemoaning the lack of both back home, overlooks a simple solution: Take the best of another culture and meld it with our own.
American culture is seeping into every corner of Europe - the good (entrepreneurialism and egalitarianism), the bad (McDonald's and Madonna), and the indifferent (Diet Coke).
Why can't the exchange go both ways?
Many European nations offer five weeks of vacation and government-funded preschool and health care. College education is actually affordable.
There may be slums in Paris and Rome, but they are not on display, not in the way that streetscapes of inexcusable waste and ruin confront the person who walks a few blocks south, west or north of Center City.
Perhaps after restoring villas in Tuscany, Americans such as Frances Mayes could direct their energy to rescuing cities back home.
In a book laughingly called Too Much Tuscan Sun, Italian tour guide Dario Castagno observes: "As recently as 20 years ago, if someone had told a Tuscan peasant whose dream was to go to America that his old, dilapidated farmhouse would soon become the dream home of wealthy Americans, the peasant would have considered him just this side of a lunatic."
And we can surely learn a thing or two from Europeans about staying healthy. Castagno says his clients inevitably ask: How is it that in Italy people eat so much but hardly anyone's overweight?
His answer is instructive. Tuscans eat meals; they don't graze in the car, on the job, in front of the TV. They cook with fresh ingredients and extra-virgin olive oil, far healthier than overprocessed fast foods soaked in butter or lard.
They drink wine as if it were water, without the falsely puritanical notions that create such American perversions as the Liquor Control Board and binge drinking in college. Instead of turning alcohol into a sin - and therefore all the more attractive to young people - red wine in Italy is savored.
And they walk more, helped by excellent public transportation and cities that encourage pedestrian traffic.
All this savoring and sauntering can be taken to extremes, of course. The French government, trying to explain why thousands died in this summer's heat, acknowledged that the 35-hour workweek and August vacations had played a part: There weren't enough medical personnel available.
Americans would never stand for that, much as Europeans would never agree to two-week vacations and insurance copays. Still, there must be ways to learn from each other, to share the best and at least consider the alternatives.
But if adopting Mediterranean diets or urban policies is not possible, there's another option: Frances Mayes is - what a coincidence! - launching a line of Tuscan-inspired furniture. A book, A Tuscan Home, is due out soon. I wonder who'll star in that movie.
Book News
Biography/True Travel/Italian Interest
Too Much Tuscan Sun By Dario Castagno and Robert Rodi
An excruciatingly funny book that will be appreciated by all English-speaking expatriats.
Over the past several years, "the American in." has become a literary sub genre. Launched by the phenomenal success of Frances Maye's 'Under the Tuscan Sun', bookstores now burgeon with nimble, witty accounts of the clash in cultures - young Americans and Brits trying to do American and British things in Italy, France or Spain and bumping against a brick wall of tradition.
Too Much Tuscan Sun finally tells the other side of the story: that of Dario Castagno, a Tuscan guide who has spent more than a decade taking individuals and small groups on customized tours through the Chianti wine region. Reared in Britain through early childhood, Dario Castagno writes fluently and passionately about the seasons, wildlife and food of Tuscany. But the bulk of the book is devoted to the Americans he has met - the vain, the silly, the ignorant , the ambitious, the horny, the condescending, the charming and the outright pathological. He also gives an account of his own life - that of a transplanted British "little lord" who learns to love the wilds of Chianti; of his apprenticeship in the wine idustry and of his arduous transformation from bohemian layabout to thriving Tuscan guide.
Holliday & Fischer | Article published February 2, 2003
Book on Chianti country worth a read There s nothing quite like a good "insider" book to keep our pages turning on a cold winter s eve. Especially when the subject is one we already happen to know something about and would like to learn more. Or, best of all, when we are also acquainted with the author.
A number of our all-time favorite books fall into this genre. Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy probably started it all with his brilliant portrayal of early Madison Avenue advertising which almost certainly launched the media careers of many 60s sprogs. James Herriot s stories must have done similar things for veterinarian wannabes - although what James used to do to pregnant cows in those desolate barns on the bleak Yorkshire moors probably turned off as many as it turned on! We actually met James Herriot, aka Alf Wight, at his surgery in Thirsk in the 1980s - so he rates an additional star in our "insider" galaxy. Flip forward to 2000, and now it s food books that keep us salivating with their vivid insights into the frantic workings of first-class restaurants and chefs from New York to California. Titles like Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and the The Fourth Star by Leslie Brenner have us reaching for our skillets and spatulas.
But it s the recent proliferation of "virtual travel" books that brings us back to the subject at hand, with Peter Mayle s delightful accounts of French country life pioneering the way. Herriot s TV wife, Carol Drinkwater, went one better with her amazing story, The Olive Farm, about the restoration of an abandoned Provencal farmhouse. And Frances Mayes tales about Tuscany remind us why we keep going back.
Then the other day we received another kind of travel book that manages to successfully combine every single one of our "insider" criteria. It is based in an area we know and love, Tuscany. It describes a business with which we re familiar, and it is authored by someone we are pleased to call a friend, Dario Castagna.
Too Much Tuscan Sun: The Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide is quite simply a terrific read from start to finish ... and a remarkable achievement for this first-time author.
Dario first came to our attention when the proprietors of a small hotel in Siena suggested that he might be just the person to lead a small group of us deeper into Chianti country. A few months and several faxes later we spent an amazing day on Dario s "Rooster Tour," leaping in and out of his red van, inspecting well-hidden Etruscan burial grounds, touring a large commercial Chianti wine facility (where Dario once worked and still has exclusive visitation rights), and tasting some local vintages in a hillside farmhouse. Lunch that day was taken on a shady stone veranda in a tiny hilltop village. A leisurely, multi course al fresco affair - with lashings of Chianti wine, naturally - prepared by a café owner friend of Dario s.
All in all it was a marvelous introduction into the historical, cultural, oenological, and culinary delights of Chianti country by someone who knows the area, his neighborhood, and his vintages. It was also a refreshing and necessary respite from the rigors of all those Florentine galleries, museums, and churches.
In the course of that journey, and in subsequent conversations, we have found out more about Dario s colorful background. Born in London of Italian parents, he attended a British prep school, which accounts for his near-perfect English. But when he was 10, the family left city life to return to Tuscany. This cultural uprooting apparently took its toll, because at 15 young Dario was expelled from school "for undisciplined behavior and poor marks," and ended up working for the local wine bottler.
On his weekends off, however, the rebellious young man took off into the hills on his little blue Vespa, investigating dirt roads and abandoned farmhouses and quickly falling in love with the terrain, the history of the region, and the remarkable people he met along the way.
Ten years ago, Dario turned all those days of discovery into a one-man business, leading tourists (mostly Americans) through his Tuscan countryside and, of course, dropping in on many of the wineries owned by his friends. Too Much Tuscan Sun tells about some of these trips ... and about his clients. And although Dario describes the foibles of his clients in crisp detail, he always does it with respect and affection.
It s that same approach to living that led Dario to explore the far reaches of Tuscany in the first place. That inspired a very young man to befriend elderly farmers and everyday people wherever he found them. To listen to their stories. And to gain for himself - and ultimately for so many others - a real insight into a culture. ...........Anyway, I was just writing to say how
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