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Tuscan Living Best-selling Author Frances Mayes Helps Bring the Heart of Italy into Hearth and Home What is it about the Italian countryside that enflames our imagination and soothes our frenzied spirit? Cypress trees pepper the landscape as centuries-old villas creak with charm in the shadow of olive groves and sprawling vineyards. Mere mention of Tuscany makes one sigh with longing for simpler times and even simpler pleasures. Those who’ve never stepped foot on its rich soil seem mysteriously drawn to this place just by catching a glimpse of its beauty from paintings and books. Thanks to one Georgia native, the Tuscan lifestyle is closer than you might think. Frances Mayes, best-selling author of numerous books about Tuscany, including “Under the Tuscan Sun,” takes readers on a shopping excursion to antique shops and village markets to bring Italy home. From furniture and home design, to cooking, gardening and celebrating, “Bringing Tuscany Home” is more than a how-to book on home decorating; it’s a lifestyle guide that encapsulates the joys of Italian living. Under the Georgian Sun
In 1990, she and her husband Ed purchased what she called an “abandoned, scorpion-inhabited, blackberry choked villa perched on a terraced hillside just outside of Cortona.” What ensued afterward was a labor of love as they slowly built their home of dreams. Currently working on two new books, Mayes comes back to Atlanta from time to time to visit her sister. But these days she lives in North Carolina with her husband, that is when she is not basking under the Tuscan sun in her cherished Bramasole villa in Cortona, which she does six months of the year. “I’m happy to be back in the South, it feels right,” Mayes said, but confessed her heart will always belong to Tuscany. Even after 17 years, they still feel the “rush of excitement” as they speed from the airport to her villa under the sun. “I think it is a whole constellation of things that come together in Italy in a special way,” Mayes reflected. “I find many things to love about other countries, but somehow not as much comes together as it does in Italy. In Tuscany, it’s the beauty of the countryside as well. They somehow have been able to come to 2007 and keep their countryside beautiful. It’s everything — the art, the beauty of the landscape, the food, the wine, and most importantly the people. No where are the people as warm as they are in Italy.” It Takes a Villa For Drexel Heritage’s At Home in Tuscany collection, a team of designers traveled to Mayes’ home in Cortona as well as all over Tuscany. They photographed everything she had in her house and used it as inspiration for the line. “Everything in the collection actually comes from a piece of Tuscan furniture, it’s not dreamed up in North Carolina,” Mayes confirmed. “It’s all from antique shops and markets right near us in Tuscany.” “Tuscan country houses look as though they were formed by the landscape itself rather than by the human hand.” Some of the collection’s pieces come from very unlikely places. In fact, one of the tables is based on a fountain in a small town. “I was sitting there waiting for my husband and looking at the base of this fountain, and thought ‘that would look great as a table,’ ” Mayes said. “Just fun things like that would happen, like a white marble coffee table that is based on a sink in a convent. The collection doesn’t all come straight from furniture but has many playful connections.” Many of the pieces do, however, come directly from items she has in her own villa, such as the collection of convent tables. If you look closely at each furniture piece, you will notice the special touches that make living in Tuscany such a personal experience. Italians embrace the passing of time and covet each nick and imperfection for its originality and character. The architecture itself could appear flawed to the untrained eye, but in Italy it is all part of the experience. “I like that they have what architects call the transparency of the architecture in Tuscany, that is when all the materials show,” Mayes noted. “You see the beams, the bricks in the ceiling, the thickness of the plaster … I think that is one reason it seems so pure. That is a word that comes to me often when looking at Italian houses. The furniture is usually quite simple, very edited. The look of a classical Tuscan house is very spare and I find it very comforting.” The asymmetrical architecture is complemented in the home décor collection. “In the collection we try to replicate that philosophy,” Mayes continued. “When you run your hand over the table it doesn’t feel smooth, they feel hand-planed and have a little ripple to them. Some of the end tables have what looks like filled in cracks, slightly distressed. We wanted to give that feeling of being made by hand.” But thankfully not everything in the collection is as much as a slave to detail. “The Tuscan chairs are usually bolt, upright and uncomfortable, but when we were doing the At Home in Tuscany collection we made sure the furniture was a lot more comfortable than it is in Tuscany,” she said with a laugh.
Tuscan Touches When trying to recreate your own Tuscan villa at home, the key word to remember is texture. Bring in stone-topped tables, rich woods, hand-woven fabrics and a warm color palette. And don’t be afraid to let the light in. “The Tuscan home does not have heavy draperies, they do not interfere with light,” Mayes pointed out. She suggested using lightweight, transparent drapes or decorative shutters and often opening up the windows when the weather permits. Don’t be afraid to a let a few bugs come inside for a visit, or even a passing bird, which in Tuscany is just part of the day’s adventures. Also, as you are picking your furniture, think about handcrafted conversation pieces and attention to detail. “I think stone and iron are very important and signify Tuscan craftsmanship,” Mayes suggested. “I love iron lamps, not heavy duty, but light, graceful lamps, it gives a real Old World feel.” In the same vein, Tuscan style beds are typically “curly beds” with a medallion painted in the middle of the headboard, just like the bed Diane Lane restored in the film “Under the Tuscan Sun.” Mayes loved the bed so much she actually purchased it from Disney studios and put it in a new house she is restoring in Tuscany. “The fabrics are simple, hand-woven and I just love the colors,” she said. “The colors they use are the same natural colors you see in the frescoes of the Renaissance, it just repeats over and over.” The floors of a Tuscan home are usually bare, but Mayes confessed she is a fan of oriental or straw rugs to bring a touch of warmth to the room and to the feet. It’s not just the paint or furniture but the gracious hospitality that makes an Italian house a home. “One of the things we love so much in Italy is the expansive sense of hospitality,” Mayes recalled. “A big part of bringing Tuscany home has to do with the idea of an endlessly expandable table, things to cook and color. I love the Tuscan palette but it’s the lifestyle more than anything else. Being at home in nature and living inside and outside at the same time.” So, if you’ve ever been to Tuscany, or just dreamed of going, the beauty of its countryside can be yours right here at home. All it takes is a love of nature, color, simplicity and a dash of the sweet life, or as Italians would say, la dolce vita. Tasting Tuscany What Tuscan home is complete without a taste of Italian home cooking? Eggplant Parmesan 3 medium eggplants, peeled and thinly sliced Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly dredge the eggplant slices in the flour, shaking off excess, and fry them in batches in sizzling sunflower oil until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and salt them. Spoon some tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9- by 12-inch baking dish. Add layer of eggplant, then a layer of tomato sauce, a few basil leaves, and sprinkle some parmigiano and mozzarella. Add another layer of eggplant, sauce and basil, finishing with parmigiano and mozzarella on top. Bake for 45 minutes.
It’s easy to season your home with a taste of Tuscany, thanks to Frances Mayes’ helpful tips. Just add a few special touches and you can imagine yourself basking in the warmth of an Italian summer from smack dab in the middle of Georgia’s red clay. Texture, texture, texture: Create layers of texture from the walls to the choice of fabrics and furniture. Painted furniture: Add at least one piece of painted furniture; it adds whimsy and beauty to the room. Hand-painted borders: Hand-painted borders create a personal touch and character to space. Create a secret garden: Tuscans live outdoors as much as in. Create an outdoor sanctuary with fountains, vine-covered pergolas and terra-cotta urns among your herb or flower garden. Entertaining tabletops: Set an imaginative Tuscan table using majolica and vintage linens. Then whip up some pasta, open a bottle of wine, and invite your neighbors over for dinner. For more information Frances Mayes Home Furnishing Collections: Drexel Heritage Laneventure Wildwood Lamps |
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