Avail Yourself Bel Vino: A Year Of Sundrenched Pleasure Among The Vines Of Tuscany Written By Isabella Dusi Distributed In Hardcover

book took forever to read, It wasn't gripping, their was no cohesive storyline and even after completing it I couldn't say what the point of this book was,
However, the author clearly delights in language as evidenced by her vivid descriptions of the scenery, I also enjoyed the fact that she wrote about the year as it unfolded: chaotically, The reader gets the full force of how chaotic life in a Tuscan village can be, with all the locals, events, histories, and of course food.
And another book I just couldn't get into,
tried it again in Augustand still didn't like it, I enjoyed this book, not only because it was beautifully written, but for a number of other facets that set it apart from other "outsider settles in new community" books.
First the author and her husband actively involved themselves in community life, not just as as participants but as part of the group making sure that community events happen, and are successful.
Admittedly, the reader catches up with the Dusi couple in theirth year of settlement in Montalcino, by which acceptance has been earned, and great news for readers, the initial years are captured in Vanilla Beans and Brodo.


Secondly, in addition to introducing the reader to the customs and lifestyle of common folk , it supplements the scanty memories of the few lines featuring Cavour and Garbaldi, laid down by history lessons in junior school.


I am looking forward to Isabella Dusi's other books of life in Montalcino, A decade ago, Isobel and Lou moved to the village of Montalcino and became Isabella and Luigi, Their immersion is now complete in the busy life of this town, and their acceptance by the people means that they are part of the fabric now.
In this second book Isabella writes about the events that take place over the course of a year,

She writes about the inter village archery competition, and tensions are high as Montalcino has not won for a number of years now.
The local church has been condemned as it has no foundations, but has sat unmoved foryears, Luigi is a big supporter of the local football team and the passion that the supporters have is undaunted regardless of the successes and failures of the team.
Even travelling to the matches is an event, A substantial amount of the book is taken up by unravelling the origins of Brunello di Montalcino, a wine that the fortunes of many of the Montalcinesi depend upon.


The centre of the village is the cafe, and almost every day starts with an espresso, before her travels take her across the local landscape bringing us encounters with monks whose order has been around foryears or so, the hunt for the elusive mushrooms.
The food there is magnificent, the richness of the dinners served and consumed, the abundance of the olives and tomatoes are conveyed with mouth watering descriptions.


I had really enjoyed her first book, set in this beautiful part of Tuscany, when I read it over a decade ago,

so I was looking forward to this.
Dusi manages to convey the beauty of the landscape, the smells of the food, the atmosphere of the event and passion of the Italian people as she walks and travels around the village.
Generally it is a good book, but I felt that it was too long and drawn out and didnt have the clarity and sharpness of the first.
The search for the origin of the wine was long and drawn out too, That said, the picture she paints of the stunning landscape, the evocative food and the way of life there is just fantastic, Worth reading for lover of anything Italian, This book was exactly what it promised, It was a lovely escape and Dusi is a really beautiful writer, I really enjoyed the descriptions of life in the town and surrounding countryside but got a little lost in the soccer games and very interwoven vineyard rivalries.
I agree with the other reviews where this book was gorgeous but probably a little too long, It took me longer than usual to read it, and one of the reasons I think was that the chapters were way too long, with multiple stories told in each.
Bel Vino is the second book of this author about life in Tuscany, She describes everything from the local football club to the complete history of Brunello the Montalcino and its Noble families,

It took me aboutyears to finish this book, Although some of the descriptions of Montalcino and its surroundings and life in a small village are really good and evocative I found the book as a whole tedious, long winding and difficult to read.


Sometimes the stories started really promising but somehow the author gives too much details, the writing is too pompous at times and I really got anoyed by the author bragging about how they went to people in their Mazzerrati a car totally unsuited to the Tuscan roads

If you want to read about live in Tuscany there are far better works than this one.
ItalyIsobel and Lou moved to Montalcino and became Isabella and Luigi ten years ago and they have now been embraced by the locals and immersed in their antiquated customs and ageold feuds.
In BEL VINO Isabella takes the reader on a winding journey to discover the true aristocratic orgins of the worldrenowned wine Brunello di Montalcino on whose vintage the fortunes of many of the Montalcinesi depend.
Taking us through the seasons of the wine harvest, Dusi weaves a path that brings in the local whitehooded monks who have lived in the Abbey of Sant' Antimo since at leastthe last remaining local shoemaker the harvesting of mushrooms, olives and truffles an archery contest with a local village at which passions run high and the fight to save ayearold church with no foundations.
As an insider, Dusi is able to portray Tuscan life with all its idyllic charms whilst also giving an intriguing insight into the daily workings of the ancient village of Montalcino.
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