Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno with Robert Rodi

'Dario, how come there are so many American restaurants in Italy?' drawled my American client.

I began to explain to her that in the past few years, several fast-food chains had opened in the larger city centres, but I was interrupted by her husband. 'No, Dario,' he said, 'my wife isn't referring to McDonald's, but to all the pizzerias we've seen. You Italians really seem to go for our pizza!'

You've read the tourists on Tuscany, the lifestyle and the locals; now comes the local's side of the story as Dario, a Chianti tour guide, tells of his years guiding the hundreds of tourists who have stormed through his life and adored homeland. From the vain, the silly and the ignorant to the ambitious, the horny and the downright pathological, he has looked after them all. There's never a dull moment as the long-suffering Dario guides, cajoles and attempts to instil some of his beloved Tuscan food, wine and culture into his wayward clients. 
   Interspersed with Dario's comic - and often hair-raising - tales are details of his own experience of falling in love with the Tuscan produce and thriving vineyards.
   By turns touching and hilarious, Too Much Tuscan Sun is a welcome antidote to all those gushing travel memoirs we know so well.

Dario Castagno has guided Small groups of visitors to his favourite spots around Tuscany for more than ten years. Perhaps his proudest accomplishment, however, is being a member of Siena's Caterpilla contrada, which won the famous Patio bareback horse race in 2003. 

Genres: Nonfiction - Italy - Travel - Memoir - Humour - Italian Literature - Travelogue - Food
Condition: Good
Published: 2004 by Bantam
Pages: 268
ISBN: 186325507
Weight: 190g