The lady in the palazzo

the long version

Author de Blasi takes us on a new journey as she moves with her husband, Fernando, to a large and ancient city in Italy's Umbria. Having neither a seacoast nor a foreign border, it's a region less trampled by travelers and, in turn, less accepting of strangers. So de Blasi sets out to establish her niche in this new place and to win over her new neighbors by doing what she does best, cooking her way into their hearts. (Her recipes are included.) Rich with history and a vivid sense of place, her memoir is by turns romantic and sensual, joyous and celebratory, as she searches for the right balance in this city on the hill, as well as the right home--which turns out to be the former ballroom of a dilapidated sixteenth-century palazzo.--From publisher description.