Dear Friends and Darling Romans by Mary Chamberlin
The most amazing thing about Dear Friends and Darling Romans is that you can still buy it on Amazon. How is this not out of print? It’s a cute travellogue, written in the 1950s, by an American woman who ended up living in Italy for years. It’s entertaining and heartfelt. It’s also terribly out of date, of course. I wonder if that Italy still exists or if we only want to believe it does.
Mostly humorous, the book meanders from topic to topic. She’s involved in a court case, lives in various places, shops. At one point she tells the stories of a few other women (probably apocryphal) and their Italian romances. She doesn’t seem to need to earn a living but isn’t living the socialite life either. It’s a sweet, homey book that won’t make you think but that goes a little deeper than the usual stereotypes.