Notes from an Italian Garden

by Joan Marble

Thirty years ago journalist Joan Marble and her sculptor husband, Robert Cook, bought an unpromising piece of land near the little hamlet of Canale, north of Rome where the ancient Etruscans once lived. Here they built a house and, more important, set out to start a wonderful garden.

All was not easy, however. They faced blank incomprehension from the local inhabitants. "Why do you want to have a garden here?" they were asked. "There's no water, the ground is like cement, it's too cold in winter and too hot in summer, it never rains. . . ." But Joan and Robert's enthusiasm for the land, their ignorance of the obstacles that faced them, their downright obstinacy and the unexpected friends who helped them -- all served to conquer the intransigent terrain.

"I fell in love with Etruria one chilly evening in the middle of winter," says Joan. "They were having a New Year's Eve festival in a little town near Campagnano, and a group of local boys dressed in Renaissance costumes were marching in a torchlight parade down the main street. As I stood there in the cold watching the flames lurching to the sky, I realized that I felt very much at home in this ancient place. If ever we should decide to move to the country, this was the kind of place I would choose....."

Inspirational, aspirational, enchanting -- this is an account of a passion for a place and an obsession with a garden that will charm all who love Italy, gardening, and life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Italy, Travel, Gardening

348 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2000

Reviews

[Keri-Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Her writing is fine but the topic of her and her husband buying land in Italy to build a garden is so pompous and over blown. I could not feel bad for any of their mishaps.

[❂ Murder by Death · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely memoir for those who are genuinely interested in gardening; the writing is descriptive enough to reinforce my desire to chuck it all and move to a sunny farm in Europe.

full review: http://jenn.booklikes.com/post/128465...

[Phair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at the author’s building of a home and garden in Etruria, Italy. We get a little about the Etruscan civilization that once dominated the area and quite a bit about the current social structure of this rural area just starting to be “gentrified”. I was amazed by the author’s ambition in developing her gardens. Some chapters went a bit overboard with the botanical names and plant minutiae but other times her gardening advice was fascinating and helpful. One thing that had me wondering was how the author was able to travel the world and bring back all manner of seeds, plants and cuttings with never a mention of quarantines or the danger of introducing plant/soil borne diseases or insects into Italy. Liked her comment “No matter how great the satisfaction [in the appearance of one’s garden] there is the nagging awareness that time is marching on and all this beauty will shortly disappear. After May/It’s downhill/ All/The way”. Nice line drawings but I’d have loved at least one photo of the place.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a gardener, sure i dig the holes and pull the weeds, but i really don't know a peony from a pansy. I do however, have n interest in the Italian language and by association, the Italian people and their country. 'Notes' turns out to have a nice balance between full on flower fancying and a collection of anecdotes concerning the local people and their daily lives.

Basically, it strikes me as being an excellent book on gardening with the bonus of travelogue, history, local people and customs thrown in. I gave it 4 stars for that reason, but as it's a book I'm not likely to read again it doesnt score the ultimate 5. Sorry.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interesting thing about this book is not that it’s about creating a garden in Italy, it’s about the stories of that particular area. Not just stories of the high’s and low’s that the author experiences but the people and history.
I enjoyed reading it and I am not much of a gardening buff. The details of plants at times was interesting but I skipped over some of that information.
All in all an enjoyable read.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well you would have to be the special kind of nuts (a gardener) I think to enjoy this book. It’s chapters are short stories of their own, delightful and based in their life with their Italian country garden. A lovely companion of a book which makes you want to get in the garden again.

[Darcee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per the author, gardening can fill us with promise and happy anticipation, keep us hopeful not fearful, and cause us to admire the world around us fully. I must agree.

[Nola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being honest, I only got through three quarters of this book, it was a trudging read.

[Cindy Dyson Eitelman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. Wanted it so much that I slogged through to the end and even read the epilogue, a slightly preachy summation where she touted gardening as the cure to every modern ill--pollution, noise, haste, spiritual ennui.

But you can guess that I didn't. Endless listings of beautiful blossoms did little for me when I didn't recognize the flowers and couldn't build mental pictures of them. The written descriptions didn't jump off the page and open up in my mind. If I were an aficionado of flower gardening or if I'd read it with a seed catalog handy, I might have had a better experience. I guess I'm just too prosaic--I like pretty flowers but I prefer my garden to be toothsome.

The funny parts were funny. Especially the animal invasions. If you come across a copy of this, read the funny parts but skim the flowery ones.

[Essi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suuri osa arvosteluista mitä oon tästä kirjasta lukenut on kutsuneet tätä kirjaa kuivaksi tai pitkäveteiseksi. Olen tavallaan samaa mieltä, mutta mun mielestä nää oli tässä tapauksessa hyviä juttuja. Tässä maailmanmenossa oli ihana uppotua tarkkoihin kuvauksiin eri kasveista ja lukea niiden eroista toisiin lajikkeisiin, miten niitä kasvatetaan ja mitä ruokaa niistä voi tehdä. Yksi luku oli jopa omistettu kasvihuoneille. Näiden yksityiskohtaisten ja selkeästi puutarhaintohimoa julistavien kuvausten välistä löytyi kuitenkin myös ihan viihdyttävä, vaikka ei aina kovin imarteleva vilkaisu italialaiseen kulttuuriin.

[Kirja-fani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odotukset olivat isot tälle kirjalle mutta petyin....Aivan kuin kirjaa olisi kirjoittanut kaksi henkilöä tai sitten kirjaa oli kirjoitettu todella pitkällä aikavälillä1 välillä teksti oli todella raskasta, pitkiiiiiä lauseita täynnä historiallisia tai latinakielisiä sanoja, välillä taas teksti oli mukavan luettavaa. Myös luvut joissa oli selostettu istutussessioita pitkillä luetteloilla kasveista, niiden väreistä, tuoksuista, historiasta ym, olivat liikaa. Italiakin jäi jotenkin taka-alalle.... =(

[Rhode PVD · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the best bit was when Joan carefully planned an aesthetically pleasing curved driveway, and then the driveway plowing guy showed up and ripped a straight line directly from the road to the house. It's that moment when you realize that your contractors will take over and you just need to get over it.

This book is illustrated with lovely, simple line drawings, one of which I copied and hung on my fridge for years just to look and dream on.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informal account of a long life spent gardening in Italy. Her husband is a sculptor, based in Rome. They buy a country place and go about transforming it. The book is primarily about the garden and the experiences surrounding it. But while telling this, she is also able to let us into some secrets of the Italian soul.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather like a long gardening-only version of Under the Tuscan Sun.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

excellent - perfect blend of description and narrative!

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reading about gardening in Italy--not as easy as you would think!

[Rosslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Factual book covering anecdotes of Italy, country life littered with gardening information and cooking tips.

[Sheena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last of my four Italian holiday reads and found in the apartment in Borla very much in keeping with the Italian atmosphere.

[Lara Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

good for gardeners

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An American lady starts with maybe one plant on a balcony in Rome, buys a plot of land outside Rome with her husband and becomes totally obsessed with gathering plants and more plants.