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Tuscan Echoes: A Season in Italy, by Mark Gordon Smith
PDF Download Tuscan Echoes: A Season in Italy, by Mark Gordon Smith
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If you could leave behind the life you know to pursue your ultimate dream, would you do it? If you could return to the one place in which you found true inspiration, what do you think you would find there? When Mark G. Smith decided to leave a successful business career to pursue his writing, he did something that many dream of, but few have the courage to try. When he left his life as a corporate businessman to live in Italy for sixteen weeks, he made a reality out of what most would consider pure fantasy. His summer-long sojourn through the most beautiful parts of the Florentine and Venetian countryside gave birth to one of the most unconventional travel memoirs of the season.
His account of that magical trip, Tuscan Echoes: A Season in Italy, is part memoir, part philosophical exploration: It is an eclectic series of musings on an ancient country, an earthy tribute to sensual pleasures. In a series of short vignettes the author explores the Italy he knew as a child. Older now, but not necessarily wiser, the author visits and re-visits some of the country’s most famous attractions, but finds himself continually sidetracked by the odd, the unusual, the quintessentially Italian. This is a memoir of travels down side streets, of visits to small churches tucked away in hidden neighborhoods, of meals taken at family trattorias.
In a time when "extreme" seems to be the watchword for travel literature, when every memoir seems to be an account of a death-defying ascent of a dangerous mountain, or a dangerous voyage across an open sea, there is something quietly beautiful and approachable about Tuscan Echoes. Mark Smith is a traveler not unlike you and me—a man enraptured by the beauty of a lovely country and filled with an innocent wonder for everything he experiences.
Many of us may never have the courage that Mark found to quit the rat race and go in search of a more meaningful life. But in Tuscan Echoes readers can at least find a glimpse of the rewards of taking that leap. They can bask in Italy’s sun-drenched images and at least pretend—in time honored, arm-chair traveler fashion—that they are sitting with him, sipping the local wines and watching the world go by.
Truly a must read for anyone enraptured by Italy, either as an armchair traveler, or as a seasoned traveler.
- Sales Rank: #5414811 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Almar Books
- Published on: 2003-09-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 6.00" w x 1.00" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 183 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
Tuscan Echoes is a strinkingly intimate portal into Italy. Readers will appreciate it for its unique approach and sensual descriptions. -- Italian Tribune, Book Review, September 4, 2003
the author is clearly in love with the High Renaissance, knows Italy exceptionally well...offers helpful tips for the novice. -- Wilmington Star-News, Book Review, August 31, 2003
From the Publisher
Mark G. Smith knew he was taking a risk when he decided to leave behind a successful business career to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a writer. For eighteen years, Smith worked as human resources professional in the dog-eat-dog world of corporate America. When the companies he worked for experienced financial downturns, he knew the time was right. "I left the corporate world after two companies I worked for went bankrupt. The experience led me to believe that the time had come to pursue a dream that I have had all of my adult life—to write. The timing seemed appropriate as well. A move was in the works, and that move would take me to a new city with no corporate connections, somewhere I could have a place to reflect and create," Smith says. In 2001, an opportunity to live in Italy for an entire season, and to take part in a two-week writing workshop in Italy, confirmed his decision. Tuscan Echoes: A Season in Italy is the result of his memorable trip—and it's obvious Smith's gamble paid off.
An unconventional travel memoir, Tuscan Echoes employs a series of short vignettes that take the reader along with Smith as he moves from Florence to Assisi, Pisa to Venice, and everywhere in between. Making stops at some of Italy's most famous attractions, Smith describes what he sees with a poetic eye, and even as he explores the lesser-known side streets he paints vivid portraits that reveal Italy's particular emphasis on family and spiritual life. The result is a celebration of the very things Smith found lacking in his role as corporate businessman. As the season progresses, he becomes more and more submerged in the daily life of Italy, and slowly, he comes to realize some things about his own life. "The realization that the trip was having a profound affect on me did not occur until about half way through the season. I began to feel more comfortable in silence, more aware of sounds and tastes and flavors; more so than at any other time in my life. The journey became richer, more profound, because of that awareness." Tuscan Echoes is a strikingly intimate portal into Italy, one that armchair travelers will appreciate for its unique approach and sensual descriptions.
Mark G. Smith has lived the life of a world traveler from the time he was born. His father was a career military officer and Mark moved eight times before graduating from high school. His family lived in Italy, near Florence, for two years during his childhood, and it was at this early age that he began his love affair with all things Italian. After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Mark served for five years as a military officer. When he left the service, he worked as a human resources professional, finishing his corporate career as a consultant. For over thirty years, Mark has continued his travels across Europe and the world. He began work on Tuscan Echoes, his first book, shortly after his decision to focus on writing full-time.
We believe this to be one of the most unique, descriptive, and sensual travel memoirs yet written about a place so beloved by travelers, and readers, everywhere.
From the Author
As I began to write, every day, in and around Florence, the book began to take shape. The day to day, quiet, out-of-the-way experience of seeing a city as a semi-resident, a "semi-Fiorentino" as the Italian’s say, gave me permission to enjoy sights, sounds, and events few tourists have the time to experience. A lot of my experiences in travel to Italy over the last 3 decades influenced the work as well. However the key influence on my writing was the time that the season in Italy gave to me.
I hope that readers will discover a curiosity about seeing Italy again, if they have been there before, or, if not, I hope that they will want to visit. There are lands that we know simply by being in them; they are places in which we feel more at home than any other. That is what Italy is for me, my soul’s home. I hope that readers will discover in my writing how strongly that love of Italy, and sense of place, can be.
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A beautiful love song to a magnificent country
By Paul Salsini
As a writer, I was greatly impressed with Mark Gordon Smith's ability to transport readers to this fascinating country with simple, evocative descriptions. As a lover of everything Tuscan, I felt I was walking alongside Smith on his journey. And as the son of Italian immigrants (also from Tuscany), I felt my ties renewed and strengthened by this beautiful love song.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
An EXCEPTIONAL Travel Book
By A Customer
"What is it, travelers have asked for ages, about Italy? For those whose ancestors came from these valleys, from this country, the answer probably lies in their lineage. For the rest of us, the answer simply lies in the timeless view of verdant abundance below room twenty four. "
P 72. Tuscan Echoes, A Season in Italy
In Tuscan Echoes, A Season in Italy, Mark G. Smith has managed an amazing feat. He has written an exceptional travel book without any pictures.
Author Mark G. Smith writes with such intimacy and intensely personal imagery that the reader can only imagine he/she is traveling side by side with the author. This comprehensive, dramatic and spiritual journey through some of Italy's most spectacular landscapes and historical landmarks is presented in masterful literary style.
Tuscan Echoes, A Season in Italy is the perfect length at 170 pages, for a quick intellectual get away. As the pages turn, you as the reader will be transported to Florence, Venice, Assisi, Umbria and Tuscany. Images of the landscape so vivid you will imagine you can smell the dark richness of the espresso and feel the heartbeat of the cobblestones in the piazza through the soles of your feet. You will be immersed in the sights, sounds and smells of the Italian culture. Quaint cafes will tantalize your senses. Friendly, out going people will welcome you and majestic churches will provide soulful inspiration. By the last page you will feel as if you truly hear the Tuscan Echoes.
Author Mark G. Smith's personal experience with Italy has been life long. He lived near Florence as a child and as an adult, spent more than thirty years traveling this fascinating country .His passion for the Tuscan region is evident in his intimate descriptions, which evoke a deep longing in the readers to experience Italy for themselves. This memoir represents one season. If your average day is just plain hectic, then this book will allow you to escape for a few hours to the land of serenity, beauty and passion. Give yourself a truly enjoyable journey of discovery. This book would also make an excellent gift for your favorite armchair traveler or as a take along guide for the serious traveler.
Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
A stunning debut. A marvelous work.
By A Customer
Exquisite travelogue memoir of author Smith's "season in Italy," notable for its richly descriptive passages about place, its tenderness of spirit, and its remarkable effectiveness at translating with exactitude, the grand sense of nostalgia Smith feels for "the sights and sounds that have haunted" his dreams for years.
Writes he:
"The wood-covered hills of Monte Subasio, above Assisi, were well known to Saint Francis. Before our class meets each day, there is time to explore the many paths that cross the mountain. The fresh air and cooling shadows of the forest offer welcome privacy from the city below. I spend a part of each day in the high reaches of the hills. As I approach the intersection of two paths, I stop to take in the view.
Trees on each side of the trail gather closer overhead and rise to a meeting point, creating an archway. The shade-dappled path leads up into a nave as light, filtering through trees, takes on the colors of stained-glass windows. The sun pierces through the pine-scented haze of woodland air; its rays fall on the dusty, earthen floor. Birds move back and forth across the path, their music filling the air."
Readers join Smith for a vicarious trip to Tuscany, Umbria, Assisi and Venice - and to Florence and its surrounds, where in the 1950s Smith and his family lived along the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Smith entered the corporate business world - and then left that world to write - and owners of Tuscan Echoes will be especially glad that he did.
See all 8 customer reviews...
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