Travelers' Tales Tuscany: True Stories
Those armchair travelers who did not run off to Tuscany after  reading Frances Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun will surely start  packing after reading this latest installment in the "Travelers'  Tales" series. Who can resist David Yeadon's piece on the  red-walled city of Lucca, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison's  description of the tall tower town of San Gimignano, Jan Morris  dreaming of Florence while in Wales, or Francine Russo tracing  the steps of Napoleon on Elba? But there is more: Saul Bellow  tours Tuscany in the winter (a bit cold, but there are fewer  tourists), William Zinsser revisits Siena decades after his  first visit as a soldier during World War II, Lucy McCauley  finds a statue of Perseus suspended midair in Florence, and  Mayes enchants again with a description of her estate in  Cortona. Twenty-nine other writers contribute essays to this  engaging book on an even more engaging region. Editors O'Reilly  and Weaver are both avid travelers with backgrounds in travel  publishing: O'Reilly is president and copublisher of Travelers'  Tales and Weaver (Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Spirit) is a  former travel editor of a regional newsletter. Recommended for  all public and larger academic libraries. Lee Arnold, Historical  Soc. of Pennsylvania, PhiladelphiaCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.