A Rosie Life In Italy 4: Potatoes, Pizza and Poteen

Having three generations of her family living under the same roof was once part of the Italian dream for Rosie. But when her party-loving, whiskey-drinking, poker-playing 85-year-old mother moves over from Ireland to Italy, Rosie’s longed for dolce vita in Umbria is anything but sweet.

With a preference for bland boiled potatoes to her daughter’s Italian cooking and an aversion towards housework, Rosie’s mother’s requirements to feel at home in the Sighing House–including a smelly deep fat-frier, lots of clutter, parties and a new pup–are very different to Rosie’s vision.

However, the most urgent thing on Rosie’s to-do list is not dealing with the needs of her artist mother, nor the ongoing renovation ‘what now?’ moments—such as electric wires in the chimney. Rosie has the more pressing issue of a backlog of twenty summer weddings to be planned now that Covid restrictions are lifted. But with vendors going bust, and demands of couples going extreme, Rosie needs to find a way to get through the hottest Italian summer on record without burning out or having a gelato-mountain sized melt down.

Includes 10 delicious and simple recipes including Strangled Priest and White Walnut Pasta.

‘Under The Tuscan Sun’ meets ‘Escape To The Chateau’ with a dash of ‘Eat Pray Love’ in this hilarious Italian villa renovation memoir.