Home to italy - peter pezzelli

In this delightful debut novel, Pezzelli brings to life the earthy sensuality of Tuscany and spins a story of May-December romance as sharp and delicious as the olives of Villa San Giuseppe.

In this delightful, moving novel, Peter Pezzelli brings to life the earthy sensuality of Italys Abruzzo region- the smell of just-baked bread wafting through the village piazza; the shopkeepers sweeping the sidewalks first thing in the morning; groups of cyclists dotting the mountain roads-and spins a story of May-December romance as sharp and delicious as the olives of Villa San Giuseppe.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL FAR TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME.

After the death of his beloved wife, Anna, Peppis family and friends expect him to bury his grief by tending to his gardens and taking long rides on his bike.

Instead, Peppi shocks them all with his decision to leave Rhode Island and return to Villa San Giuseppe, the small Italian village where he spent his childhood, and to il mulino , his familys old mill.

But once hes back, he temporarily moves into an apartment over the candy factory run by his childhood best friend, Luca.

It is modest, but livable, with a lovely view of Lucas neglected gardens and his equally neglected daughter, the fiery Lucrezia.

More a force of nature than a woman, Lucrezias legendary temper and workaholic schedule hide the very real pain she feels over her husbands death years before.

At first, she tolerates Peppi as an eccentric annoyance-her fathers strange but handsome American friend who fixes things around the factory and is bringing the gardens back to life.

But soon, Lucrezias interest in Peppi deepens.

Like a high wind, the gossip is flying through Villa San Giuseppe-Lucrezias making it to dinner on time.

Shes eating olives from a mans hand.

Shes wearing heels.

Now, under the Italian sun, a tentative romance begins to bloom between the grieving pair, yielding to a surprisingly strong passion with the power to heal lifes wounds and promise second chances.