FAQ

After an unexpected and bitter divorce, San Francisco-based writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is convinced by her friends Patti (Sandra Oh) and Grace (Kate Walsh) into taking a tour of Tuscany in order to forget about the divorce and jump start her new life. While on the tour, Frances impulsively purchases Bramasole, an aging villa near the small town of Cortona. Slowly, Frances begins to make friends; first with estate agent Signor Martini (Vincent Riotta), then with the three Polish immigrants—Pawel (Pawel Szajda), Jerzy (Valentine Pelka), and Abignew (Sasa Vulicevic)—hired to do repair work on Bramasole, and with Katherine (Lindsay Duncan), an aging British actress who claims to have been discovered by Italian film-maker Federico Fellini [1920-1993] when she was just 16 years old. As her new life unfolds, however, some things work out and others don't.

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy is a 1996 book by American author Frances Mayes that depicts a fictionalized version of her experiences buying, renovating, and living in a dilapidated villa in rural Cortona, Tuscany. The novel was adapted for the screen by director Audrey Wells.

Bramasole, which translates as "yearning for the sun," is located near the town of Cortona about 70 miles southeast of Florence (Firenze). The movie version of Bramasole, however, is actually the nearby Villa Laura.

Positano is about 220 miles south of Bramasole, just south of Naples.

That was limoncello, made from sugar, water, 96% alcohol, and lemon zest (peels).

When Pawel requests permission from Chiara's (Giulia Louise Steigerwalt) parents to marry, they refuse on grounds that he has no family, until Frances steps in and says that she is Pawel's family now. Consequently, Pawel and Chiara are allowed to marry, and reception is held at Bramasole. As Frances mingles amongst the guests, watching them eat cake and kiss each other in their happiness, Signor Martini points out to Frances that she has gotten her wish...to have a wedding and a family at Bramasole. Later, as Frances relaxes in a lawn chair with a glass of wine, she is addressed by an American writer named Ed (David Sutcliffe) who is traveling in Tuscany and hoping to meet her. In a voiceover, Frances reminds the viewer of the railway that was built over the Alps between Vienna and Venice even before there was even a train to travel on it ...because they knew that one day there would be a train. On another day, she watches the old man (Mario Monicelli) place flowers in the roadside shrine, as usual; only this time, he tips his hat to her. In yet another epilog, Frances hosts a dinner for her new family, and Ed is shown hugging and kissing her. In the final scene, the broken faucet in Bramasole begins to flow water.

The general consensus is that the faucet represents Frances. At the beginning of the movie, both the faucet and Frances were dry and without spirit. At the end of the story, both Frances and the faucet were overflowing.