A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance

If you are looking for a wonderfully human story of pure delight, this is the book for you... It gives you a real flavor for one of the most romantic cities in Italy.... You can almost smell the food... and feel the puch of the tourists... She is steeped in the Italian experience...

This is my third reading of this wonderful book. I so enjoy her and her impressions of Venice and adopting/adapting to a new life and culture. Her observations are wonderful. I have read all her books and have enjoyed every one.

Delightful memoir! An aperitif for her following memoirs : AThousand Days in Tuscany, That Summer in Sicily, That a Lady in the Palazzo: An Umbrian Love Story. All with sights, smells and flavors and recipes !

This book was recommended by a friend, I read the entire book in one evening, I couldn't put it down. Marlena De Blasi's words are beautiful. She describes the Venice I remember, from the ristorantes, the gondolas, the vaporettos, to having vino at Florian's on Piazza San Marco. I could see everything in my mind. It was wonderfully romantic, she is brave and daring. Don't you wish we all could runaway to Italy and find the man of our dreams? I hope she considers writing a sequel soon.

An absolutely delightful life and love story. The story was truthful and one felt engaged and happy at a narrative that mentioned the problems but, above all, how to solve them with warm and perception. Enjoyed it thoroughly

Bored to tears. Endless descriptions of menus, recipes, fabric, decorating that contribute little to move the story forward. Attempts to utilize every arcane word in her vocabulary. Didn't finish the book.

A Thousand Days in Venice is cheesey, superficial, and very difficult to believe. It has okay descriptions of Venice, but even those fall short of a halfway decent travel memoir. It feels like a milktoast romance novel set in a nice place. The Venice location might be romantic, but that's certainly not enough to propel this book into any higher status than a time-waster at the local DMV, waiting for your number to be called. Stick with the Frances Mayes "Under the Tuscan Sun" series of books if you want authenticity and a memorable, believable Italian experience. Tim Parks' "Italian Neighbors" is also good. For vivid descriptions of Italy, try "The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth von Arnim. Hers is a work of fiction, but the descriptions of Italy are so vivid, you can almost smell the flowers and the Mediterranean Sea at the foot of the small medieval castle on the Ligurian Coast. All lovely. My recommendation--give A Thousand Days in Venice a miss, and treat yourself to one of the above reads instead. They won't disappoint, I promise.

A Thousand Days in Venice is cheesey, superficial, and very difficult to believe. It has okay descriptions of Venice, but even those fall short of a halfway decent travel memoir. It feels like a milktoast romance novel set in a nice place. The Venice location might be romantic, but that's certainly not enough to propel this book into any higher status than a time-waster at the local DMV, waiting for your number to be called. Stick with the Frances Mayes "Under the Tuscan Sun" series of books if you want authenticity and a memorable, believable Italian experience. Tim Parks' "Italian Neighbors" is also good. For vivid descriptions of Italy, try "The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth von Arnim. Hers is a work of fiction, but the descriptions of Italy are so vivid, you can almost smell the flowers and the Mediterranean Sea at the foot of the small medieval castle on the Ligurian Coast. All lovely. My recommendation--give A Thousand Days in Venice a miss, and treat yourself to one of the above reads instead. They won't disappoint, I promise.

This story is too much like a HARMONY book---chick-lit! Sorry but I'm an American who lives in Italy and de Blasi's book is NOT a true picture of this beautiful, yet problematic country. Let's get real, please!