Frances Mayes has written UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN based on her experiences buying and renovating a home in the Tuscany countryside. Frances and her then lover, and later husband, Ed bought Bramasole to have a permanent place to stay whenever they visited Italy on their time off from their jobs as university professors. The purchase of Bramasole was frightening for Frances because they were sinking all their savings into a single purchase that may or may not be a good investment in their futures. Later, Frances and Ed would discover that the renovations on Bramasole were to be much more involved than either of them had imagined. It is these experiences that Frances wrote about in the book, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, AT HOME IN ITALY.