Over the past few months I have been reading a well written, witty  and at times moving blog published by an Englishwoman as she documents how she grapples with the ups and downs of living the “Italian dream” – getting away from the English weather and island way of life and instead live on a mountainside in Tuscany.

On the left hand side of the front page of barganews there is now an RSS link which goes directly to this blog – “A new life in Tuscany” When ever she posts a new story it will automatically appear on the left of this page … clicking on it will take you to her site but I thought that maybe an introduction would be in order, so who better that the writer herself to explain in her own words, who she is and just what the blog is about -

My name is Liz Taylor which generally causes ripples of amusement and a weak smile from me, though I am happy to say a new generation has emerged who simply look blank and say – who?  which is terrific, I can come out from behind her. I grew up in The English Lake District and spent most of my life there, happiest in the country with the occasional excitement of forays into the city. I worked in a family business, finding my own ready made family when I married my husband John who already had two teenage children. We survived the slings and arrows of adolescence to become a happy family and now young John and Rachel are in their thirties we are close friends and I have two gorgeous grandchildren, Lauren and Adam.

Like many people I became consumed by my work over the years. I never questioned it, or even actually became aware of it, and largely enjoyed it. Retirement was something I never thought about, I imagined I would work for as long as I was able. Approaching sixty it occurred to me that I could do other things. I had talked idly about living in Italy, a dream that was lovely to imagine, never believing it to be a viable possibilty.

John had been retired for some time, he had his own routine and a settled pattern of existence that suited him. Deeply rooted in Cumbria his priorities are his large family, sport in general and football in particular, the hills and lakes, and quarrying, which filled most of his working life. He loved our holidays in Italy but was very happy to come home to a decent cup of tea and a weekly Sainsbury’s apple crumble.

The more I thought about it the more I recognised that I wanted something quite different, I had an appetite for change, challenges, the unexpected, and to open up my life as much as I could. I no longer wanted to be defined by who and what I was at work. Over the next eighteen months we talked and eventually we agreed to lead our lives in different countries, whilst still remaining  the best of friends.

I know that to many people this does not compute, and all I can say is that it works for us. We speak daily, and yes, there are times when one or the other of us is a bit down and it is hard to hang up. But overall both of us are doing what we want with our day, in a place we love. I have discovered that to be here in Italy with a husband in England appears to be the most notable thing about me. Reactions vary from a rather embarrassed “oh, I see…” moving on quickly to safer ground, to “really? how does that work?” with an intensity that shows a keen interest in doing something similar.

I arrived in May 2008 and it certainly has been a time of many changes and challenges, and has tested my resolve, but I love it here.  I am not in any way an authority on Italy, I have everything to learn, so my blog is simply my own observations, experiences and what I pick up along the way, which may well be factually wide of the mark or quite different in other regions of Italy. But it is life through my eyes, and there is so much still to come.

A new life in Tuscany blog can be read here

From the barganews archives: on this day..

• The Mutande of Barga are back on view - 2009
• 30,000 images in the Pietro Rigali archives. - 2009
• Snow on the mountains - 2009
• La publicazione dell'inventario dell'archivio Antonio Mordini - 2009
• Petite Messe Solennelle - 2008
• Bronze Hermaphrodites and the Fat Boy Filter - 2007