Maremma Mia

'Who hasn’t dreamt of buying a beautiful old Mediterranean farmhouse set in its own olive grove and turning it into a home. But Nick Hopton and his wife, La Stupenda, actually went ahead and did it in Tuscany’s unspoilt Maremma region. From marauding snakes to even more daunting local tripe dishes, the trials and tribulazioni - along with the enchanting rewards - of their new life there is charmingly told by Hopton in a memoir that does for southern Tuscany what Peter Mayle did for Provence.' 

Tom Leonard, Daily Mail

‘A lyrical and affectionate love letter to Tuscany’s wilder heart – full of humour, history and quiet wisdom’

Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, University of Oxford & UNESCO Professor of Silk Roads Studies, King’s College London

‘Peopled with delightful characters, Maremma Mia is the charming story of how a British couple sought to create and nurture a beloved family home in Tuscany.’

Sir Simon Mayall, soldier and writer

This book brings to rich and sparkling life one of the lesser known regions of Italy: the Maremma. It displays a deep and well informed love of Italian culture. But also, in entering the maritime territory between  Southern Tuscany and Northen Lazio,  these pages reveal  a wealth of new perspectives, from beach to hardware shop, to olive-grove. At the same time, the reader is drawn into the delicate interplay of detail between an  English family, newly arrived,  and its local neighbours, restaurateurs,  accountants and efficient pool engineers. , A vista opens up in which friendship and co-operation are happily cultivated. The book is as gently beguiling as Italy itself can be. 

Robin Kirkpatrick, Professor Emeritus of Italian and English Literature at the University of Cambridge

The English, very sensibly, have had the longest love affair with Italy, from Byron, Mary Shelley and Oscar Wilde to Queen Victoria, Elgar and Capability Brown. The diplomat and writer Nicholas Hopton joins these illustrious ranks with his charming, heart-warming and completely compelling story of a family adventure which plunges the reader into the heart of rural Tuscany with all its delights, unexpected strangeness and wonder. Part memoir, part history, Maremma Miais a spellbinding love letter to Italy.’ 

 Justin Marozzi, travel writer, historian and journalist.