The Lady in the Palazzo
At Home in Umbria
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Narrated by:
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Laural Merlington
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By:
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Marlena de Blasi
About this listen
By turns romantic and sensual, joyous and celebratory, touching and humorous, Marlena de Blasi's account of moving with her husband, Fernando, to Orvieto, the largest city in Italy's Umbria, will appeal to anyone who delights in travel and shares the fantasy of beginning a new life in a very different place. It is a tale of the couple's search for the right home, which turns out to be the former ballroom of a 15th-century palazzo, and the right balance in their lives, in this case making friends of cooks, counts, shepherds, and a lone violinist. It is a tale, too, of an American woman finding her niche in a society bound by tradition and seemingly closed to outsiders.
With a voice full of wonder, de Blasi brings to life these engagingly quirky people and the aloof, almost daunting society that exists in Umbria. Not since Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence has a writer so convincingly captures the essence of a singular place and created a feast for readers of all stripes.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2006 Marlena de Blasi (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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"Vivid writing and an affectionate appreciation of the sounds, scenes and flavors of Italy, as well as of the somewhat eccentric Umbrians she meets, will charm lovers of that country." (Publishers Weekly)
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Performance
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In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman - and never went home again. Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs - one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine.
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ok to pass the time
- By Robin on 03-25-13
By: Elizabeth Bard
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The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre
- By: Dominic Smith
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In this luminous novel, Dominic Smith reinvents the life of one of photography's founding fathers. In 1839, Louis Daguerre's invention took the world by storm. A decade later, he is sinking deep into delusions brought on by exposure to mercury, the very agent that allowed his daguerreotype process. Believing the world will end within one year, he creates his "Doomsday List", 10 items he must photograph before the final day. It includes a woman he has always loved but has not seen in half a century.
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Dud
- By Deborah on 01-31-08
By: Dominic Smith
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Toast
- The Story of a Boy's Hunger
- By: Nigel Slater
- Narrated by: Nigel Slater
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Toast is Nigel Slater's truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. In each chapter, as he takes listeners on a tour of the contents of his family's pantry (rice pudding, tinned ham, cream soda, mince pies, lemon drops, bourbon biscuits), we are transported.
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Nigel Slater is fabulous!
- By S on 02-13-07
By: Nigel Slater
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The Baker's Daughter
- By: Sarah McCoy
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1945, Elsie Schmidt is a naive teenager, as eager for her first sip of champagne as she is for her first kiss. She and her family have been protected from the worst of the terror and desperation overtaking her country by a high-ranking Nazi who wishes to marry her. So when an escaped Jewish boy arrives on Elsie’s doorstep in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, Elsie understands that opening the door would put all she loves in danger.
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great story
- By Stevon on 03-15-15
By: Sarah McCoy
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Breakfast in Burgundy
- A Hungry Irishman in the Belly of France
- By: Raymond Blake
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Laced with compelling writing about French food and its ways, Breakfast in Burgundy is part travel memoir, part foodie detective story, and part love song to Raymond's adopted home. This audiobook tells the story of the Blake's decision to buy a house in Burgundy. Raymond describes the moments of despair such as the water leak that cost a fortune and the fantastic times too. Blake has admitted to being fascinated by flavor and how it is created."
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surprisingly lulz and interesting
- By Amazon Customer on 12-02-21
By: Raymond Blake
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Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
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So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
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Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
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MORRISON AT HER MOST COMPLEX
- By Kennedi Hill on 11-07-19
By: Toni Morrison
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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Thyme of Death
- China Bayles Mystery, Book 1
- By: Susan Wittig Albert
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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When ex-lawyer and herb-shop proprietor China Bayles’s friend Jo dies of an apparent suicide, China looks behind the quaint façade of her new home of Pecan Springs, Texas, and takes a suspicious look at everyone. And though she finds lots of friendly faces, China is sure that one of them hides the heart of a killer.
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Excellent story and excellent narrator
- By P. Priest on 05-21-23
What listeners say about The Lady in the Palazzo
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- W. Arendt
- 06-03-23
It is the simple pleasures in life...
What a lovely book. We recently returned from visiting Orvieto and I wanted to learn more about the culture. Thoroughly enjoyed this story. Loved reading about the people, the food and the seasonal favorites. My mother used to say "there is nothing like entertaining people in your home". So true and the details do matter since ultimately is is an experience you create. I enjoyed the narration too. Thank you for this wonderful summer read.
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Overall
- CAtkoe1
- 06-20-08
Great Book
We went to Italy shortly after reading this book. The locations the author wrote about were described in such accurate detail. Excellent book on a Pallazzo area
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Lydia
- 03-13-07
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I love Italy, Italians, Italian food, the language. I wanted and started to enjoy this book but the narrator's voice became more monotonous every time I restarted the listen. Stick to Lilly Prior's La Cucina for a fabulous Italian story, and wonderful narration, or Peter Mayle's Provence if you want to stay awake, and laugh.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Frederick
- 03-10-07
A Terrible Reader
Even though this book owes more than a great debt to Francis Mayes (one could say it is an Under the Tuscan Sun knock off), it could still be enjoyable to Italophiles and those loving Orvieto if they had given some thought to the reader. This woman "butchers" the Italian language. This is not excusable in a book that has Italian words sprinkled liberally on almost every page! One could excuse the hard stuff like pronouncing gli as "glee" but when simple words are mispronounced (piccolo is pronounced "pee cho low") it just gets too much to bear. At every turn, the reader chooses the wrong place to put an accent. Why choose a reader who has no knowledge of, or affinity for, the Italian language? A missed opportunity.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Nonet
- 09-02-12
not so great
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
The story line could be better. I found it depressing!
Would you ever listen to anything by Marlena de Blasi again?
no
What didn’t you like about Laural Merlington’s performance?
Did anyone EVER listen to this who speaks Italian??? There were many errors in the pronunciation of Italian words. I couldn't believe it! It was so unprofessional!
More than one person needs to read different characters. I find it irritating otherwise.
Any additional comments?
hard to believe a book on life in Italy could be uninspiring!
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4 people found this helpful