Frances Mayes People Quotations

I think I went to Italy initially for the art, architecture, food and history, but I stayed there because of the people in Cortona.

I'm just fascinated by houses. In another life, I'd have probably trained as an architect. If I had enough money, I'd collect them like other people collect teapots. I don't know why I love them so much. I'm just very interested in the idea of a house as a metaphor for the way one lives.

I find that other countries have this or this, but Italy is the only one that has it all for me. The culture, the cuisine, the people, the landscape, the history. Just everything to me comes together there.

What has impressed me the most about the Italians whose tables we've sat at is that they are traditional cooks but also outrageously innovative. These people are wild improvisers.

In America, people are just so straightforward when they dislike things.

It's kind of amazing that people will travel because of a book. I admire that.