Welcome to the Tuscan Dream / Matador (ePub)

Tuscany is a dream place. It's the kind of place where people go to escape from somewhere or something else. That's what I did too. I was expecting sunsets over the hills, olive groves and friendly farmers. What I got was something else. This is my story. Twenty years in Tuscany and it's true and real. Let me share my dream with you. Anna Lord moved to Tuscany hoping it would be the safe place she dreamed of, where she could nurture her children and help them mature in the heart of the Mediterranean. Life turned out to be somewhat different and in Welcome to the Tuscan Dream she strips back the years to show how sometimes our perceptions can be wildly different from reality. Italy 2014. A country in despair. Massive unemployment, an unelected government, a total lack of hope. An ancient heritage of cuisine, history, crafts, landscapes, arts, music and scientific and historical knowledge is being systematically destroyed. Like all of the other Mediterranean countries of the Euro zone strangled with debt, town halls can no longer afford to feed the poor, many can no longer pay for essential items, including dentist treatment, school meals, basic necessities and rent. The distance between the rich and poor is so great that they might as well live in separate universes. Land has been abandoned as it is too expensive to farm; gone are the sheep and shepherds. In many places, fruit rots on the trees. In the towns and villages, bars, shops and restaurants have closed. There is no point in staying open when taxation exceeds profit. But it hasn't always been like this. Twenty years ago there was still hope. People still thought of having babies. Welcome to the Tuscan Dream is Anna Lord's shocking eyewitness account of how a prosperous nation turned into a disaster. This book will appeal to readers of international politics and European government.