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A Tuscan Childhood
"Wonderful...I fell immediately into her world, and was sorry when I reached the end." --Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun
The sparkling memoir of an idyllic, bohemian childhood in an enchanted Tuscan castle between the wars.
When Kinta Beevor was five, her father, the painter Aubrey Waterfield, bought the sixteenth-century Fortezza della Brunella in the Tuscan village of Aulla. There her parents were part of a vibrant artistic community that included Aldous Huxley, Bernard Berenson, and D. H. Lawrence. Meanwhile, Kinta and her brother explored the glorious countryside, participated in the region's many seasonal rites and rituals, and came to know and love the charming, resilient Italian people. With the coming of World War II the family had to leave Aulla; years later, though, Kinta would return to witness the courage and skill of the Tuscan people as they rebuilt their lives. Lyrical and witty, A Tuscan Childhood is alive with the timeless splendour of Italy.
The sparkling memoir of an idyllic, bohemian childhood in an enchanted Tuscan castle between the wars.
When Kinta Beevor was five, her father, the painter Aubrey Waterfield, bought the sixteenth-century Fortezza della Brunella in the Tuscan village of Aulla. There her parents were part of a vibrant artistic community that included Aldous Huxley, Bernard Berenson, and D. H. Lawrence. Meanwhile, Kinta and her brother explored the glorious countryside, participated in the region's many seasonal rites and rituals, and came to know and love the charming, resilient Italian people. With the coming of World War II the family had to leave Aulla; years later, though, Kinta would return to witness the courage and skill of the Tuscan people as they rebuilt their lives. Lyrical and witty, A Tuscan Childhood is alive with the timeless splendour of Italy.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 1993
73 people are currently reading
556 people want to read
About the author
Kinta Beevor
5Ìýbooks1ÌýfollowerKinta Beevor, born Carinthia Waterfield, daughter of Aubrey Waterfield, a painter, and Lina Waterfield, writer of Castle in Italy: An Autobiograpghy. Lina was the niece and ward of Janet Ross, also a writer, and the granddaughter of translator and author Lucie Duff Gordon, who wrote the Victorian best-seller Letters from Egypt (1865).
From the age of five and until she was sent to boarding school in England five years later, Kinta was raised in the Fortezza della Brunella in northern Tuscany, an inhospitable castle on a rock with views of the Carraras.
In 1933 she married Jack Beevor, a solicitor. Consequently Italy became the place to spent her holidays.
In 1993, at the age of 82, she published her first and only book, A Tuscan Childhood, the story of her youth in Italy.
Obituary (The Independent):
From the age of five and until she was sent to boarding school in England five years later, Kinta was raised in the Fortezza della Brunella in northern Tuscany, an inhospitable castle on a rock with views of the Carraras.
In 1933 she married Jack Beevor, a solicitor. Consequently Italy became the place to spent her holidays.
In 1993, at the age of 82, she published her first and only book, A Tuscan Childhood, the story of her youth in Italy.
Obituary (The Independent):
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
February 20, 2015
I've never read a memoir that made me wish so strongly that it was my life written about. In so many ways, Kinta had the most beautiful childhood imaginable - she and her brother spent their summers barefoot and free within an entire fortress/castle (with a roof garden viewing the Carrara mountains - can you imagine!) and the incredible Italian countryside. The smell of pine needles, harvesting olives, making wine, all the fresh local food (and a chef to cook it) and customs - I am head over heels for the Tuscany she writes of! And the culture where everyone grows their own food and shares in the harvest - from landowner to peasant - all working together in the vineyard and among the olive trees. The Italian people shown at their best - generous, friendly, full of the joy of life.
And then comes WW2 - and they have to leave.
Its a different story after that. Who survives, and who doesn't. The damage done, everyone scattered, the world changed. Kinta goes back with her children to see it all. It's terrible, but the sense of history and the insight into how the war affected the Tuscan region was very well done.
There is so much more I could say, but I know I can't do justice to this book - it's an experience. I want to go to Tuscany immediately and see all the places Kinta talks about! I hope there are still some pockets of the countryside where life goes on in small part the way it did in this book.
Highly recommended.
And then comes WW2 - and they have to leave.
Its a different story after that. Who survives, and who doesn't. The damage done, everyone scattered, the world changed. Kinta goes back with her children to see it all. It's terrible, but the sense of history and the insight into how the war affected the Tuscan region was very well done.
There is so much more I could say, but I know I can't do justice to this book - it's an experience. I want to go to Tuscany immediately and see all the places Kinta talks about! I hope there are still some pockets of the countryside where life goes on in small part the way it did in this book.
Highly recommended.
February 8, 2013
Beevor had an ideal childhood growing up with often absent parents, but side-by-side with a beloved brother. They were free to roam the grounds of the vast "fortress" her British father had inherited. Her father, a painter who never displayed his work but was considered quite good, and her mother, a journalist, amused the caretakers, townspeople and chefs with their English ways. In fact Beevor includes more about the locals than the visits from D. H. Lawrence, Bernard Berenson, Kenneth Clark and other famous British figures who visited frequently. Written near the end of her life, but with a strong memory for detail, she often points out the contrasts between the British and Italians. Her observations of a people and way of life that has mostly disappeared is observed: "They were so good-looking these mountain people; they had the dignity of aristocracy yet none of the vices." I would have liked to have seen a glossary for the abundance of Italian words mentioned, but I thoroughly enjoyed this lovely memoir.
December 19, 2010
Beevor had a privileged upbringing in some ways (she grew up in a castle; Bernard Berenson was a family friend). However this is not a book by a sheltered or snobby mind. Beevor is curious and open to everyone and everything in her surroundings, and the conditions are idyllic but far from pampering. She is wonderful company. Tuscany through her eyes is vibrant and memorable.
October 5, 2012
A delightful memoir of Beevor's childhood between the World Wars, running through olive groves and vineyards around the castle her parents bought in Tuscany. The richness of the telling and the flow of the book is compelling. Written just before her death in 1995 Beevor lavishes us with descriptions of food and the people who harvest, sell and cook it. Her father an artist and her mother a preoccupied journalist, Beevor had an unrestrained childhood hiding in huge empty olive jars and helping cut long fragrant clusters of grapes for pressing. The locals are warm, welcoming, and helpful, but yet still retain their personalities. As she grows, marries and moves back to England, we suffer with her as Tuscany is caught in a tug-of-war between two unwanted leaders, Mussolini and Hitler, then ravaged by Allies. Yet the people pick up and step forward in their lives, and in no way does Beevor make this a maudlin story nor a flippant self-portrait. The feast descriptions alone are worth reading, but the entire book is savory.
May 27, 2025
The first half, about her childhood is interesting and charming. But the second half dragged a bit.
May 23, 2012
I know many people who would prefer to live in Paris during the 20s, but I would take Italy almost anytime. Kinta Waterfield Beevor was fortunately born into an artistic family ("It was always said of my parents that they had all the luxuries of life but none of the necessities," 12) in possession of a fortress or castello in northwestern Tuscany. Kinta's mother later manages her aunt's Poggio Gherardo, a villa in the hills outside of Florence and a place associated with the setting of The Decameron of Bocaccio. My kind of family. Beevor describes her associations with these two places from 1916 until her old age. I found her description of how Tuscany suffered during the two World Wars especially informative. It made me think of Iris Origo's War in the Val d"Orcia, and there is Iris in the book--her parents were friends of the Waterfields. My favorite chapter is "War Clouds and Wine Making." Beevor also describes the decline, after World War II, of the system of mezzadri or tenant farming, as people in the countryside (contadini) want to move to Italy's cities to become cittadini or city dwellers--the advent of tractors, electricity, and industrialization caused it. The agricultural system had been in place since at least the 13th century. This book may not be to everyone's liking, but I liked it.
"The gathered olives, hand-picked and windfalls--were transferred to separate containers on the ox-carts. These carts had such heavy wheels and thick axles that they could bear almost any weight, including large blocks of marble. The beautiful white Val di Chiana oxen with their long curving horns and large, liquid dark eyes had been paired in teams since calf-hood. These huge, slow, gentle beasts--Aunt Janet claimed to have seen a pair at Prato more than twenty hands high--were extremely valuable. They were also just about the only animal in Italy treated with real affection. Some people used to say that the contadini regarded them as almost human because their pregnancies last nine months. Certainly they used to compare oxen to their own womenfolk. A favourite Tuscan proverb strongly advised against seeking a wife or an ox from afar: 'Donne e buoi de' paesi tuoi'--'Women and oxen from your own neighbourhood.' Whatever the truth, one of the most touching sights in the Tuscan landscape was that of a peasant boy less than half their height, guiding his family's pair of oxen home before dusk. (123) (This also makes me think of the ox-drawn cart that, at the end of the parade that precedes the Palio in Siena, circles the Campo and holds the palio itself--the silken painted flag that rewards the winner of the race.)
"The gathered olives, hand-picked and windfalls--were transferred to separate containers on the ox-carts. These carts had such heavy wheels and thick axles that they could bear almost any weight, including large blocks of marble. The beautiful white Val di Chiana oxen with their long curving horns and large, liquid dark eyes had been paired in teams since calf-hood. These huge, slow, gentle beasts--Aunt Janet claimed to have seen a pair at Prato more than twenty hands high--were extremely valuable. They were also just about the only animal in Italy treated with real affection. Some people used to say that the contadini regarded them as almost human because their pregnancies last nine months. Certainly they used to compare oxen to their own womenfolk. A favourite Tuscan proverb strongly advised against seeking a wife or an ox from afar: 'Donne e buoi de' paesi tuoi'--'Women and oxen from your own neighbourhood.' Whatever the truth, one of the most touching sights in the Tuscan landscape was that of a peasant boy less than half their height, guiding his family's pair of oxen home before dusk. (123) (This also makes me think of the ox-drawn cart that, at the end of the parade that precedes the Palio in Siena, circles the Campo and holds the palio itself--the silken painted flag that rewards the winner of the race.)
September 12, 2007
A passage reads: [Tuscans] do not romanticize what has gone before, nor do they feel a need to close shutters upon it. The past is part of them and they are part of it." For that reason, even though it was just an "ok" read for me, I still would recommend this book to anyone interested in Tuscan culture: Beevor does give a good historical account of Tuscany in the early to mid-20th century from an in-depth perspective by writing about her childhood and adolescent years.
This book is well written and even cozy, but since the book is mainly about the food, people, and landscape of Tuscany, I think I would rather see it than read about it. I did appreciate the chapters about the partisan movement during the Second World War because I felt like I was learning something from Beevor. I was moved by the author's total love for the region (people recommended this book to me because of my love for the region.) But I personally prefer the perspectives on this time period that were given to us by Italian film makers such as Fellini and Zeffirelli.
This book is well written and even cozy, but since the book is mainly about the food, people, and landscape of Tuscany, I think I would rather see it than read about it. I did appreciate the chapters about the partisan movement during the Second World War because I felt like I was learning something from Beevor. I was moved by the author's total love for the region (people recommended this book to me because of my love for the region.) But I personally prefer the perspectives on this time period that were given to us by Italian film makers such as Fellini and Zeffirelli.
February 27, 2012
I am always reading about Italy and am rarely disappointed but this book was particularly good, the story of a privileged childhood in beautiful Tuscany amid many of the great minds of the 20th century - Aldous Huxley, Bernard Berensen, etc. The Tuscany and the Italian people came alive, as did that time just before WWII changed everything.
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May 1, 2024This was a lovely book, describing a world lost for ever, in which an Englishman can buy a castle, transform it and become part of the local customs in ways which are grounded in the investment of time. Travel time, living time, time to develop.
A wonderful world to move into briefly, with pigs fattened for the tables, picknicks organised to miss the slaughter. A roof garden created in the earth provided by the Spanish to damp the impact of cannons.
The 'trains-running-on-time' school.of thought' in England describes a major movement of acclaim for Mussolini. And the 'burosauri' finally taking over the castle and destroying its period charm for a false belief in historical truth. A beautiful story about trust and faith in times of war. Well worth reading
A wonderful world to move into briefly, with pigs fattened for the tables, picknicks organised to miss the slaughter. A roof garden created in the earth provided by the Spanish to damp the impact of cannons.
The 'trains-running-on-time' school.of thought' in England describes a major movement of acclaim for Mussolini. And the 'burosauri' finally taking over the castle and destroying its period charm for a false belief in historical truth. A beautiful story about trust and faith in times of war. Well worth reading
September 13, 2016
I really loved this beautiful memoir of a childhood in a castle in Italy..I loved the family, the friends, the land, the home, the food..everything about it was special! Though the war brought deprivations, it only made me feel even more how heroic and good the people were who lived through it, and the 'coming home' after the war was very touching. This book is just about everything I want a memoir to be - full of good people that I come to love, full of lovely descriptions of a place that I can 'see' in my mind, and full of great stories of the times there that I can just sink into and enjoy. This was a truly satisfying read that took me to a lovely place and time.
March 10, 2013
I read this book based on a recommendation from an author who writes similar stories about Italian life. I think the only reason I continued to read, an finish, this book was that it reminded me of stories my own Italian family has shared, and also that I have travelled to many of the places the author wrote about. However I found the writing to be a bit disjointed. I think author Adriana Trigani provides a much more detailed, and beautifully written commentary on Italian life.
June 17, 2016
A Tuscan Childhood is a beautiful memoir of an English girl's early life in the Lunigiana region of Tuscany. It's a miracle that this exquisite book exists. Kinta Beevor published it at the age of 93 and died two years later. For me, it's especially resonant because my mother came from the Lunigiana.
September 15, 2016
I liked these memoirs, both for its idyllic portrait of Tuscan life in the first half of the twentieth century as for the insight in the aristocratic, yet highly bohemian way of living of some English families who had come to live there. Recommended reading to all lovers of Italy and Tuscany in particular!
November 14, 2014
"Then the music changed, and the dancing began by the light of the fire on the open side of the courtyard. The red glow lit faces as they twirled, and our elongated shadows danced on the old walls of the farm buildings." (p 174)
April 10, 2020
"All the beauty and enchantment of the Tuscan countryside is captured in the exquisite memoir of Kinta Beevor's idyllic bohemian childhood, spent with her family in their Italian castle in the years between the two world wars.
"In 1916 Kinta's father, the painter Aubrey Westerfield, purchased the sixteenth century Fortezza della Brunella in the Tuscan village of Aulla. There he and his writer wife lived at the heart of a vibrant artistic community that included Aldous Huxley, Bernard Berenson, and D.H. Lawrence, while Kinta and her brother explored the glorious countryside, helped with the grape and olive harvests, gathered wild mushrooms, and came to know and love the tough, resourceful Italians. With the coming of World War II the family had to leave Aulla; years later, though, Kinta would return to witness and courage and skill of the Tuscan people as they rebuilt their shattered world. Lyrical and witty, A Tuscan Childhood is alight with the timeless splendor of Italy."
~~back cover
I appreciate that the author was trying to express the wonder and delight of childhood, but the memoirs seemed puerile, scattered and unconnected.
"In 1916 Kinta's father, the painter Aubrey Westerfield, purchased the sixteenth century Fortezza della Brunella in the Tuscan village of Aulla. There he and his writer wife lived at the heart of a vibrant artistic community that included Aldous Huxley, Bernard Berenson, and D.H. Lawrence, while Kinta and her brother explored the glorious countryside, helped with the grape and olive harvests, gathered wild mushrooms, and came to know and love the tough, resourceful Italians. With the coming of World War II the family had to leave Aulla; years later, though, Kinta would return to witness and courage and skill of the Tuscan people as they rebuilt their shattered world. Lyrical and witty, A Tuscan Childhood is alight with the timeless splendor of Italy."
~~back cover
I appreciate that the author was trying to express the wonder and delight of childhood, but the memoirs seemed puerile, scattered and unconnected.
April 23, 2021
This memoir of Kinta Beevor's life, which was lived primarily in Italy, was wistful without being overly sentimental or sugar coated. The first section of the book interested me more, as it painted a picture of her actual childhood living a Bohemian life in a dilapidated castle in Italy. Throughout the book, she shows tremendous respect for the local people, especially those that worked for her family.
I struggled some with so many Italian phrases which weren't always explained. Beginning with the chapters which dealt with the partisan politics, the effects on her family's life during World War II, and the fate of the castle weren't as enjoyable for me. Considering that this book was published in 1993 when Beevor was in her 80's and two years before her death, it is an interesting look back at her unusual, adventurous life. Three and a half stars.
I struggled some with so many Italian phrases which weren't always explained. Beginning with the chapters which dealt with the partisan politics, the effects on her family's life during World War II, and the fate of the castle weren't as enjoyable for me. Considering that this book was published in 1993 when Beevor was in her 80's and two years before her death, it is an interesting look back at her unusual, adventurous life. Three and a half stars.
March 9, 2024
Delightful memoir of a fortunate girl who, while somewhat overlooked by her artist father and journalist mother, spent her days with her brother in an idyllic fortress in Tuscan hill town. She also visited her great aunt in a distinguished villa outside Florence where guests included Bernard Berenson and Iris Origo.
Wartime in this part of Italy was confusing and harsh, as was recovery in the 50s. The world she loved as a child was largely lost, but not her connection to the Italian families who worked on her parents� estate. She’s especially good in describing how the contadinas sowed, tended, harvested, and prepared grapes and vegetables.
The great aunt, Janet Ross, wrote an influential cookbook called ‘Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen� which is still in print and available on Project Gutenberg - should you need some classic recipes for cardoons.
Wartime in this part of Italy was confusing and harsh, as was recovery in the 50s. The world she loved as a child was largely lost, but not her connection to the Italian families who worked on her parents� estate. She’s especially good in describing how the contadinas sowed, tended, harvested, and prepared grapes and vegetables.
The great aunt, Janet Ross, wrote an influential cookbook called ‘Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen� which is still in print and available on Project Gutenberg - should you need some classic recipes for cardoons.
March 28, 2021
This book was the most wonderful surprise! I bought it for research purposes but was caught up in its spell within a couple of pages. How original and magical. How I would have loved to live that life.
Kinta Beevor takes you on a journey where you can literally smell the Italian evenings and feel the dry earth under your feet. You learn so much about the characters that meant so much to her, whether they were renowned authors, peasants, or the servants who were so much part of her family.
I laughed and cried. Such a rare treat. Highly recommend.
Kinta Beevor takes you on a journey where you can literally smell the Italian evenings and feel the dry earth under your feet. You learn so much about the characters that meant so much to her, whether they were renowned authors, peasants, or the servants who were so much part of her family.
I laughed and cried. Such a rare treat. Highly recommend.
July 21, 2023
A pleasurable read that conjures up an ex-pat childhood in Tuscany before the war. It might be told from a uniquely privileged position - Kinta Beevor’s parents were friendly with the Berensons and divided their time between a castle in Lungiana and a villa in Fiesole - but she has a deep affection and respect for the local people. The book also recounts the widespread suffering and decimation of the Second World War - when the population were starved and properties were stripped and plundered.
August 17, 2023
Enjoyable memoir about the author’s Anglo-Italian childhood where her painter father and journalist mother owned a castle in the Carrara mountains. Thanks to very neglectful parents the children ran wild and experienced the life of Italian peasant farmers in the 1910s and 20s before the massive social changes brought about by the Second World War. The suffering of many of her Italian friends in World War II are vividly described though the later parts of the book are composed more of short disjointed anecdotes as the author’s family has to give up their Tuscan properties. A nostalgic read.
January 3, 2018
Parts of it were interesting, but I got lost in all of the long hard-to-pronounce names and having to slow down to sound out Italian words which weren't always translated. It just slowed down the pace and made it difficult to follow what she was talking about. It just wasn't as interesting as I expected it to be.
March 31, 2018
I was swept away by the clarity and detail of Kinta Beevor’s memoir of life in Tuscany between the world wars. From her unorthodox childhood, through culinary traditions, to her parents harrowing escape during the war, and the eventual “historical restoration� of the Fortezza in the 70s, I could hardly set this book down. Highly recommended.
September 14, 2019
Absolutely charming memoir. Author’s distinctive voice is calming and reflective as she gentle looks back on over 80 years of growing up in Tuscany and then introducing her unique homes to her sons. I valued what I learned from the author about Tuscan resilience during WWII. Beevor makes the reader yearn for a time that is long past. Charming.
December 28, 2019
How lovely to end the year hearing family stories and history (featuring both World Wars) of a region and city I have also been privileged to fall for—twice—in the last year and a quarter. The author had a childhood and upbringing I can only imagine (and not to be duplicated in my generation, certainly) but what good is it to only read stories like your own?
June 22, 2021
Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2021-A favorite category from a prior year-a book you pick off a shelf without looking.
I liked the descriptions of the country side and olive and grape picking, wine making etc. The war period was heartbreaking as always. But, I'm not sure she went in a strict chronilogical way and I found myself slightly confused at times as tow hat happened when.
I liked the descriptions of the country side and olive and grape picking, wine making etc. The war period was heartbreaking as always. But, I'm not sure she went in a strict chronilogical way and I found myself slightly confused at times as tow hat happened when.
March 6, 2023
A nice little memoir about a wealthy family name-dropping all the many people they met and had dinners and parties with a long with the "peasant" families of Italy that worked for them, went through wars with them and still ended up close as family. It is a good read.
March 11, 2017
Delightful! After seeing a little of Italy the summer of 2016, these memories brought the best of Italy and it's people to life.
July 24, 2017
Started strong, got weak in the middle, and then got better. More like a 2.5 star.
June 4, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. Captivating and descriptive, it was entertaining, informative and enlightening.
February 9, 2019
I'm sorry this was not a book for me. I found that it jumped about a bit, so was a bit all over the place.
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