This is an excellently written biography of a fascinating woman. Born into a patrician English family, Ross eventually marries a semi-failed banker who dabbles in orchids. They live an expatriate life in various places in and around Florence, eventually settling into a small castle: Poggio Gherardo. While there she conducts a sort of salon, entertaining famous writers and other personages. She befriends Bernard Berenson and helps him and his wife find and purchase their palazzo I Tatti located next door to Ross. She becomes a bit of an agricultural reformer and trains her staff in modern farming methods. She also wrote a cookbook-still in print- entitled [Leaves From A Tuscan Kitchen], and several history books including [The Story Of Lucca] and [The Story Of Pisa]. A demanding woman who did not suffer fools gladly, Ross was surely one of the "Scorpionis" (sharp-toungued expatriot English women) referenced in Zefererelli's Tea With Mussolini. Ross' niece (lina Waterfield) and grand-niece (Kinta Beevor) at times lived with Ross and both of them have written wonderful memoirs ([A Tuscan Childhood] by [[Kinta Beevor]] (the niece) and [Castle In Italy] by [[Lina Waterfield]] (sister)) about their lives spent, inter alia, in another Tuscan castle in Lunigiana. I highly recommend reading all three as a trilogy. ( )