Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way

What a delightful book. The concept of "bella figura" in Italy is about making every aspect of life as beautiful as it can be no matter where you may be. It's about learning how to "be in the moment" in every aspect of life. It's about generosity, eating, manners,banishing stress, seeing and experiencing.

The author decides to take a break from her high pressured life and spend a few months living in Florence. She recounts her thoughts and experiences in the form of a monthly diary. Each month is a lesson learned and introduced with four items produce in season, scent of the city, Italian moment and Italian word. Her descriptions of the meals make you salivate and if you close your eyes you can almost smell the beautiful aromas of the simple, luscious Italian dishes. Thankfully each chapter gives the recipes.

This is no great masterpiece but it is a sweet and gentle read with many life lessons for us all.

At the start of this memoir/diary Kamin is working as a magazine editor in London. The stress of the job and her frenetic lifestyle is causing a deterioration in both her mental and physical well-being. When redundancy looms, it could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Instead, it turns into an opportunity when a friend offers her the use of her apartment in Florence. She decides to pack up and head for Italy with no real plans other than to relax, recuperate and do some writing. The visit turns into rather more than a vacation and we are privileged to be allowed to join her on the first year of her life-changing journey as she discovers all that Italy has to offer and rediscovers herself in the process.

I really enjoyed this book, which is structured in the form of a monthly journal. Food, men and the slow pace of Italian life all contribute to Kamin’s recovery and we are introduced to the eclectic and wonderful collection of characters that help her along the way as well as the seasonal recipes that she adopts as part of her new lifestyle.

I haven’t really got anything negative to say about this book, the fifth star only missing because it does not come into the category of “one of the best books I have ever read”. She spends a lot of time narrating the stories of her love affairs, some more successful than others, and I suspect some people may find this too angst-ridden and graphic. Personally I felt that it was entirely fitting as the emotions she went through were all-consuming and could not therefore be ignored.

I would recommend this book to anyone, not just lovers of Italy. It teaches us lessons that we can all learn from – whether the imparted words of wisdom will have a lasting effect on me remains to be seen!!