To Catch a Thief is a 1955 American romantic thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge. The film stars Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching an impostor preying on wealthy tourists on the French Riviera.
Diane Lane is an American actress. She made her motion picture debut in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance. Later she acted in the movie Streets of Fire (1984). Lane returned to acting to appear in The Big Town, Lady Beware and western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Lane earned further recognition for her role in A Walk on the Moon (1999), for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. This was followed by several film roles of varying degrees of success such as My Dog Skip, The Perfect Storm, The Glass House, and Hardball.
Something's Gotta Give is a 2003 American romantic comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by Nancy Meyers. It stars Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton as professionals who find love for each other in later life, despite being complete opposites. Keanu Reeves and Amanda Peet co-star, with Frances McDormand, Paul Michael Glaser, Jon Favreau, and KaDee Strickland playing key supporting roles.
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.
Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin sanguis Jovis, "blood of Jupiter".
Stealing Beauty is a 1996 drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Liv Tyler, Joseph Fiennes, Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, and Rachel Weisz. Written by Bertolucci and Susan Minot, the film is about a young American woman who travels to a lush Tuscan villa near Siena to stay with family friends of her poet mother, who recently died. The film was an international co-production between France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Raoul Bova is an Italian actor. Bova's European film breakthrough was in the 1993 film Piccolo grande amore, and he's played romantic male leads in the following years. His American film credits include Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), Alien vs. Predator (2004) and The Tourist (2010).
Frances Mayes is an American writer. Her 1996 memoir Under the Tuscan Sun was on the New York Times Best Seller list for over two years and was the basis for the film Under the Tuscan Sun.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 fantasy romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Michael Hoffman, based on the 1600 play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, Stanley Tucci as Puck, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, and Dominic West as the four lovers.
Vincenzo Ricotta, professionally known as Vincent Riotta, is a British actor.
Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy is a 1996 memoir by American author Frances Mayes. It was adapted by director Audrey Wells for the 2003 film Under the Tuscan Sun. The book, published by Random House, was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years, and was a New York Times Notable Book of 1997. It includes several chapters of recipes, and describes how she bought and restored an abandoned villa in the Tuscan countryside. As of 2016, Under the Tuscan Sun was translated into 54 languages.
Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa Origo, DBE was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulciano, which she bought with her husband in the 1920s. During the Second World War, she persistently sheltered refugee children and helped many escaped Allied prisoners of war and partisans, in defiance of Italy's fascist regime and Nazi occupation forces.
Tuscan wine is Italian wine from the Tuscany region. Located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian coast, Tuscany is home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are primarily made with Sangiovese grape whereas the Vernaccia grape is the basis of the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Tuscany is also known for the dessert wine Vin Santo, made from a variety of the region's grapes. Tuscany has forty-one Denominazioni di origine controllata (DOC) and eleven Denominazioni di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). In the 1970s a new class of wines known in the trade as "Super Tuscans" emerged. These wines were made outside DOC/DOCG regulations but were considered of high quality and commanded high prices. Many of these wines became cult wines. In the reformation of the Italian classification system many of the original Super Tuscans now qualify as DOC or DOCG wines but some producers still prefer the declassified rankings or to use the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) classification of Toscana. Tuscany has six sub-categories of IGT wines today.
Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes is an American poet and writer. Mayes' books of poetry include Magnetism, First Language, To Remain, Works and Days, Speed of Life, and Bodysong.
Pawel B. Szajda is an American screen and stage actor. He is best known for his roles in Under the Tuscan Sun, Generation Kill, Tatarak, and as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Poletov in the third season of the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama series For All Mankind.
La Foce is a large estate that lies close to the towns of Montepulciano, Chiusi, and Chianciano Terme in the Southern Tuscan region of Val d'Orcia, midway between Florence and Rome.
Mammolo is a red Italian wine grape that is planted primarily in Tuscany. While its use has been diminishing, Mammolo was historically included in the blended Sangiovese-based wines of Chianti where it contributed a distinctive violet or mammole aroma. In addition to small plantings in the Chianti zone, Mammolo can be found in the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano region of Tuscany and in scattered vineyards throughout Central Italy.
The Tuscan Sun Festival is an annual music and lifestyle festival in Florence, the capital of Tuscany in Italy. The Independent called the festival “One of the Ten Best Summer Arts Festivals in Europe”.
Janet Ann Ross was an English historian, biographer, and Tuscan cookbook author.
The Empoli–Siena railway is an Italian railway that connects Empoli and Siena. The route follows the valleys of Elsa river as far as Poggibonsi and then the Staggia stream, which were very convenient when the line was planned. The route is in fact flat and substantially straight from Empoli to Poggibonsi, then ascends with wide and long curves through the hills of central Tuscany to Siena.
