Description
Book SynopsisWhen Kyle Tackwell Ball’s search for a quaint country home near Florence, Italy, in move-in condition somehow led to the purchase of an abandoned church in a small borgo near Greve-in-Chianti called Le Convertoie, she ended up with much more than a project to overcome her newly contracted “empty nest syndrome.”
Ball soon found herself starring in a “Stones and Bones Classic”; the ruin she’d purchased would require years of renovation and an endless amount of money before it would become habitable. But her journey had unexpected rewards, too: she reconnected with some wonderful friends, made new ones, learned the language of her newly adopted home country, and became experienced in the Italian knack of getting around the system. Most importantly, she learned to appreciate Italian culture, food and wine, and how rewarding it is to give new life to a beautiful old building.
Ball’s renovation was featured in the March 2010 “Before & After” issue of Architectural Digest, beautifully documented by Kim Sargent of Sargent Architectural Photography.
Trade Review2021 Readers' Favorite Book Awards Honorable Mention in Non-Fiction: Humor/Comedy “A fascinating combination of memoir, architecture, and commentary on Italian culture and cuisine,
Altared: A Tale of Renovating a Medieval Church in Tuscany [is] an absorbing, entertaining, humorous, insightful, and informative read from first page to last.”
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Midwest Book Reviews “
Altared is a heartfelt biographical chronicle regarding the discovery of an unforeseen connection to a crumbling church and apartment that abruptly sidle into Ball’s life. . . it's also a tongue-in-cheek collection of some of the zaniest local characters—their tics, attitudes, ways, and weaknesses.”
—Dario Castagno, author of Somewhere in Chianti: The Confessions of a Tuscan Tour Guide
