A Rosie Life in Italy: Move to Italy. Buy a Rundown Villa. What Could Go Wrong

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Live vicariously through an Irish wedding planner as she moves her family to the Italian countryside, where they accidentally buy a 22-room derelict villa from eight cousins in the middle of a huge family dispute. This charming and hilarious living memoir is HGTV meets Under the Tuscan Sun. Accidentally buying a derelict 22-room villa in the Italian countryside What could possibly go wrong When Rosie Meleady's landlord doubles her rent in cold, wet, overprice Ireland, she packs up her family, her two dogs, and all her possessions into a camper van and sets off across Europe to sunny Italy, where she plans to grow her destination wedding planning business. But it's not all sunshine and gelato, as Rosie and her family soon find out. Between a hurricane, a global pandemic, and accidentally buying a massive villa-that has definitely seen better days-in the Italian countryside, from eight cousins in the middle of a long-standing family dispute, Rosie pulls back the curtains on the less glamorous side of moving abroad, including navigating the complex layers and utter ridiculousness of buying a home in Italy; the tribulations of the COVID pandemic, which forced them to shutter their booming wedding planning business, taking their income down to zero; and the difficulty of integrating into a completely new country, culture, and language while nearly everything is shut down. Lighthearted, uplifting, and utterly escapist, A Rosie Life in Italy is HGTV meets Under the Tuscan Sun-a delightful peek under the covers of what it's like to throw caution to the wind, take a risk, and build a life you once only dreamed of having.

Reviews

"For anyone who's dreamed of uprooting their lives and moving to Europe, Rosie Meleady's humorous and heartfelt memoir brings a fresh twist to the genre made so popular by A Year in Provence and My Life in France. I personally know how challenging such a life-changing move can be. But A Rosie Life in Italy embraces that challenge head on, ultimately asserting that dealing with the harsh reality at hand is as important--if not more important--than the dream itself. If ever there's been a story showing how life is about the journey, not the destination, A Rosie Life in Italy is it." -- Craig Carlson, New York Times bestselling author of Pancakes in Paris
"I so enjoyed this memoir. Rosie is brave, wise, and funny, and her story is a reminder that fear should never stop us from living our best life--preferably in Bella Italia!" -- Katherine Wilson, author of Only in Naples
"A Rosie Life in Italy is a fun, courageous, madcap account of one family's leap of faith, landing them in a ramshackle Italian villa in the midst of a global pandemic. I was so invested in this story, in Rosie's incredible journey, that I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. The perfect book for anyone who's ever fantasized about throwing reality overboard, in hopes of catching their dream." -- Lori Nelson Spielman, New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
"A Rosie Life in Italy removes the stereotypical veil of a perfect 'dolce vita, ' to show the ups and downs, glitches and satisfactions, of what it takes to say good-bye to your country of origin and follow a life-long passion to live in the land we all know as the bel paese. Yes, it really can be done, and following the author's journey of moving her family and starting a business, reassures the reader that anything is possible if you want something bad enough. Highlighting Italy's charms and lovingly surmounting its imperfections this memoir will likely move you one step closer to following your own Italian dream." -- Raeleen D'Agostino Mautner, PhD, author of 45 Ways to Live Like an Italian
"I love A Rosie Life in Italy! Entertaining and funny!" -- Jenny Marrs, host of HGTV's Fixer to Fabulous
"I romped through this Italian adventure. Tears of laughter and tears of sorrow were shed. A gloriously entertaining book." -- Angela Petch, bestselling author of The Tuscan Secret
"Meleady's heartfelt and humorous memoir has butterflies in its soul, flying us on the ultimate expat adventure and floating us into a new life in Italy--transformations and bumpy landings included. Grab a glass of wine and soar right into the heart of living la dolce vita without leaving your couch. A wildly fun, heartwarming, and humorous expat adventure! Brava!" -- Samantha Vrant, author of Seven Letters from Paris