The Light in the Piazza and Other Italian Tales

The author, born in Mississippi, brings a Southern sensibility to these stories. She has written a series of short stories about Southern women living and visiting in Italy in the 1950's. Ms. Spencer writes beautifully, and her stories are never overly sentimental or superficial. They ring true. Italian words are sprinkled throughout the text which adds to the overall effect. I found the stories a little "dated" though. These women are trapped here in an era of proper white gloves, cocktail parties and long cigarette holders. The 1950's was a rather repressive time for women, and in many of these stories we find women struggling to be in control of their own lives. They have come to Italy to vacation "abroad"; to fulfill a lifelong dream; to work, or to distance themselves from the past. By far, the best of the stories is "The Light in the Piazza" which has a warmth and appeal that I found missing in most of the others.

After watching the Tony Award show this year I was curious about Elizabeth Spencer, a Southern writer whom I had not heard of before the show. I have just finished reading her novella "Light in the Piazza" (haven't seen the touted play yet)and it was a memorable read. It starts out like a fairy tale---you don't quite know why Mrs. Johnson and her daughter are in Florence, what time period they are in, their background---and you're quickly engaged in a charming romance story. But there's also an undercurrent of tragedy. You discover lies, family strains, an accident in the past. Every character in the story becomes suspect. You start to question every character's motives, possible deceptions (with the exception of Clara, who becomes a symbol of clarity and innocence, as in the Virgin Mary). For the last 30 pages of the story I am nervously living inside Margaret Johnnon's head, worrying about the future of her "simple-minded" daughter Clara. Elizabeth Spencer is a masterful storyteller, making me ponder what level of control we have in life, how easily we make assumptions about people soley based on appearance, how we can manipulate others and fool ourselves. Her prose is deceptively simple at times. I found myself reading and re-reading many a sentence to decipher the multiple levels of meaning. I closed the book wistfully, wishing for a sequel!

I have not yet read the book, but I too love the movie, although I keep missing the beginning. I just wanted to reassure the person posting the question that the book definitely precedes the film, and that yes they are the same story. You can doublecheck me by just looking at the books on zstores and auctions-- same author, same title, and one has a banner that says "now a Hollywood film!" The book was published in 1960, the movie came out in 1962.

After spending six months in Florene, Italy, I saw the movie Light in the Piazza on a late night television movie channel. I fell in love with the movie as it gave me great memories of Italy. I have never been able to find the movie on video as it has not been released. So instead I read the book. The story is a true romance between a naive mentally-challenged woman and an Italian man. Very quick, easy reading. A must for anyone going to or having been in Italy.

Unfortunately, you don't give a synopsis of Light in the Piazza and I want to know was it made into a movie -or was the title borrowed from the movie with Olivia de Havilland, Rossano Brassi, George Hamilton and Yvette Mimieux? Since I can't find a video of the movie I would like to read the book as I loved the movie.