I've read it now....
...and left it out in Italy for others to pick and decide for themselves.
I must say that I didn't think he moaned - he was very lyrical about landscape for instance. And although he was negative about some aspects of those who live in small mountain villages, I didn't find his comments surprising. They could be said of any inward-looking, left-behind community anywhere in the world.
And he did also have warm things to say about his neighbours.
What I liked was that he came with no agenda. He and his wife were there because they needed somewhere cheap for a year to live and write (whatever they were writing is not defined), and he was offered this falling-down property by the Church. Could just as easily have been in Greece or Spain.
So he's just observing life around him, with a poet's eye, but feels no need to justify his presence there. Granted that makes him slightly detached, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
He's definitely not trying to rationalise his choice of lifestyle, which IMHO is the downfall of so many of the perky "Aren't the natives darling..." genre.
Definitely one to add to the library of "Foreign books on living in Italy", though still my favourites are the Annie Hawes books
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