Frances Mayes — American Educator born on April 04, 1940,

Frances Mayes is an American university professor, poet, memoirist, essayist, and novelist... (wikipedia)

Venice, the most touristy place in the world, is still just completely magic to me.
When I was twelve, I started reading Eudora Welty, Thomas Wolfe, Flannery O'Connor, James Agee, and - do we dare breathe the name - William Faulkner.
The longer you are in a place, the more you get under its layers.
I loved every place I lived and traveled. London, Paris, Rome, Venice. I fell hard for Central America and Mexico. In each country, I had fantasies that I could live there.
I think I went to Italy initially for the art, architecture, food and history, but I stayed there because of the people in Cortona.