The Italian Reviewer is a bit too dedicated to the authenticity of a "novel" :)
I thought the "changes" will make for better story telling.

"UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN"

SYNOPSIS: Frances Mayes is a 35-year-old San Francisco writer whose perfect life has just taken an unexpected detour. Her recent divorce has left her with terminal writer's block and extremely depressed. Her best friend, Patti, is beginning to think that she might never recover. "Dr. Patti's" prescription: 10 days in Tuscany.

It's there, on a whim, that Frances purchases a villa named Bramasole--literally, "something that yearns for the sun." The home needs much restoration, but what better place for a new beginning than the home of the Renaissance? As she flings herself into her new life at the villa in the lush Italian countryside, Frances makes new friends among her neighbors; but in the quiet moments, she is fearful that her ambitions for her new life--and new family--may not be realized, until a chance encounter in Rome throws Frances into the arms of an intriguing Portobello antiques dealer named Marcello.

BASED UPON: This is a fictional movie loosely inspired by the true story of Frances Mayes, as published in her 1996 memoir, "Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy", which was a bestseller for two years, and spawned a sequel, "Bella Tuscany", and a coffee table photograph book, "Frances Mayes in Tuscany." The main differences between the movie and the book is that the real Frances Mayes was a married professor who moved to Italy with her husband, not a single lawyer who found love with a hunky local. It's possible that if this movie is a hit, Touchstone may greenlight a sequel, but as far as I know, those rights are not yet bought (nor are Lane and Wells signed on).

FILMING: Most of filming was done in the town of Cortona in Tuscany (where the movie is set). Other locations will be in the cities of Florence (also in Tuscany), Positano (in Salerno), Monte Pulciano, Siena, and Rome.

RELEASE DATE: September 26th, 2003
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Love Affair with Italy Gets Bizarre Hollywood Treatment
Credit to Zoomata.com

"Under the Tuscan Sun," the sentimental story of an American fixing up a villa in one of Italy's most beautiful regions, just got a movie fix-up.

Touchstone Pictures recently wrapped up the shooting in Cortona of a story which has little in common with the autobiographical tale in the book but sports the well-known title.

Instead of a middle-aged-ish, married humanities professor (Frances Mayes) movie-goers will get a sexy Diane Lane as a single lawyer who finds love with handsome Raoul Bova, the Italian actor best known for a nearly-naked calendar and who also boasts a miniseries credit as St. Francis.

The rolling hills of Cortona sound like the only thing the book and movie have in common, but then again "Under the Tuscan Sun" has practically morphed into a brand-name for an international community who longs to lead the dolce vita in Italy.
In a relatively short time, Mayes has done for Tuscany what Peter Mayle has done for Provence --create an industry catering to would-be expats and armchair travelers .

Her 1996 book was a bestseller for two years, translated into 14 languages, spawned a sequel ("Bella Tuscany"), coffee-table photo extravaganza ("In Tuscany") and a calendar.

"The rhythm of Tuscan dining may throw us off but after a long lunch outside, one concept is clear -- siesta," writes Mayes in her first book about La Toscana. "The logic of a three-hour fall through the crack of the day makes perfect sense. Best to pick up that Piero della Francesca book, wander upstairs and give in to it."

Right, so it doesn't make for an action-packed scene, but screenwriter Audrey Wells has also thrown other picturesque Italian locations into the mix including Florence, Positano, Montepulciano, Siena and Rome.

Although set photos from the unofficial site show a perfectly chic Lane trotting about a perfectly lovely Italy, fans of the book are unlikely to accept her as the everywoman heroine of the print version when the movie arrives in US theaters in the autumn of 2003.

zoomata -- italian culture from italy - Love Affair with Italy Gets Bizarre Hollywood Treatment
http://www.zoomata.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=842
 

Under the Tuscan Sun - Movie (Shockwave Promo)
http://www.under-the-tuscan-sun.com/