Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Pietro's Book  By  cover art

Pietro's Book

By: Pietro/Jenny Pinti/Bawtree, Jenny Bawtree
Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Editorial reviews

If one is looking for a silver lining in growing up under the fascist regime of Mussolini, perhaps you could say at least one would be prepared for the hardships and extreme poverty caused by World War II. Pietro's Book, written by Pietro and Jenny Bawtree, is the story of Pietro's life in the Tuscan countryside. Award-winning narrator, Richard Ferrone, takes listeners on a journey from Pietro's birth in 1927 through the Second World War. Tuscany is often a subject of expats, but here is an insider's view, complete with witty and colorful anecdotes of the hardscrabble life of the mezzadri.

Publisher's summary

Pietro Pinti, born as he says "in the Middle Ages", worked the land with hoe and plow from his earliest youth. Growing up under Mussolini's Fascist regime on a farm near Florence, he and his family lived under conditions of extreme poverty, as sharecroppers to generally unscrupulous landowners. But during World War II, when millions in towns and cities suffered untold hardships, the hardy Tuscan peasants were well equipped to face the rigors of the era. War or no war, work on the land went on, and Pietro describes month by month a typical year in their lives: how they made wine and olive oil, planted and harvested the wheat by hand, made baskets and ladders from chestnut wood - skills now lost.

With sly wit and salty wisdom, Pietro, a natural storyteller who played the trumpet, wrote poetry, and grew famous for his tales of peasants, knights, and brigands, recreates in colorful detail a world and peasant culture that is fast disappearing. Jenny Bawtree, an Englishwoman long settled in Tuscany, was so fascinated by Pietro's stories that she helped shape them into this autobiography, full of color and humor, hardship, and nostalgia.

©2011 Pietro Pinti and Jenny Bawtree (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Pietro's Book

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 1 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 1 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 2 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

horrible narrator

Narrator was aweful. His voice was very difficult to listen to. It distracted from paying attention to the story. Couldn't listen past the first 90 minutes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!