Casalvento: House of the Wind

Romance and family secrets intertwine in Tuscany.

Erika Germoglio is a self-made woman who has it all—a successful career and a well-connected fiancé—then suddenly has even more. An Italian grandfather she has never met wills to her Casalvento, a house and a vineyard, and Livernano, a medieval village turned bed-and-breakfast, both in the Chianti region of Tuscany.

When Erika travels to Italy to settle the affairs of her inheritance, she meets Paolo, Casalvento’s intelligent, compassionate, and strikingly handsome estate manager and wine maker. And she learns the inheritance comes with a catch—to keep or sell Casalvento and Livernano, she must live there and learn the business of the two estates for five months.

Should she uproot her New York life and embrace all Italy has to offer? And if she chooses Italy, which man will be by her side? Erika struggles with that question while fulfilling the stipulations of the will and trying to make sense of a series of letters left for her by her late grandfather, Craig’s unpredictable attitude when she calls home, and her own feelings whenever she sees Paolo.

Set in the real Casalvento (House of the Wind) of Radda and Livernano in Chianti Siena, Italy, debut author Gudrun Cuillo’s Casalvento will captivate your heart and make you wonder if not only in vino veritas, but also possibly in vino amore e felicità.