Inspired by the Book

Travel in the footsteps of famous authors.

- IRENE RAWLINGS

A good book transports its readers through time to a faraway and sometimes exotic place. Visiting the setting of a particularly memorable book makes the experience of reading that book more real as the beloved author’s landscape blends with and becomes part of the literature itself.

A PROLIFIC 19TH-CENTURY short-story writer, Washington Irving is best known for his hair-raising short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” in which a ghostly horseman terrorizes smarmy schoolmaster Ichabod Crane. Costumed guides conduct tours of Sunnyside, Irving’s cozy Tarrytown home with expansive views of New York’s Hudson River. Visit the Old Dutch Church (built in 1685) and go on the evening lantern tour through Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (where Irving, Rockefellers and Carnegies are buried). Tarrytown lies an hour north by train from New York City’s Grand Central Station.

FRANCES MAYES’ Under the Tuscan Sun, translated into 52 languages, remained on The New York Times best seller list for more than two years. The hilltop town of Cortona, setting for the book, is a magnet for Mayes’ loyal fans who have read the book, seen the movie (starring Diane Lane) and now want to see Villa Bramasole, Mayes’ apricot-colored house where she still spends summers. People-watch in Piazza Signorelli while sipping an espresso at Caffé Vittoria (mentioned in the book) or taste a glass of Tuscan red wine at Enoteca Enotria in Via Nazionale. Reach Cortona by train from Rome (2.5 hours) or Florence (1.5 hours).