Piranhas in the Scampiis story of an experience that began in Sheldon Silverstein's teenage years, when his obsessive love of Italy took root after seeing the movieSunflowerstarring Sophia Loren. It culminated years later, when he met a reworked, revamped version of the actress in Elenora Monini while living in Italy for a film project. She was his ideal female turned femme fatale-a woman who makes grown men uproot from their homelands, transplant themselves on Italian soil, and pay homage to that well-worn cliché, "Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it."Lured by the prospect of doubling the value of investing in a seventeenth-century farmhouse in Tuscany and filled with the delusional idea that he could do no wrong in Italy, he got swept up in the Italian restoration craze that left him crazed, dazed, fazed, and certifiable."Why not rent a house in Tuscany and see if you like it before jumping in with both feet?" Those cautionary words were gone with the wind as soon as Silverstein made the decision to live in Italy.Piranhas in the Scampiis the story of his ill-advised foray into owning and restoring a charming farmhouse in Tuscany.