ROME, April 19 -- The Italian government has announced it will grant citizenship to American author Frances Mayes, whose memoir Under the Tuscan Sun became a global bestseller and helped spark a romanticised fascination with life in rural Italy.

The Italian Cabinet approved the proposal - submitted by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi - to confer citizenship on Mayes, 85, "for special merits", The New York Times reported yesterday, citing an official government statement.

Mayes, who was born in Georgia, the United States, splits her time between North Carolina and her longtime home in the Tuscan town of Cortona, where she famously restored a crumbling villa.

"Her lyrical descriptions of Tuscany have drawn countless readers to dream -...