Tuscany

Carlene

I have to admit that we were all a little sad when our time in Rome came to an end. Our month there flew by, but by the end of our stay, we were comfortable – starting to know our way around without Google maps, discovering a few restaurants we loved, our favorite gelato places. And yet, Rome never stopped astounding – the history, the architecture, the pasta. We knew nothing could compare, but Tuscany was waiting…

Kim and I had visited the Tuscan town of Cortona about twelve years ago, after both reading the popular book, Under the Tuscan Sun. We remembered sitting in the piazza drinking Campari and orange juice and wandering in shops along the charming streets and tucked into narrow alleyways. When we were planning this trip, we agreed that we wanted to return and spend more time here.

Life in Tuscany is definitely slower-paced yet still offers plenty of beautiful sights and adventures of its own. We are staying in a charming Tuscan villa about two miles outside the city of Cortona. The house is beautiful and rustic and looks exactly the way a Tuscan villa should – all stone walls and floors, hand painted tiles in the kitchen. The only complaint I have is that stone tends to be cold. The daily highs here have been in the 50-60 degree range, but it has been dipping into the 30s some nights, and the thermostat is set to 61 degrees, which feels a bit nippy for indoors. As someone who is perpetually cold, I have stacked three blankets on my bed and sometimes sleep with socks on my hands at night, but I remind myself that I am in Italy, which makes it all worth it.

We rented a Fiat 500L for our month here. It’s a stick shift, which I haven’t driven in close to 30 years, but it comes right back – just like riding the bike! The road to our house is narrow and winding – one lane only. If a car comes from the opposite direction, one of you has to back up to an open spot and let the other pass. Cortona is a city high on a hill, so the drive up is all hairpin turns in low gear, but I have gotten used to it, and I make the slow drive up the hill every day for pasta and a cappuccino. Interestingly, in Tuscany they offer different pasta dishes from those in Rome, so I have even more options to sample on my quest to find the most delicious pasta in Italy.

Yesterday, I set out on a long hike from town in search of Bramasole, the house from Under the Tuscan Sun. Now, I do not fancy myself Frances Mayes or Diane Lane, but traveling (especially alone, I’ve discovered) does tend to make one feel empowered and open to life-altering events. I am reading the perfect novel for this week, Women in Sunlight by Frances Mayes, and that title describes exactly how I feel here – glowing and warm, looking up and basking in the beauty of my surroundings. I am trying to let serendipity guide me in these months abroad. The book mentioned the song “Nessun Dorma,” so I found it on YouTube and listened to several artists’ renditions (Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, and others – all stunning). The next day, I came across a restaurant in town with the same name, so I stopped there for lunch and had a delicious asparagus risotto that I never would have experienced otherwise. Moments like this make me smile, and this trip has given me the chance to slow down and honor them.

I rode the train to Siena one day this week, and it was worth the trip for the spectacular views of the Italian countryside in the fall – colorful rolling hills dotted with stone farmhouses. Siena has a stunningly beautiful gothic cathedral that houses a frescoed library with manuscripts copied in the 1470s. Also impressive is the enormous Piazza del Campo, where a famous horse race is held every summer – bareback! I would love to see it.

I am starting to feel at home in this small, ancient town. I know the main streets, take walks and read on benches in the gardens, and sit on the sunny steps in the piazza listening to people calling “Ciao” to the friends they meet there. I am starting to recognize people I’ve seen before by the dogs they are walking. I have a favorite cafe that serves puffy almond raisin cookies and always makes a heart in the foam of my cappuccino. In these past two months, I have been offered very different (yet equally wonderful) glimpses of Italian life, and I have discovered something about myself. While city life is vibrant and invigorating and I will always long to explore the world’s most fabulous cities, when I come home and am ready to settle down, small town life is the life for me.