On Arriving to Tuscany, Our New Home

November 2, 2017

We arrived yesterday in Milan and drove four hours through tranquil countryside smitten with the gorgeous pigments of fall -- green vineyards turned burgundy and trees adorned with dazzling leaves the various colors of citrus. It was the day of the Saints, “a national holiday,” Massi said. Though at first he thought it was the day of the dead, “I Morti” – rusty with his Italian heritage.

There is a peace here. The smell of the air in the countryside, unpolluted. The sound of the horizon, unsullied. The conversation, of family passed, of family future – beholding the eyes of the venerated who have “seen” and the glistening eyes of the young who want the “unseen”.

In a saturated short day, hazed with jet lag, serenaded by sights, sounds and smells to satiate a timeworn dream, and after an aperitivo of negroni and affetati “fatto bene” – “done right,” I truly felt at home.