Tuscany is just Pici

At this point of the year, Tuscany is amber and golden, filled with grape vines with drying leaves, and fields of hay. There are little thin roads clinging to the hills, through groves of olive trees. The land is full of rolling hills which are topped with old villages with stone towers and tiny lanes filled with wine and cheese shops. Tuscany is a land of tradition, and our home for the week was just outside a little town called Pienza. We stayed at a place called Cretaiole, an agritourismo- this is a new form of tourism, where working farms are subsidized by the government if they have people staying on the farm.

We had a warm little two bedroom apartment at the top of the barn, and we were thrilled that we had a fireplace. We had eaten out three times a day for months on end, and now being together and cooking really felt like we were playing house. And we loved it. Truth be told, we are a bit like the grapevines in Tuscany- once vibrant and fresh, we are now a bit wilted. Our energy is a bit worn down right now on this trip. Being in Tuscany was such a wonderful opportunity to slow down once again and retreat for a bit. One night, as we were seated around our dinner table, Luna said, “I like this house way more than our house.” We asked Luna why, and she told us so much that I began to write it down. This is what she said. “I’m realizing how lucky I am, especially after seeing the houses in Sri Lanka and China. I’m glad we have a small house- I can’t imagine it being any bigger- we’d be so far apart from each other at home. I like this house more because it’s smaller than our house and feels older. I also like the curtains knit by an old lady in the windows. I like that we’re making meals ourselves. We haven’t done things like this in like 3 months.”

Although we took a lot of time to rest and relax, the day after we arrived, we were invited on a farm tour and got to see the animals at Cretaiole, and see the ways in which wine, Pecorino cheese, and Grappa were made. The farm tour was fun, but the insights of the people running the farm were much more interesting. The people here really focus on life in Tuscany and uphold its traditions and are proud to do things as they’ve always been done, passing things from generation to generation. To some, this may seem narrow minded- but in other ways, this viewpoint is illuminating, as people are connected to their communities and value the lives around them and how they got there.

This was one of our favorite weeks of the trip. We went on a truffle hunt with a man named Paulo and his dog Mille- who discovered and dug up several truffles while we were together! I wasn’t a truffle fan before this trip, but I am now. We went to a farm that makes 30 different varieties of Pecorino cheese and had a huge tasting afterwards. We ventured into the abundant natural hot springs in the area. We also had a lovely pasta making party one evening, surrounded by new friends making pici- hand rolled pasta- which was a lot of fun. Oh, and we drank a lot of wine. I would recommend a week in Tuscany to anyone looking to travel and relax. Drinking wine, eating homemade pasta and resting is just wonderful.