Jun 9, 2010
By Lisa T. Bergren
It began with a “Room with a View” feature in Conde Nast’s Traveler. A shot out the window from Terre di Nano that captured what I’d been longing for—a visit to the heart of Tuscany—territory in which we could just be, absorb, live like the locals.
I tore out the page and taped it to our bedroom wall, sharing the dream with Tim. After a couple of months I dared to track down the villa on the web, and squinting my eyes—preparing for pain—checked the price. Hmm, not so bad. Not if we do all our own cooking. And go in low season…
When we arrived five months later, I gasped and looked to Tim. Can you believe this? Our glance said. How lucky are we?
The innkeeper grinned. “It is what you expected?”
“Far more,” I said, hand on my chest. We inhaled the smell of sage and lavender and wood smoke, heard the sound of cowbells nearby and Pienza’s church bells in the distance. The valley was deeper than we expected, the medieval castle remains, closer, the horizon, a cinematographer’s dream. It was quintessentially Italia.
Hand in hand, we walked to the garden, poured generous glasses of red and settled in to watch the sun set over the Val d’Orcia, the first of seven we’d see. Bees buzzed among the gardens. A breeze wafted through the trees.
It was, for us, as quieting to the soul as prayer. Restorative. Therapeutic. Unifying. Perfection.
This post has been entered into the Grantourismo and HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.
Posted on Wednesday, June 9, 2010
In Articles, Couples Only
Tags: couples, Grantourismo, HomeAway, Italy, Tuscany, villa
Aww! Beautiful pic–beautiful post! Italy is my "dream", too. I'm glad you were able to experience it!!
Gotta go, Megan. It's fantastic! On second thought, don't go! It gets under your skin and you'll want to go again…
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Colleen Lanin, Matthew Teller, Lisa Bergren , Lisa Tawn Bergren, Lisa Bergren and others. Lisa Bergren said: Ever rip a photo out of a mag & then later go there?? We did & it was better than pic: http://bit.ly/9URkLc #travel #italy #lp [...]
I love these moments when a travel idea is remembered in situ. I like the serenity that the photo conveys.
"Serenity" really nails it…I want to return! Thanks for visiting the blog…
That's exactly what we did in Tuscany, as well. We stayed at this place right outside of Montepulciano. I didn't need to leave our little villa. I could have sat there every day and watched the sun rise, linger, and set over the town tumbling down the hills and the dome of San Biagio in the distance. I can't wait to spend more time there.
Mmm, no kidding. You were just on the other side of the hill from us, then! We dream of a return…Thanks for visiting our site, Akila.
Beautiful! I used to do the exact same thing eons ago – before I was a travel writer, before I traveled for a living – how nice it would be to return to those days… Thanks for entering our comp again Lisa and good luck! P.S. Apologies for taking so long to get to this! Tokyo was hectic to say the least, compounded by terrible jet lag, so not much time for social media, I'm afraid.
Interesting thoughts, Lara. Kind of like becoming a movie critic–and then forever dissecting every movie you see, rather than getting lost in it. Hmm…the trade-offs!