Tuscany

Driving through the hills the horizon is hazy; Tuscany seems muted even in midday. The views filled with vines and olive trees with dusky orange villas nestled on hilltops. There is something that makes life slow here, even while careening around corners at Italian speeds. In the morning and evening the mist settles in, turning the distant hills from olive grey to lavender-blue.
I can't help but think of home and California vineyards. Napa light now seems harsh, relentless and hard. Tuscan sun seems softer, more gentle while still heating the dusty dirt and stone piazzas of the small towns. Tuscany makes me want to stop and savor: the light, the wine, the food, the views. Where else can you purposefully get lost in meandering streets that house only 60,000 people?
We stopped and asked for directions to the villa at a restaurant owned by a husband and wife. They helped us, looking up google maps and trying their best to give us correct directions. We bought four bottles of wine and went on our way. Our villa was only 5 minutes further down the road. We brought our friends back that night for dinner. Everything from the prosciutto to the wine was delicious. Salvetore, the husband, brought us homemade basil liqueor and grapefruit appertif. The limoncello was also homemade. We closed the restaurant and they had some basil liqueor with us. Osteria La Botte in Vagliagli will hopefully still be here when we return someday.
Today we were in San Gimignano, wandering the streets and buying lunch from the local market. Some pecorino here, prosciutto there, pears, carrots and grapes the size of small plums. Then to the large supermarket on our way home to buy food for tonight's meal.
We had wonderful olive oil during our meal at Osteria La Botte and it was sold 2km away. We had to have some! Wine tasting, discussion, (in Italian and English) of wine, immigration, friendship and food. The proprietress, happy to talk of the wine and the land, poured tasting after tasting and sent us home with an open bottle and another (along with the oils and wines we purchased). She waved us goodbye and I wondered: Is this only in Italy? In Tuscany?
Now the dinner table is becoming laden with food: caprese salad, crostini, olives, cured meats with spaghetti cabanera finishing on the stove and wine, always wine.
I've come to realize that this is one of those times, where we will remember this trip forever. Three couples in Tuscany, singing Italian songs like we know the words, drinking Tuscan wine like it is our last night, every night. This is what we will remember when we are 80 years old. Not the names of all the towns we visited or of the wine we drank but of this moment: