CHIANTI, Italy -- On a cold winter day in 2007, my sister asked me if I'd like to join her on a trip to Tuscany. I didn't have to think long to give her my answer -- yes!
Now, 18 months later, we're on our way to Muricciaglia, our villa in Tuscany. After a couple of days in Umbria, we have decided to take the country roads, as opposed to the superstrada. This proves to be a slower route, but very rewarding. We get a feel for life in small-town Italy as we meander through villages and pass farmland with corn and sunflower fields on either side of the narrow roadway.
As we leave Umbria and enter Tuscany, we pass the hilled town of Cortona, which is famous from the movie Under The Tuscan Sun. That is in fact what got us interested in coming to Italy, but our villa beckons so we must remember Cortona as we saw it on film.
The countryside is subtly changing, with grapevines and olive groves now appearing and the road is beginning to twist and turn as we go upward into the hills.
