Tuscan Heaven.
Rewind 8 hours to the beginning of our day. Dominique and I waited outside a cafe in Florence for our tour van to arrive. We didn't know what we would be expecting for the day- other than the fact that we were going on a wine tour and cooking class. We drove in the car with four other people who were so friendly and just as excited as we were. There were good vibes from the start. Our tour guide, Steve, made us all feel comfortable and welcome.
We drove through the hills 30 minutes outside of Florence and found ourselves in the beautiful country. As we took pictures through the van windows, we felt in awe of the beauty we were seeing. We saw abundant olive and grape trees. It was slightly overcast, but still so perfect and picturesque. We arrived at the 15th century medieval Villa Grignano. My first thought was, "I want this". Obviously knowing this grand estate was unattainable, I laughed as I thought about how much of a fantasy world I felt like I was in. We were being transported into a somewhat celestial environment---where we all must've been dreaming all day of how amazing it would be to actually own a piece of property like the one we saw. The villa overlooked acres of olive trees and grape trees. Steve showed us step by step how all of the Grignano wines are made, and how olive oil is made. He took us through the part of the villa that is the factory- it was amazing to imagine millions of grapes or olives going through these machines.
After our very informative and inspiring tour, it was time to taste the wines. The wines we tasted were paired with a local Tuscan bread- made without salt. Steve doused the bread in homemade olive oil for us. The taste was---heavenly. We tried six different wines. My favorite was the Grand Reserves Chianti Rufina- made from the finest grape on the vineyard.
At this point, we were all feeling like we were officially in a different world. Feeling buzzed from the wine tasting, reflecting on all that we had learned and seen from the morning, and looking at the view of Tuscany from the high hill that we were on.
Little did we know that the best part of the day was to come. Steve drove us to 1,000 year old farm house. We drove to the medieval house that was located on the top of a Tuscan hill- surrounded by hundreds of olive trees, green grass, trees, flowers. We arrived in our white tour bus, driving slowly up the winding gravel driveway. As we got out of the van, we saw the incredible views of the hills around us. We looked at the property of the Belli family and were in awe of the rustic, picturesque, scene we were walking through. It looked like we were on the tallest hill around us.
We were greeted by the friendly owners of the home. They spoke English well. The man, Giovanni, looked like he was out of an old Italian film. He was proudly wearing his cargo shorts and boots---he was in the army for many years. He grew up in the house that we were looking at. He was aged- probably in his 70s. Yet he looked strong, and happy. He had dark olive skin and thick wrinkles on his face. He was in shape, and his personality was clearly younger than his physical age. His wife, Anna, was also a character I felt like was out of a book. She was hospitable and peaceful. She also spoke English well.
We had our cooking class with Steve in the cement basement of their house, which we accessed through a door on the side of the house. It looked like it was made for cooking classes. We all took our place around a large table that had a typical looking Italian plastic table cloth on it, designed for cooking pasta. Steve led us through the process of making homemade ravioli and homemade tagliatelle. We must've been cooking for about 2 hours but it felt like 15 minutes. Steve put on traditional Italian folk music that created an environment of fun and creativity, as we intricately folded our ravioli and ran the dough through the pasta machine. Steve, a professional musician, sang along to some of the songs and humbly showed us his opera voice. As I looked around the room seeing all of us with our aprons on, and homemade pasta in the middle of the table, I thought to myself----this is an experience I will never forget.
We went back upstairs to the kitchen to reap the rewards of all our hard work laboring over the homemade pasta. And now we are back to the beginning.....in the kitchen, with the breeze flowing into the kitchen across the room, and soft sound of Frank Sinatra and other Italian classics coming from the CD player in the room next to us. All of us were in awe of the seemingly endless food that Anna kept providing us. We watched Anna as she cycled through the process of cooking, serving, eating. She ate standing as she knew she had little time before she had to start on the next course. She talked about her life and made herself vulnerable to us. We learned about her and Giovanni's recent wedding and we all congratulated them. They were together for 20 years before they got married. They showed us pictures from their day- and the love and joy that was written on their faces in the picture was unmatchable. It was the real deal. Giovanni and Anna were a beautiful couple, and it was so apparent their love ran deep.
When we said our goodbyes to the family, and we got back in the tour bus, we all were exhausted. It took me a few days to really process the priceless day trip. Dominique said to me, "Do you feel like that farmhouse in Tuscany is like heaven?"....I answered, "Yes". Obviously not knowing for sure what heaven is---- it was probably one of the closest times I've felt to it. The joy of meeting new people, seeing new places, sitting around a table and enjoying life, love, and good food.
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