A teenage girl, slender with black wavy hair, a floral skirt, a peasant blouse standing with her back to me in front of an ornate medieval water fountain and gazing into nothingness was the visual in my dreams for many many years growing up. This water fountain was intricate standing tall in the middle of a garden which was lined with olive trees and lavender bushes. The landscape always reminded me of Tuscany. Tuscany as I had seen in pictures, watched in documentaries and marveled at in the movies.
And because I saw this exact dream multiple times growing up, my naive heart ran wild with imagination. I imagined that girl was me in another birth, another lifetime...born and raised in Tuscany amidst rolling hills covered with vineyards and cypress trees. It was like Italy was calling out to me "Come home, you belong here". I could hear it in my heart with no rational explanation or connection to substantiate this very outlandish idea.
But to this day, I feel a strong inexplicable connection to Tuscany. So in a moment of vulnerability, I mentioned this dream and the desire to visit Tuscany to my husband and we talked about the bizarreness of the dream. Then many years passed by and the Italy trip got added to my bucket list along with many others.
Recently when I turned 40, my husband suggested we celebrate the milestone birthday by traveling to Italy and visiting Tuscany since its a dream I've cherished for so long. I was beyond thrilled and we planned the trip in a frenzy. The days to come were a blur as I could not contain my excitement and the anticipation of doing something I have waited to for such a long time. We left Dallas and flew straight to Rome for 4 days. We stayed at a B&B right near the main train terminal of Rome. Everything was accessible by the metro and there was so much to see !
Everything about Rome was “enchanting”. A city that held many untold stories in its fold. An ode to the golden era of civilization. Art and architecture, grandeur beyond imagination and a sense of eternity captured in a time capsule. Rome stood tall, unapologetic and proud - Much like her people! One couldn't help but be in awe of her splendor. Rome truly is, as they say, a city of echoes, a city of illusions and a city of yearning.
Everywhere we looked there was history, beauty and splendor. We visited the Il Vittoriano monument, the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, Vatican city, St.Perter's Basilica, the Sistine chapel, the Colosseum and the Roman forum. I felt little, almost non-existent in a world that was grand, larger than life and enigmatic to this day. I had barely gotten over the rush of Rome before it was time to take the train to Tuscany. I waited with bated breath for the train to arrive. The ride to Tuscany was surreal. It was just like I had imagined. Virgin green pastures, cattle flocking the farmlands, vineyards for as far as the eye could see and ethereal beauty everywhere.
We went straight to the historic town of Florence and stayed there for the next 3 days. Florence in Tuscany is a clandestine love affair. Rolling hills covered with vineyards and cypress trees, cobbled streets lined with tiny cafes, 5 villages suspended between land and the sea, the rustic charm of the medieval era; true to its name, Florence was a city in full bloom (like flowers). The street music, the cappuccino, the exotic wines, the mouth watering wood fired pizzas... it was a culinary paradise in addition to being a Mecca for the romantics.
We visited the Duomo, the Cinque Terre (villages by the sea) and Chianti wine country. It was in Chianti that I looked for the garden and the fountain in my dreams. Needless to say, I never did find it but this I can tell....walking down the small quaint villages in Chianti and the smell of olive trees, the truffle oil and the barrels of wine, I felt right at HOME. Like I had been there before or at least like I would fit right in. If only I had the millions of $$ it takes to own a small winery and a Tuscan villa in Chianti, I would never have come back.
I left Florence weak kneed and starry eyed like a teenage girl struck by love at first sight❤️😍A tiny part of my heart got left behind on a hill in Tuscany 💕 like they say in Italian “Mi Amore Tuscany”.
The trip to Italy was everything it promised to be...a sublime date with Destiny !!
The trip to Italy was everything it promised to be...a sublime date with Destiny !!
