Our day at the Villa has been perfect. We all slept in a bit, it’s been pretty busy since we left home.

Getting up this morning we were reminded of a few things.

First, we didn’t turn the heat on yesterday. Not because it wasn’t cold, it was. But because we knew we were getting charged for every hour of heat we used. How much? €2. Those of you not familiar with the conversion might be wondering if that’s a lot. It isn’t. It’s about $2 at the moment. So getting out of bed this morning in a Villa full of tile and marble floors was a bit shocking.

Second, you might ask: weren’t you cold last night? Easy answer is yes, a bit. But we tried to manage that by building a fire in the fireplace. The fire was roaring but it never really got warm. What it did get was smoky. Really smoky. The damper was open, but for some reason, the smoke was happy to hang out in the room. It smelled great. But. We were reminded of that this morning when we got up and the whole house smelled like a smokehouse. Still, it was kinda great.

Our host had a ton of breakfast food delivered for us. So we had a feast of pastries, fruit, cheeses, meats, and breads. It was amazing. Nothing goes better after a great night sleep than a filling meal.

With full bellies we hung around and talked about talking a walk. But then the clouds rolled in. It got dark. The wind picked up. And the rain started. Slowly at first, and then much harder. Really it makes sense. This is an agricultural wonderful which produced some of the varieties of grapes which were spread around the world and have made wine what it is today. That doesn’t happen without the right conditions, including rain.

After the rain, the valley came alive. You could hear birds. The sun came out. There was a gentle breeze. Everything turned a vibrant green that just radiated happiness. It really was something magical to be able to experience. While the grapevines are currently dormant for the season, you can imagine this being the beginning of a great year.

After the rain we all got together for a walk. Following the road that the villa is on, we walked about almost a mile before turning back. And after resisting a side trip to check out a “ruin” we turned around to walk back.

Locally the term “ruin” applies to an old building in a nearly irreparable state. That was precisely what the Villa we are staying in was before the renovation. Makes it easy to imagine the possibilities, while simultaneously forgetting the years and money that our hosts spent.

But still. Who doesn’t go on vacation and think about a life elsewhere? The romantic notion is part of the reason we escape our lives occasionally. It’s also how we ended up with a couple of properties in Hawaii that we have a love-hate relationship with, and only remember the positive when spending time in Italy. Because that’s closer to home and easier to manage than what we already have in Hawaii.

I can assure you that this was a case of a nightmare in the making. It isn’t being purchased. Not by us anyway, but it was fun to look. Even if it meant had to clean my shoes afterwards.

As we were getting back from our walk, the folks for our wine tasting were showing up, which was perfect timing. The downside of being in Tuscany this time of year is that the vineyards are closed which means the tourists aren’t here. But, that also means we were able to arrange a close friend of our host was able to come to the house with a group of wines for us.

We’ve been to tastings before in Napa and Sonoma, but this one was different. Maybe it was Italy. Maybe it was our close friends. Maybe it was having our girls with us. Perhaps all of the above. This was amazing.

Our new friends from Dolce Vida Enoteca were more than happy to walk us through the grapes and wines of Italy before helping us to the conclusion of Tuscany, and Montepulciano specifically, having the best of the bunch. We couldn’t help but agree. We even ended up buying a case to be shipped home. If you make it to the house quickly, maybe we will share… Maybe it was the purchase, but we prefer to think it was the quick connection we made, Cristian invited us to visits and tour some places with him. We will likely take him up on it.

Finally our host, and her amazing mom, Alma, made us the most amazing dinner. Traditional chicken liver crostini, pici with a beef ragu, and a rack of pork ribs with sliced loin. I’m stuffed. They even made a a vegetarian version for Michelle. Of course we enjoyed a couple bottles of wine with dinner as well.

We played some card games with the kids, and there was a lot of laughing. That’s what this trip, and this stop specifically was about. Family. And fun. And having time away from everything to remind us that not only do we love each other, but we actually like spending time together as well. I’d say it worked.

Tomorrow we have an early departure for a train back to Florence. But I know that at least two of us will be back here. There is a lot of this area that still needs to be explored and we are happy to plan a return trip.