Restored in Cortona

While we would love for all of you to consider living seasonally as a lifestyle, this rational decision is strictly up to you. Decisions are easy. We get tangled up in family, work, community, important obligations and find ourselves in what we call “oblig” situations.

OBLIG-atory reminds me of the SNL skit of Black Jeopardy where the category is Aw Hell No. Every appropriate question to the answer is a funny excuse for not doing something. I bring this up because today we stand in the streets of beloved Cortona. If you have the same Diane Lane fascination or read Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun, you will completely understand why Cortona may be the poster city for Living Seasonally.

About Frances, you may recall that she stumbled across an abandoned, centuries old house in 1990 just outside of the Tuscan hill town of Cortona. Like many homes in the area, it had been named by its owner. As the story goes, Bramasole, meaning “yearning for the sun” transformed Frances’ wistful dreams into action. What few of you may know, Frances is a published poet. When Under the Tuscan Sun was published in 1996, the general public got a taste of Cortona through the sensual perspective of a poet. What Frances describes in the book and what you saw in the movie are for real.

We have passed through the narrow streets of Cortona many times, stopping to chat with our favorite B&B owner and host extraordinaire Jeanette Wong. We walk the main street with Jeanette as she shops for fresh produce and baking supplies. In the piazza, locals greet each other, have a coffee and share life. These Cortonians have a real bead on true, enjoyable living. Over the years, I think Jeanette has become anciently sophisticated in her generosity. If you live seasonally in Italy, you will know that means a kind of psychology/economy of gift giving that was enjoyed by the Etruscans. Jeanette has this enormous heart to share, even if we are just walking the streets of Cortona, she invites us up for coffee and her latest baked delicacy.

Like Frances Mayes restoring Bramasole, we feel internally restored and reinvigorated by a visit with Jennifer. We revel in her underpinning of sweet hospitality, personality and converted lifestyle.But a significant point has to be made. Every time we come to Cortona, we smile more. This town makes us giddy and the locals like happy, generous, and positive people. So, bring your best version of authentic happy with you and you, too can enjoy this place and their locals. Cortona represents a sense of place, people and sheer pleasure. If you want to start finding your true self again, follow your impulses to Italy and stroll, very slowly through Cortona. Say hello to Jeanette Wong for us.