I am writing in a gloomy rainy day, which is slowly accompanying me into the colder season, where I will be enjoying the warm colours of foliage, the intense scents of novel wine and spicy new-pressed extra virgin olive oil, along with the tastes of chestnuts, truffles, porcini mushrooms and many others nourishing products. However, my mind is still locked into last summer cheerful memories of vivid colours spread out in breathtaking landscapes like on a painter’s palette, of ravishing tastes of bruschettas, caprese plates and a lot of savoury fish to be paired with fresh rosè or fragrant vermentino wines.

Like postcards impressed in my mind, I recall some of the best moments of last summer in Tuscany and the Cinque Terre, to warm me up in those days where you feel like winter will never end. The sea huge variety of hues in the Cinque Terre is my best pick. The blue sea brimmed by the white froth of waves is almost surreal. One of the best viewpoints is the Doria Castle in Vernazza, on the very top of the village. From there the sight embraces the whole beauty of Cinque Terre and its far villages reflecting themselves on the glittering sea. Another magical perspective is that you get from the hiking trail connecting Manarola to Volastra, walking along vineyards grabbed to the ground on steep terraces, creeping up on dry walls to the top of the cliffs, falling vertically into the deep blue sea.

The second frame, trapped in my brain, is the rolling hills around Lajatico kissed by the sunset shadows on the Bocelli’s concert day. This tiny village, hidden in the heart of Tuscany, is invaded for one night by thousand visitors, swarming around the Theatre of Silence area. I just see myself, behind the crowd, on the slope which slowly falls downhill, holding a glass of wine and contemplating this beauty. The villages perched on the hilltops are lighting up as far lighthouses in the dark horizon and I enjoy the first notes of the orchestra warming up in the distance. It’s time to take seat and enjoy the show!

Summer brings back memories of hot days, where one seek to find shade and escape from the heath grasp. As a daydreamer you feel your feet as if lapped by the fresh sea shore or your hair crossed by the cool sea breeze and your body refreshed under the shade of a fig tree. The showreel of memories goes back to a day in the mountains, relaxing under the wisteria pergola in the village of Cascio, or walking around lush vineyards under a fierce sun at Grattamacco cellars in Bolgheri.

The last slide brings me back to one of my greatest passions: food&wine. In fact, this is just one word as the two things cannot go separately in our culture and it perfectly matches with the annual dinner in vineyards organized by the Pieve dè Pitti winery before the harvest starts. A long table is set along grapevine rows on the same ground where a few days later the bins full of bunches will be piled up before ending into vats. The air is humid and spirals of vapor ooze away from the kitchen set up in the cellar’s backyard. We all sit on a long table sharing food, wine, chatting and laughing like in a big family. When the dinner is over, vineyards fall into darkness and silence again and it is like the spell is broken and we all go back to our lives.

For more information:
Grattamacco cellars
http://www.collemassari.it/it/tenuta-podere-grattamacco.html
Pieve dè Pitti
http://www.pievedepitti.it/