Home Again, Home Again.... Tuscan Dreams Come True Part 1

We are home a week and finally catching up with our life.
The saying "It's good to be home" is so true after 24 hours of travel to get back.

We had a marvelous time, saw many beautiful and wondrous sights and met great people!

La Faina: Cortona, Tuscany

This is the name of my "little dream cottage" in Cortona where we stayed.
We arrived safely to our destination.( It always surprises me that we can follow directions in a totally foreign land and find our destination!!)

La Faina is situated on the hillside and there are 4 acres of terraces of mostly olive trees.
After setteling in we went for a walk up through the olive grove toward town. La Fiana produces it's own olive oil yearly. The trees are hand picked and cold pressed with no additives and are harvested in October. I was hoping to get a bottle to bring back, but Douglas our host forgot to bring it down to the cottage.We used his oil through the week and it was delicious!

When getting directions to walk to town I found out that the cottage was actually near to Bramasole, the home of Francis Mayes, who wrote Under the Tuscan Sun. We walked by the villa on the way home from town.
It is truly stunning and I was happy to see it from outside the gate.

Later that evening I read a book that Douglas' wife had compiled when they first bought the property. She is no longer living, but she left a wonderful handwritten book for visitors to read about the area and the property.
Jenny, Douglas' wife had met the Mayes while visiting the cottage and farmhouse when they were purchasing it from an American writer, Anne Corneilisen.
The Mayes were staying in the same cottage we were now staying in while Bramasole was being negotiated. Under the Tuscan Sun is dedicated to her.
The Mayes had thought of buying La Faina but had their hearts set on buying a Villa.
That's as close as I got to meeting them.

The cottage has a beautiful English garden and a patio where we sat out and ate dinner by candle light. The trellis above was covered with a vine with tiny white flowers that would sprinkle down and cover the table so that it was completely white like a dusting of powdered sugar, the bees humming busily gathering pollen to take back to their hives.
It was a wonderful spot to take in the spectacular view of the valley and relax.
We spent the week in town exploring and driving the countryside.