Autumn is the season when I finally get the hang of my life again, when I understand something of the chaos that the good season has left behind. After a tousled summer, I'm patiently collecting what I had lost on the way. I started baking again with my sourdough. Sooner…
During high school, every day, for almost five years, I brought an apple from home as a snack for our short break. There was a stall that would sell snacks - sandwiches with ham and cheese, with sausages, pizza and focaccia - but there were so many hungry students waiting…
We adopted a morning dog. After the first couple of months of shared anxieties and mutual adjustment, Teo is proving to be a cheerful dog, full of energy, especially in the morning, in the very early morning. While Noa yawns with sleepy eyes and we pretend not to hear him,…
This year the end of summer brought a mixture of nostalgia and relief. They have been exhausting months, not only for the heat and for the long working hours spent in the kitchen. The arrival of Teo, a two-year-old white Spinone dog that we adopted from a rescue house, has…
It was the beginning of June, summer was nothing more than a promise in the air. Tommaso and I drove to Val d’Orcia to meet Sabrina and Barbara, the two sisters who own Villa Pienza. It was our first time there, though we felt at home as soon as the…
To visit the hill town of Gambassi, a few weeks ago, we took the road to the Tuscan coast, passing from Volterra. Shortly before Volterra, we took a detour. We drove through oak woods and Mediterranean scrub, in a wild landscape that first brought us to the mountains and, immediately…
I have a dream... Yes, I have a dream, and it smells of ripe fruit. I want an orchard. A few years ago, we planted a dozen fruit trees in the olive grove, local species and heirloom varieties, investing in hope and patience. It's been three years now, but they…
Our holiday in Salento has become a habit. Tommaso and I go to Puglia to visit his uncle and aunt, his nonna, their house a few steps from the sea, where over the years I learnt to recognize the light and the rhythms. Now I know where the dishes and…
