It never occurred to us to go to Italy. That strikes me as particularly odd considering how much we have discovered we love the place.
We certainly were aware how much we loved the food. As a history buff I knew the history. But for some reason, it hadn't been on our roadmap of places to see - until we got the call.
A friend of ours, Chris, was planning on celebrating his 40th birthday and had decided to do it at a villa in Tuscany. With the proceeds of a recent bonus he had rented out a villa in Tuscany near the mountain top town of Montalcino and was now putting out the word to come and join him. That's the sort of offer that does not happen that often so even though we didn't know a Vino Nobile from a Brunello, even though we hadn't read 'Under the Tuscan Sun', we booked our tickets nearly immediately.




