~ As I Was Saying ~

So, here we were, right where we were supposed to be at that place and time ~
                               Breathing in the " Tuscan air" sitting in the "Tuscan Sun".
The town was ours and I wanted more. I wanted to see who the shop owners were and who the citizens were, and watch their interactions, and as I sat outside the gelatto shop, watching the people going about their shopping and errands, I had a feeling of peace. I was a silent observer of town life, There, yet not an active  part of this life ~

I love the slowed down pace of life in these villages~ Each tourist comes for one reason or another~ However at the end of the day, the tourists fade away, and there you are in the dusty peace sitting having a capucchino in the quiet, alone with the citizens of Cortona. ~

Cortona was ours for the wandering, and wander, we did.

Daily we walked the streets, lanes and climbed her steep streets.

Walking up through the olive groves to the road  that leads to town I knew that  somewhere along this road was the famed Bramesole of Under The Tuscan Sun.

With a little deduction, and a willingness to walk aimlesly, not quite knowing where we were going, we set out to find this famed beauty.

Just as we thought that we had gone about as far as we wished... there... around the curve, peeking through the trees was the  peach colored Villa I longed to find ~

The villa was so beautiful standing in the manse of trees. I found the colors delightful and I was very pleased to be standing there in awe that we were here and this was the place I had dreamt of being~

My true desire was to meet Frances Mayes and tour her gardens.~

I had written to our host of the cottage, and briefly told him of my 

dream  of meeting Francis Mayes, hopeing that they might  possibily  know her~

Unfortunately, Douglas, our host, gave no clue as to if he knew the Mayes or not~

Although I did not meet Frances, nor tour her gardens, when I returned to the cottege for the evening, I picked up a journal left for the visitors about the cottage and around the area. In the journal I discovered that the wife of our host, Jenny, who had passed away, had met Frances Mayes when they were purchasing the farm house, La Faina.

The owner of the farm house and cottage at the time was an American writer, Ann Cornelison, who was hosting the Mayes while they were negotiating the purchase of Bramasole~

They  stayed  in the same cottage we were now in!

Under The Tuscan Sun is dedicated to Ann Cornelison~

I was THAT close!