I hadn't been to Italy for a few years when I went with my sister in 2001. One of the first places we went to was Bramasole, in Cortona. I'm a big Frances fan. Her friend Antonio who is in all her books showed me around her garden while she was out. I had the time of my life.
I went back to gaze at her house during two of my other Italy trips.
It's something VERY special!
Bramasole ancora - Bramasole again. It's such a beautiful villa.
I was saying to Antonio that there used to be two palm trees in front of the house. You see, the frost got one.
This is Frances Mayes' villa in Cortona, Italy. Seven years ago, I was standing at the gate looking in at the garden when Antonio walked out of the front door (he is one of her friends) and then he asked me if I wanted to speak with Frances. No! I didn't want to intrude - I was just admiring her roses!
We had a long talk in Italian, and he was so impressed that I had come all the way from Australia to look at her garden, that he gave me a quick tour of the front part of it.It was an experience I will never forget.
Next time we went to Cortona, after looking up from the road at the villa and garden again, we went to say hi to Antonio at his shop in the town. When we walked in, he said, " Ahh! Australia!" He remembered us!
Posts
15 comments:
What a cool story! I love the photos.
Great story! How cool is that. It looks so pretty.
Gorgeous layouts!!! Love it!
Hi Leslie, What a special experience! I loved reading about your story and also love your photos.
I love this entry!
Thanks so much for your kind comment on my blog. I'm just overly anxious because of Sara's depression, I think, but I feel sure living in residence will be good for her. I took photos of her room so will post those tomorrow. Her residence is a gorgeous old stone building.
That was an awesome story! It seems you made quite an impression om Antonio :)
Leslie - I really loved this post and YES, YES, YES I think we may have loads in common. Love your photos and I will be back! I haven't been to Italy near enough and would love to go back sometime soon.
Bramasole looks much larger than the villa they used for the movie!
Going to Tuscany is the ONE thing I really must do before I leave this earth! I hope I can go with all of my SisterDears for at least a week - but two would be better!
Great story. I am so excited about going to Italy in the fall that I can hardly stand it. Your photos make it look like the most beautiful place on earth.
Lovely photos, Leslie! I'm envious -- I was in Cortona for several days last year but didn't actually walk out to see Bramasole. I love Mayes' books, they feed my fantasy of someday buying a place in Italy (even something very small would do.....)
This place is beautiful, Thank you
love your scrapbooking photos
Hi! I am reading Under the Tuscan Sun and I got passionate for the description of the house and all its things…
I used the Internet to search images of the place and found yours blog.
I wait one day to obtain to also know Italy. I like its blog! I hug!
Danielle.
P.S.: I am brazilian, sorry my inglish... :)
How lucky that you were able to visit Bramasole.
I'm an expat American who recently bought a house and olive grove in New Zealand, and I feel like I've found paradise. I blog about it over at 'Moon Over Martinborough' here: http://martinborough.wordpress.com/
Hope you like it!
Off to Tuscany on May 25 for 16 days and Bramasole is on our priority list. One of my travel buds met Frances a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta and she asked us to stop by while in Cortona! EXCITED!!!
Post a Comment