For the deeper you look into landscape and history, the
more attached you become to it. Every hill, every house, is
part of a story.
"And here in the Val d'Orcia the landscape is incredibly
magnetic: you see the weather changing, the seasons
changing, you never see it the same way. It was an addictive
experience for Michael Cioffi to arrive here, and it can be
the same for anyone. When you come to Italy, you will never
finish going back.
"I don't want to be absurd, but Val d'Orcia is something
people should value like the Tower of Pisa. It's almost
prehistoric when you compare it with the Veneto, say, or
so many other parts of Italy. Sometimes the cultivation is
overdone. I get upset by some of the vineyards round
Florence. This is not the Napa Valley. The landscape should
be respected. And here, in the Val d'Orcia, we are almost
like being out of Africa."
