TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1021151
in her grandmother's diary, which has become a celebrated work, both for its impeccable prose and the honesty and immediacy with which she describes the events taking place all around her. My story isn't a surprising one to her; it's actually quite common for people such as myself to come here and tell them what their family's in- tervention meant to their lives. During the war, the estate was a farming community, with 57 farms and 600 people living and working there. Today, it is run for tourists, with luxurious farmhouses, castle apartments, a B&B, and two restaurants spread out over the 3,500 acres that now make up La Foce and Chiarentana. There is something deeply special and moving about the estate. It's as if the character of Iris and Antonio Origo has remained after their passing, as if it has seeped into the ground they cultivated al- most 100 years ago. The exposed beauty of the land, the far-off vis- tas of hilltop medieval villages, fields of wheat and clover, lit in that wonderful Tuscan light, does nothing less than soothe the soul. M Y S T O R Y I S N ' T A S U R P R I S I N G O N E T O H E R ; i t ' s a c t u a l l y q u i t e c o m m o n f o r p e o p l e s u c h a s m y s e l f t o c o m e h e r e a n d t e l l t h e m w h a t t h e i r f a m i l y ' s i n t e r v e n t i o n m e a n t t o t h e i r l i v e s .