After years of travelling, I’ve learned that not every day abroad resembles the cruise line TV commercial or the travel brochure or someone’s gorgeous Instagram feed. In fact, most days do not.

However…

Sometimes we have a rare “perfect” day – a day where everything seen and done just seems to fit and flow together creating a wonderful experience and memory. This painting, “A Tuscan Village Beauty”, recalls one of those days.

When my husband and I travel, we try not to stuff too many activities into one day’s itinerary because we have learned that we don’t “rush around” well. But on this particular summer day, I had scheduled a museum stop, a church visit, a park exploration, and a new town walk-around… and all before lunch! Why? I knew we wouldn’t likely be visiting this part of Tuscany any time soon, and I wanted to see all these places. And sometimes you just have to go for it!

We drove from our rental home in Chianti over to the Tuscan town of Reggello to the Museo Masaccio – a small art museum with a fantastic collection from Renaissance artists like Masolino, di Tito, Ghirlandaio, Lippi and hometown boy, Masaccio. We were the first visitors of the day, and had the museum entirely to ourselves. Being able to get so close to these pieces without setting off alarms was such a treat. Like most artists, I like to examine brush strokes and line work up close, trying to figure out techniques. (In my pre-artist days, I used to zoom through museums, but no longer!) It was thrilling to stand in front of these masterpieces and not feel I had to move so others could see.

Resisting the temptation to visit every painting again, we left and made our way to the church in front of the museum. I have wanted to see this church for some time. It was requested and funded in the late 1000’s by Matilda of Canossa, one of Italy’s most admired leaders of the Middle Ages. I’ve done lots of research over the years on Matilda, and when I can, I visit sites that have an attachment to her. This particular church has retained much of how it looked in Matilda’s time, but unfortunately she never got to visit it in-person. No matter, it was still special to be in one of her legacy churches – I may have been seen hugging a few massive stone columns!

Next stop was to see the Balze of the Valdarno, a series of rock formations that rise out of the landscape in odd formations. Leonardo Da Vinci was so enamoured with them that they appear in the background of the Mona Lisa. So we had to go see what they were all about! They are definitely an unusual sight, peaking out of forested hills, left behind over a hundred thousand years ago after a large lake dried up. So I guess they deserve to be highlighted in the world’s greatest painting!

Now it was time to head to one of Tuscany’s prettiest towns, Loro Ciuffenna. I had heard about this town from a visitor to one of my art shows who does regular music residencies there. And it didn’t disappoint! The colourful city hall with the houses all nestled around it above the River Ciuffenna is a painter and photographer’s dream. We found a great restaurant just off the main square with river views for a delicious lunch of pasta with octopus sauce and salad – Ristorante La Torre. Delicious! And we chatted with the owner, Lorenzo, over coffee about his town, and how, in his opinion, it was one of Tuscany’s best kept secrets. We agreed. Over lunch, I even had time to do a quick sketch of the flower window box near our table.

After our long lunch, we walked around the town in the stifling summer heat but we didn’t mind. We’d had such a great day, filled with awe and wonder and pasta!

When I got back into my studio weeks later, I knew that I wanted to paint Loro Ciuffenna, where our day ended so beautifully and in such a beautiful place.

Thanks for following along on this long-ish travelogue explanation of what inspired this painting! And here’s hoping that there are many more days like this in all our futures!

I almost want to keep this one for myself so before I change my mind, you can find purchasing information if you click here.