Wedding in Tuscany

Is it allowable, to duplicate the wedding of friends for your own selfish purposes? Because I truly could not imagine a more perfect location or wedding than the one I just got back from in Tuscany. My friends Jen and Leigh commandeered the movie-set-perfect Borgo Casabianca for an entire long weekend. The villa is in a small town called Asciano, about 90 minutes from Florence.

It was all so very Stealing Beauty. I kept waiting for them to play Nina Simone.

Do you see what I mean? This was the wedding dinner, where chandeliers hung from the trees and flowers were in abundance.

Borgo Casabianca was so severely beautiful, it was eye-watering. (The more I travel, the less I need. Although I still like free wifi, which Casabianca has!) That bed was pretty damn comfortable, and what you can’t see is all the EXTRA PILLOWS they provided. And the chocolates.

We went to Pienza one afternoon. It was like a postcard. (A UNESCO World Heritage Site too.)

I had this for lunch in Pienza. I have no idea where. It was a small place, with a triangular courtyard. This was amazing. So simple.

Later that afternoon, we went to Montepulciano and enjoyed a wine tasting at Contucci Cantine. I am an equal opportunity wine drinker, but I don’t think Montepulciano is my favorite. Also, there was too much talking and too little wine on this tour. (Sorry, American in me.) A very historical place though, if that’s your thing.

And then our friends Jen & Leigh got married, and it was beautiful. So amazingly beautiful. And then we packed our bags to leave, but not before heading to the Casabianca kitchens for this beautiful mess…

Pici, which is a thick hand-rolled spaghetti, with a meat sauce. So simple, so perfect, so good.

And one for the road. Ciao ciao.