[Idyllchat] Buonconvento, Italy

[bmercer985 at aol.com]

  A terrific article about Buonconvento, Italy, in today's New York 
Times Magazine reconfirms what Untourists already know: Idyll chooses 
the best locations for their apartments. The title of the article is 
"It Takes Over a Village" by Maggie Barrett. (Buonconvento is a 
location for apartments in the Tuscany South untour.)

 excerpt from the article:

  "Buonconvento, Italy, population 3,000 has never been on the tourist 
map. Situated in the Val D'Arbia, approximately 12 miles from Sienna, 
it was never considered picturesque enough to compete with nearby 
Montalcino, Pienza and San Gimignano. Three blocks long and three 
streets wide, it has no view, no pottery shops, no fancy 
restaurants...[T]here is no real reason for a tourist to stop here. 
Unless of course...you want to experience what it's like to part of a 
real community where respect for the land and gratitude for what it 
provides are still important."

  The article goes on to describe the "10-day sagra (or harvest 
festival) in September." A dozen locals were interviewed about the 
meaning of the sagra. "...[T]hey all give a variation of the same 
answer: that these 10 days remind them how fortunate they are to live 
here, to experience the seasons, to feel connected to the landscape 
that feeds them and, most of all, to work together-- deliciously -- for 
the good of the town.

  Wonderful to know that such places as Buonconvento actually do exist 
and that I have been there on an Idyll vacation.

 Belinda
 Richmond, VA






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