An Annual Recap of Things That Are Just Different Here in Tuscany

Italians don’t “jerry-rig” things, they know how to fix them – and they keep fixing them until they are absolutely unfixable. Not only until then will they throw them out, no matter how many centuries old, or out of fashion they may be.

The Italian food police are real, and they are taking inventory of how much you eat and how much water you drink.

Italians don’t use paper towels for everything. ESP when it comes to cleaning the house and windows. They use old clothes that couldn’t be fixed or that they couldn’t convince their children to wear anymore.

They still use homemade and homeopathic remedies for colds and sicknesses, and the paraphernalia in the medicine cabinet is impressive – and it works.

Doctors will advise you with their honest opinion, not with the interests of big pharma behind them.

Even in the winter you open the windows of your house daily to let fresh air in – and when it gets cold you deal with it and put on a sweater.

You hang your comforter out in the sun and fresh air often. Duh.

There is virtually no “waste” of food. Italians know how to make some of the best recipes with the “waste” and if not it goes into compost.

That compost fertilizers their garden. They eat the vegetables from their garden and don’t typically buy imported specialties, even if it means cabbage, squash and cauliflower for a whole winter. For sure they will trade some produce with their friends.

They forage for truffles and mushrooms come the Fall – and people will gift you these if you’re lucky.

They are very busy in the summer preserving the summer harvest of fruits and vegetables for the slimmer pickings of the winter.

There are nut trees everywhere and your children know how to crack them open to eat better than you.

You often hang out with “old people” because they are not only watching your children’s friends but your children and the neighborhood as well – and they are the gatekeepers of the past and reminders that there was a time when all there was to eat was salt in water or a splash of wine. History is not just a fairytale they teach you at school.

You should make children feel special. You should recognize their presence when they enter a room. They are our teachers and pathfinders as well.