Abandoned wine farm

Just an abandoned winery during our walk in the fields around our stay in Civitella, Val di Chiana Tuscany. Time seems to have stood still here. A pick-up truck overgrown with bushes with an open door must have been there for many years. A covered? swimming pool with vegetation on top and a rusty frame of a garden tent. Beautiful house with garage and sheds. A knock on the door but no one opens.

Walk around the house and there is a chick of a bird of prey staring at me anxiously. Goosebumps on my arms because where are the parents and maybe they will attack me from behind. I slide open a bolt of a door on which a screeching alarm goes off.

Come on Siena & Giulia, get out of here before a farmer with a rifle or even worse the Carabinieri shows up. Sweaty and panting from running through the fields I return to my love from this adventure. Siena & Giulia also throw themselves on the cold floor after quenching their thirst. We won't see them for a while.

You come across these kinds of abandoned farms everywhere in Italy. Luca told me that the asking price, including 30,000 m2 of land with olive groves, vineyards and swimming pool was €600,000 a few years ago, but that the price had dropped to €400,000. Something for you? he asked. No, I said, the moment you own property abroad, your holiday is over. There is still so much beauty to see in the world and that is why we hardly ever go on holiday to the same place twice.

Arnie Della Rosa