I have just left the main road to S. Ellero and the sensation of drawing close to my journey's end overcomes the mounting tiredness.
I look around me, trying to remember the images that induced me to choose Pitiana for my holiday in Tuscany. When I pass the last houses at Donnini, I see it, and there is no further need to remember: I know that the yellow villa in front of me is Pitiana. I wrote yellow automatically, because this colour, in all its shades, has pursued me at every turn.
The countryside around the villa is dotted with yellow too, the colours of the Roman camomile, yarrow and dandelion flowers: their colours and scents crown the other plants enriching the dishes I tasted during my stay.
In fact it is this dominant taste which brings to mind the flavour of the oil produced by the farm, present in the food and on the table.
In this oil you can almost see the sun, with its enchanting changes of colour at sunset.
The colour yellow stays with me in the evening too, in the light diffused by the old golden lamps and amplified by the festoons of crystal in the hall and dining room.
Pitiana's beauty and charm open a door to the past: as I pass from room to room I imagine monks meditating or architects directing the builders in their villas restoration work; even the computer does not grate with the historical atmosphere - on the contrary, the succession of objects seems to have its own logic.
While it is true to say that we are constantly looking to the future and searching for something new, we should also turn back and look through the memories of time to rediscover old emotions and put on, with nostalgia, at least for a little while, the old clothes of the past.
That is what I found in Pitiana.