Looking for an unusual Christmas gift? Help a medieval village in Tuscany!

As many of you know, I have fallen in love with the little village of Montalcino in Tuscany. The locals unfortunately can not get rid of me and I return year after year for so many reasons – to soak up the experience of life in a little Tuscan hill town, to slow the rhythm of my life, to feed my soul, to lose myself, to find myself, to connect to the Motherland. I could go on and on. Over the years, I have been invited into the arms of the little neighborhood of Quartiere Pianello, one of four in Montalcino.

The Quartieri (neighborhoods) look to preserve the traditions and culture of this little village

by passing their values down from one generation to the other.  Their ‘sede’ or headquarters is the heart of the neighborhood and events are held throughout the year to give the members a place of belonging.  For over 10 years, the members worked hard to restore their 1,000 year old crumbling medieval church just next to the ‘sede’. And restore it they did! As a result of their focus on the church, the headquarters have now deteriorated (especially the kitchen where we cooked back in October!) and are in desperate need of updating.  The enterprising young members  of Pianello had the great idea to run a crowd funding campaign which we launched on Indiegogo a few weeks ago!  They need help to get their Quartiere back on track so they can continue preserving the value of their heritage….so if you are looking for an unusual gift for Christmas this year, how about heading over to the Indiegogo campaign and taking a look at the cool perks they  have worked out?? You can even purchase their very cool cookbook which features some recipes by Our Italian Table (exciting!!) or even host your own party in Montalcino!! Some fun gift ideas!! And share, share, share with your friends! All monies will go towards upgrading the kitchen, repairing their medieval costumes, buying a second hand little vehicle (called an Ape) and their stretch goal of saving the garden next door from becoming a car park (eek!!)

You can read more about their mission and contribute to the campaign here: LORENZO’S BLUE SHOES AND THE SECRET GARDEN

They have raised just over 50% of their initial goal to date and are excited to keep the momentum going – so if you have a moment today and need an unusual gift, please head over to Indigogo and help out these enterprising villagers! And tell your friends!! They send a BIG GRAZIE for all the efforts!!

xoxo

Michele