Living and learning in Tuscany: Keeping it simple can be sweet!

Looking at birds & turtles in
the Padule di Fucecchio.

Most Americans who visit Italy move at a frenetic pace. They make a list of the must-see places and hustle from city to city, absorbing as much beauty and uniqueness as possible in a short time. We know, because we have done this—but never again. We live in Italy now for about four months a year, and sometimes people ask us what we do there. Well, we just live there, for the most part.

We no longer travel much, unless the purpose is to explore with friends. Otherwise, we just try to live a quiet and slow Italian life as active retirees. So what, precisely, does that entail for us?

On the bridge over the Pescia.

We usually start our mornings by practicing in Italian on Duolingo, reading the news online and playing Words with Friends. For the sake of our health, we each have a morning exercise routine, and during the afternoon we take either a walk or ride on our e-bikes—maybe even a combination ride and walk. We prefer walking in nature rather than in cities, so we have our favorite places: The Padule di Fuchecchio, the Lago di Sibolla, the banks of the Pescia River, and the woods in the surrounding hills.

All that remains of one of the 100 farms.

We recently went to a rather strange archeological area called 100 Roman Farms of the Plain of Lucca. It is a flat area where there is almost nothing to see, because it’s covered with grass, but it runs along the Auser River, which was filled with huge carp splashing and thrashing in the water while mating. The area was used extensively for farming some 2,000 years ago, but all that remains are the outlines of farm-related buildings. Any farming tools found during excavations presumably have been removed and archived. On Friday, we’ll go with some friends to one of the 10 castle cities above Pescia just to walk around and explore a city built mainly in medieval times and largely unchanged since.

At the Padule di Fucecchio, a huge wetland preserve, it’s mating season for egrets and several types of heron, and for some reason, they all build their nests in the same general place. Thus, we saw about 500 birds, squawking and screaming and jostling for the prime nests in a row of trees next to the water. It really must be seen to be fully appreciated!

Picnic lunch at a hillside fortress.

We don’t eat out very often, as that would be expensive, but we do shop for food regularly, which is part of an Italian lifestyle of buying produce and meat that is fresh rather than frozen. Of course, there are the usual chores involved with keeping up a household—washing clothes and dishes, cooking, cleaning and so on. But we purposely bought a home that was, for the most part, already finished, because we didn’t want to spend an inordinate amount of time on remodeling. We have painted a few walls and railings, and in the next few weeks I’ll probably sand and paint the outside surface of our door to the terrazzo.

We could be doing a lot more than we are doing. I could still be writing and selling magazine articles, or even working on a second book. Lucy has made several quilts in previous years, but she doesn’t feel motivated to make them anymore. We could be working harder to improve our Italian, for example by watching more movies or television shows in Italian instead of English. For most of my adult life, I’ve been driven to achieve—in my teaching career, in my asphalt maintenance business, in sports, and even in my church and family life—but now I’m learning to cut back and enjoy the foundations I’ve built upon.

Italians have a phrase, il dolce far niente, which means the sweetness of doing nothing. Maybe I am still driven to achieve. One of the reasons we come to Italy is to learn how to adapt to and assimilate into another culture. So now I’m just doing my best to apply this new principle in my life!