Picture of the Week #13 "A Window in Loro Ciuffena"

Picture of the Week #13 - February 23, 2009 - "A Window in Loro Ciuffena" Loro Ciuffena, Italy 2000. I spent the summer of 2000 traveling about France and Italy. I rented this charming farmhouse in Loro Ciuffena in the heart of Tuscany for a month. I remember that you had to drive off the paved road onto a dirt road and off of the dirt road and drive through a vineyard. The vines brushed your car on both sides, that was how narrow the path was. The house and the vineyards were owned by a wonderful old man named Bruno, who as it happened was an artist. An artist who never exhibited. He only painted for himself and his family. The home was filled with his work. Nothing exceptional, but done with great love and a primitive approach that evoked a spiritual quality to each image. Every day he would leave me a bottle of red and white wine from his vineyard. He never charged me as he was proud to have an American drink his wine. I loved living in Loro Ciuffena even if I couldn't speak the language and at the time most restaurants did not accept credit cards. And this was before the internet. It was like going back in time. This image of the bedroom window brings back those wonderful memories. There is a mystical quality to the picture and the painting that hangs next to the window in Loro Ciuffena.