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...try this recipe. Pick a destination like
Tuscany and Umbria — one whose storied past and artistic masterworks will captivate your mind, while its echoes of a simpler, saner way of living soothe your soul.
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 Let the beauty of the landscape seen from a distance wash over you. The gentle, rolling Tuscan hills, painted in warm earthen colors. The
small hill towns, perched — like
Orvieto — atop a plateau, its towers and spires piercing the sky, as the silvery green of olive orchards and the darker greens of vineyards wash up the hillside, or carved — like
Assisi — into mountainsides, the native stone of its dwellings melting into the surrounding landscape.
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Then enter the city gates and meander through ancient cobblestoned alleyways, or linger over a cappuccino at an
 outdoor café and watch the morning’s gathering light suffuse the piazza. Join the locals on market day as they shout greetings to one another or haggle with vendors — animated gestures punctuating the lilting, melodious language. Spend two hours at meals, savoring the simple, fresh, delicious food, lovingly prepared, and the sultry, luscious wines of the different regions. And
sink deeply into a centuries-old way of living in the world that returns us to things in human scale and nourishes and refreshes the human spirit.
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