BEYOND THE HILLS, THE RED TUSCAN LAND MEETS THE SEA
I'll be spending 4-weeks this summer working as a private chef in Italy! This probably doesn't come as a shock to those of you know me. Packing up my apartment, putting things into storage and taking off with a one-way ticket is just another adventure in the life of CHEEKY. Sometimes when I run into friends in New York, the first thing they ask is if I'm living here now and for how long. "Design a life you love and never look back."
The nearest town is the medieval village of Capalbio in Maremma Grossetana, an area of southern Tuscany (just 90-minutes north of Rome). Villa Pinciana is part of a 54-hectares wine estate in the Maremma. The landscape is a perfect blend of leafy rows of vineyards lining rolling hills, cyprus trees along dirt roads, blackberry bushes and rosemary near the driveway, sage colored olive orchards and a small "orto" vegetable garden behind the house. During aperitivo, we drink wine on the veranda and you can watch the sun set over the walled village of Capalbio nestled on the hilltop.
I worked at this winery for a month in the summer of 2013 cooking for lovely people from London, Rome and Zurich. Now I'm returning to cook for Swiss clients as they rent this gorgeous home on the Villa Pinciana winery property. The photo above is the saltwater pool in the backyard of the villa where I will live! Every morning, I wake up and run to town to get a coffee in my favorite bar, bullshit and flirt with the locals, buy some freshly baked bread then head back to the house. I will be cooking for two families on holiday and I am responsible for breakfasts and dinner every day, with a few hours in the afternoon to catch some sunny rays on my bike rides to the sea. non è male
Now, if I can avoid my tomato farmer boyfriend from two summers ago, all will be well in the Maremma.
Off to Grosseto!