While Monday’s event won’t be as thrilling as the one in Italy, I am looking forward to tasting some great Brunello in New York and to seeing good friends. I am also really looking forward to my trip to Tuscany to attend the Anteprime 2018 in February. I went for the first time in 2009 and it was so memorable I can’t wait to go back.

I really need to go back and “sciacquare i panni in Arno, an elegant way of saying spend time in Tuscany and speak Italian. Alessandro Manzoni used this phrase in I Promessi sposi. I always use it to say I miss Italy and want to spend some time there.

Like so many foreigners, my first Italian experiences were in Florence. I guess it was meant to be. I used to have a poster of “Room with A View” over my bed. Even the concept of a poster seems so quaint today, but it is true. I think I still have it. I lived with a Florentine for six years and Tuscany remains to this day, a second home to me so much so that my son has the most Florentine of names…Niccolò.