After leaving their home in Soriano, Carlo and Marilyn take us through the town, up into the hills above the town, to what they call 'the farm'. At the end of a number of twisty, narrow dirt roads, we come to an iron gate, which Carlo unlocks.. A few hundred meters later, we come to an old stone farm house, long since abandoned. Olive, chestnut and walnut trees are all around.. Carlo tells us how his mother planted them and how he has great memories of the farm, which is set up in the terraced fashion, whereby flat levels are set up on the hillside to enable cultivation. Carlo tells us how bread and chicken were made in the outdoor oven, and how horses and cows were sheltered beneath the house. He points across the valley to a large canopy of trees, telling us how he remembers his sister being born in a house there, beneath the trees, during the war, in 1944. He remembers how the family lived there during the war, sustained by the vegetables and animals they raised there... Soriano, I'm interested to learn, was bombed by the Germans in 1943, after the Italian surrender to the Allies.

Incredible. Our time with Carlo and Marilyn is time I will never forget.. Because they are family. Because they've been so kind to show us their section of the world. Because this is the real Italy, as important as the crowded monuments that is all that a lot of tourists get to see. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.