Tuscany from the Inside

The focus of this post comes from the article "Insider's Tuscany" by Tom Mueller for the National Geographic Traveler. "Tuscany is one of those few, precious things in life - like springtime, Shakespeare, and the power of first love - that cannot be overrated", the lead and the language he uses instantly pulls me in. While I may not consider Shakespeare one of the precious things in life, I must admit I can be a sucker for romance so the idea of the power of first love is quite picturesque; it's a universal lead that allows numerous readers to relate to it. At the end of the introduction paragraph he makes another useful comparison by comparing the size of Tuscany to the size of New Jersey, even if you've never been to Jersey most people know that it's not a big state.

In the next paragraph he provides details like the fact that the Tuscans, "like to call each other toscanacci - nasty old Tuscans - in celebration of their agrarian bluntness and vigor", that give the reader the sense that he knows what he's talking about, he's spent time in this place so that he has seen beyond the superficial level. Shortly after this he emphasizes this trustworthy familiarity when saying, "Tuscans also have an extra helping of what is superficially called passion, but is better termed obsession: an intense, even savage attention to life's fine print". To me this gives me a great impression of what these people are like, they don't overlook the small things, they don't take the small things for granted and they are constantly paying attention to the micro that resides inside the macro picture.

From this intriguing introduction the article then turns into a kind of narrative list of "35 ways to love Tuscany as the Tuscans do", he provides a list of unexpected and un-obvious things that make me want to try a few. He does not simply list the activity or place he includes personal narrative analogies and quotes, bringing life into the list and making it applicable and accsessible to the reader.