One of my favorite movies is a Russell Crowe film from almost twenty years ago called A Good Year. The attraction to me is somewhat obvious. It is the story of a kick-ass London bond trader who inherits an estate in Provence from his uncle, someone he dearly loved but who he ignored for the past decade as he played out his career ambitions. The set-up is that the trader gets suspended for being too callous with other market participants, and while he is checking out his new inheritance property, he begins to remember all of the things that he loved about his Uncle’s estate in Provence, and, of course, he rediscovers the love interest he first encountered at age twelve. The narrative arc of the story is pretty predictable and sure enough, he discovers the meaning of life beyond the trading floor and opts for the bucolic life in Provence and for love rather than work.
As much as I love this particular telling of the story, this is an age-old tale that has been retold in various forms many times. The work/life balancing act is a rich vein of storytelling waiting for the particulars that make the tale charming and endearing. This production hits the mark for me and I am particularly pleased to find that I find it as compelling today as I did when I first saw it twenty years ago. There is something about the world of Provence that intoxicates the senses. This is also true about Tuscany.
Several years ago, Kim and I were flying back from somewhere in Europe and we overheard the couple in front of us talking. They were what we might all agree were members of the nouveau riche. As she flipped through the airline magazine as we awaited take-off, she turned to her husband and asked, “where is Tuscany?” as she looked at the lovely pictures of the Tuscan hills in the magazine. Without hesitation, the husband responded that Tuscany was in Provence as he understood it. While Kim and I looked at each other and bit our lips over this faux pas, the couple went about their merry way, probably wondering when they could arrange their next trip over to Provence to get a look at Tuscany. What it reminded me was that there are certain places that get romanticized due to their native beauty and then get blown up way beyond any reasonable proportion. To these and probably plenty of other less well-travelled people, Provence and Tuscany are just lovely rural areas in Europe where one can get good wine and food and see old villas available for rent.
Next week, Kim and I are headed for Tuscany for a destination wedding of my Goddaughter. We will fly into Rome after a horrendous flight array that has us taking the red eye from San Diego to JFK and then British Airways from Newark overnight to London and finally on to Rome in the late-morning of Day 2 of the journey. It will be a long trek that will only end after a rental car ride north on the Autostrada for several hours to get us to Il Borro, a very upscale resort created by the Ferragamo family out of several villas and an entire hill town. It should be quite a few days of luxury in a lovely setting. While I am looking forward to seeing my friends and the event, I am really looking forward to the several days after the wedding when Kim and I will drive to Cortana and then down through Umbria to Orvieto. Those are some of our favorite spots in Italy even though Umbria doesn’t have the cache that Tuscany enjoys. We will be staying at two separate monasteries that have been converted into boutique hotels outside of each of those wonderful hill towns. It’s been a few years since we’ve spent time in Umbria, but very little ever changes in the area from what I can tell. It’s basically a trip back into the Quatrocento except with good plumbing and high thread count sheets.
I am not back on the trading floor, but I do get mentally dragged back into it all through my expert witness work. I enjoy that process, but am so very glad not to be in the thick of that work environment anymore. The brutishness of the competitive landscape never changes and never gets better. And yet, the calm and sunny pleasure of the French or Italian countryside also never changes but always seems more and more appealing over time. I am fortunate in that I no longer have to choose between the two worlds. I live in the California version of Provence or Tuscany….but actually a lot more like the less well-known Umbria to be more accurate. Wed have all the pleasures of nature and weather without all the added tourists, so Umbria is a better example.
After Umbria and a night at Fiumicino airport, we will fly over Sicily to Malta for a six-day stay in Valletta. We will be meeting some friends there for a quiet week of touring this interesting and poly-cultural island that seems to have been at the crossroads of every conqueror that plied the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. I expect to see Italian (ne, Sicilian), Carthaginian, Spanish, French, Greek, Turkish, Phoenician, Arabic and English culture on overlapping display everywhere we look on the island. It should be interesting trying to sort it all out, especially over a leisurely week that is longer than our usual stay in one place.
This is shaping up to be a good year, indeed. In addition to this wonderful and hopefully relaxing trip through the Mediterranean cultures, we will also enjoy being closer to the new center of what is shaping up as world leadership, this time from the Vatican. Who would have thought that the new pope who would follow the humble and impactful ministry of Pope Francis would have such an important and quick impact on world sentiment. I do not know how to determine what is being attributed to him is all true in terms of things he has said, but from what I can tell, it is both long overdue and a breath for spiritual fresh air.
The recent comments I heard from him were on the subject of the battle against Woke that people like the Trump Administration continue to wage. It was reported that Pope Leo XIV said, “To all who sent prayers, love, and hope as I begin this sacred journey – thank you. l accept this role not as a throne, but as a vow: To serve the forgotten, To uplift the broken, To speak plainly where others stay silent. To be called “woke” in a world that sleeps through suffering is no insult – it is Gospel. Woke means awakened by compassion. Guided by truth. Humbled by grace. Committed to justice – not just for some but for all. So let them mock. Let them sneer. We will still build the Kingdom – not with walls, but with love. Be awake. Be loving. Be woke.”
It’s enough to bring me back to the Church. Whether he actually said it or not is less important than the building belief that Pope Leo XIV stands strong against the forces of evil that have gathered in the past few years. He is showing the sort of spiritual leadership the world needs. Yes, it promises to be a good year.
PS – I have since learned that the quote cannot be attributed to Pope Leo and is thus “fake news”. However, the sentiment is certainly not fake and there is probably nothing in the quote that Pope Leo would disagree with, so it still promises to be a good year.