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Tuscany will take your heart, tear it up and leave you coming back for more. I promise, you will return home, aching for the cappuccino, the wine and the bluest sky you've ever seen. How it happens exactly, I cannot say, but I can attest to it myself.

Never mind the late or cancelled trains (causing you to be stranded in a town several miles from your destination), the strikes, the unpredictable store hours or Internet unavailability. Upon your homecoming you will ask others, and will find that they too were sorry they left.

"Why did you return to the States?" you'll inquire, and receive one dutiful answer after another: "I came back for my cousin's wedding," one said, "I only had two weeks off from work," (a likely story) and "I spent all my money," (an easy thing to do there).

And why did I return? My plane was booked and I had to catch it. Yes, another dutiful answer and one I wholeheartedly regret.

I should have stayed there, soaking up the Tuscan sun and olive oil. I didn't even get to Venice or Rome; I spent 12 days in the olive groves. I lived like a local, stopping at the piazza cafe/bar for a cappuccino in the morning and a glass of il vino rosso in the evening. I made friends and, yes, even a lover. I took day trips to the nearby towns, sampled bits of local flavor and watched the Mediterranean Sea crash on the shore.

A palpable life force dominates in Italy - a vitality that fills you up, more than you knew you could be; but then leaves you empty of all your red blood upon your return to the States. An old saying resonates: Italians have two veins; one for caf and one for vino. I wonder, can a displaced Americano have this too?

"This is Italy," becomes a phrase you will hear often. They do things on their time and in their own way. Don't expect to change it. "Go with the flow," may be a phrase you should recite from time to time. Especially, if oh, the last train is cancelled and you find out later from the locals - to never trust the last train. Don't expect to find a store open between 1-4PM, that they will actually open at the time stated, or a train schedule ANYWHERE! Most Italians will be friendly with you if you try speaking in their tongue; but, especially in Tuscany, charades may be your only choice.

Aside from mere trivialities, Italy really is what you've heard:

The romance. Where else can you have a barbecue at a 500 year old villa located in an olive grove, and pluck fresh rosemary and sage from the adjoining fields to throw on the grill? Where

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