Chianti Connections

By Julianna Mileto | International Food & Culture Class

There are countless things I miss about Florence, my home away from home.

Florence gave me a whole new community of friends, places to travel, information to learn, and most importantly memories to form. With seven airports and eight flights in between me and JFK, I had a lot of time to reflect on the life I had overseas. A lot of those memories were created over a glass of wine surrounded by good company.

This Florence program gave me a whole new world of experiences. Ranging from singing at the top of our lungs at the Thanksgiving celebration while sipping happily on grapefruit champagne at Machiavelli’s vineyard, to cracking jokes with friends and faculty on our Lavacchio trip.

That day at Machiavelli’s vineyard, the sun had set against the most beautiful landscape I’d ever seen in my life. Faculty and students alike had come together in a loving celebratory mood that was infectious. Not a single soul wanted the evening to end. We were simply content with being in each other’s kind and encouraging company.

The knowledge that our first semester abroad was coming to a close was in the back of our minds. We came together in such love that it poured out of every person there. Even the most reluctant and professional professors were infected by the energy of everyone there. That evening we took more pictures than we’re proud to admit and held all our friends close because the moment was magical.

That wouldn’t be the last time we felt that magic.

Halfway through the Spring semester, we were taken on a Valentine’s day excursion to Lavacchio vineyards, where we not only toured but were able to be ‘wined and dined’ by our most special Valentine: FSU. Faculty and students came together and created long-lasting memories as we drank glasses of Chianti. Just like Thanksgiving, the energy on the trip was irresistible. No one drew lines between faculty and student body, instead we were all just old friends enjoying each other’s company, as well as our newfound furry friends courteously shared with us by our friends at Lavacchio vineyard.

The love in the air was palpable. Maybe it was because we were all one our third glass of Chianti, but there wasn’t one unhappy face present that day. With stomachs full of amazing traditional Florentine food and Chianti Classico we couldn’t help but smile. Somehow we were all lucky enough to be on that vineyard, on that gorgeous day, with these special people, drinking that earth-shattering wine. After experiences like these, I count myself a truly lucky person. Lucky to have been able to witness beautiful sights, meet amazing people, and drink some damn good wine.