Last week, I helped one of my relatives harvest olives at Borgo La Pietraia. Giovanni reflected on his memories of when women collected olives entirely by hand and would place them in the folds of their aprons. We discussed this while watching the gardener use a mechanical weed whacker designed to knock the olives loose from the tree, and he said something wise. (Giovanni has many wise things to say; I call him my Italian Yoda.)

He said that we're no longer at the end of an era. We're firmly at the beginning of a new, very long era. And changes are occurring that we can't barely imagine. But we're also still at a place where we can look back and see how people have lived for centuries, especially in these small villages around southern Italy.  And they are very much worth looking back at because they have so much to teach us.

In this week’s episode, I’ll take you for a walk around Trentinara, one of my favorite small towns in Italy, and share how I look and notice all the small details that reveal so much.

00:17 Harvesting Olives with Giovanni

01:11 Exploring Small Villages in Italy

01:44 A Walk Through Trentinara

03:33 The Charm of Small Towns

08:06 The Wisdom of Small-Town Living

11:53 Revitalizing Small Villages

13:41 Finding and Visiting Small Villages and the Borghi Piu Belli

21:56 Conclusion and Community Invitation

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