San Pancrazio, Arezzo, Tuscany

In a hillside village off a two-lane road (today a major thoroughfare) leading from Valdarno to Siena, a transfomation was taking place. I'd first visited in the village sometime around the late 2000s. In the middle of the main piazza of San Pancrazio sat a large stone structure with a plaque marking civilians who'd been killed as the front passed through, the majority of them men. We eventually went on to produce a piece for a long-running CNN documentary series about the front sweeping through Tuscany pushing the Germans further north. Mussolini had fallen and Italians had joined the fight against Hitler. Thousands of Tuscan villagers were killed during the retreat, men, women, and children, their villages burned to the ground. In San Pancrazio, nearly all the men were shot and later burned just before English troops arrived.

After the program aired, I received an email from a young Swede who'd seen the show in his hotel room. He lived in San Pancrazio. Would we like to meet? From that moment, our friendship grew. He'd grown to love the area with its stunning views over the Valdambra, adjacent to Valdarno. By then, younger folks were moving closer to the valley to be closer to work. There were a few handfuls of villagers living in town with few services (no post office or pharmacy except a small grocery store where you could grab a pastry and coffee, household essentials, a newspaper. Our friends, John and his parents, were there for good and were welcomed into the small community. They bought a terraced house that became a rental property. More people came to San Pancrazio and when the woman who ran the store decided to sell, our friends bought it and kept her on to manage the store, today, a lovely wine bar/grocer's stocked with a good selection of wine, gourmet foods and fresh fruit and vegetables. As weather warms, it's become a favorite place to meet friends for a spritz or prosecco while looking out at the changing light over the valley as sunset falls.

Our friends have continued to lay tracks here, injecting life into the village again. Over time, they purchased a few properties (one, belonging to a titled family) and created a small luxury hotel and bright, art-filled restaurant that exudes warmth and Scandi-Italian hospitality that serves guests inventive seasonal fare. Not long after Palazzo Tiglio opened, we had dinner there that was a aesthetically pleasing to the eye as it was delicious. I'm a novice food critic, however, I know and trust my palate. You can read my review that, to my surprise, has racked up thousands of views.

All that being said, San Pancrazio merges the best of two worlds: a steady stream of visitors from all over gives a boost to the local economy while the unhurried pace of village life reigns. San Pancrazio still exudes authenticity. One hopes that the younger generations will safeguard its history