It’s market day in Cortona
The piazza is an ongoing party,
and everyone is invited.

Clichés converge
at this navel of the world.
You almost want to laugh,
but you can’t help feeling
these Italians know more
about having fun than we do.

I eat a hot grape
from the market,
and the violet sweetness
breaks open in my mouth.

It even smells purple.

 

~Frances Mayes~
Under the Tuscan Sun