I've lived part time in the Lunigiana historic territory of Tuscany for 20 years in a small village, eating local, watching my neighbors make prize winning salami, DOP honey and harvesting the famous Bigliolo beans, which grow in a place that suits them very well, and it's a short walk up the street.

Over the years I've interviewed some of the young people who have returned to create a new Lunigiana, not by ripping out the old and replacing it with a wonky version of Milan, but by taking over old family farms and producing what is known to do well in these mountain valleys, from potatoes to saffron.

I don't fit in to the modern travel mode here, I'm not a young influencer craving a zip line experience, but an archaeologist with a bad back, worse eyes, and a hankering to find connections between the past and the present. I think I've found what I'm looking for, a different corner of Italy where folks make their own food and wine. Come explore it with me.