Hello everyone, my name is Barbara.
In just a few lines, I would like to tell you why we started preparing meals and offering cooking classes to our guests at Villa Rosa dei Venti.
It all began in 1920, when Felice Acciai married Angiolo Micheli.
Felice was my paternal great-grandmother. Shortly after marrying Angiolo, she spent her youth in the brick house in Creti, which has now become Villa Rosa dei Venti. She raised and fed four sons who, over time, married and continued to live on the farm with their own families. In that historical period, survival depended on having many hands to work the land.
The eldest son, my grandfather Ezio, was born in 1925, and the other three brothers were born over the following ten years. In 1939–40, the Second World War began. Those were very difficult times for everyone, especially for my grandfather Ezio, who at the age of 19 was called to the front in 1944.
The war brought hunger and destruction, but the good fortune of the Micheli family was living in the countryside and having great-grandmother Felice, an exceptionally skilled cook. She was able to cook for the entire family using what the seasons and the land provided, without eating much meat, because farm animals had to be sold at the weekly market.
As the years passed, the family continued to grow, and Grandma Eugenia, the wife of Grandpa Ezio, began helping great-grandmother Felice with the daily preparation of meals, thus learning the secrets of cooking. As Grandma recalls, even the poorer cousins moved to the farm to live with the great-grandparents so they could eat. At one point, more than 35 people—adults and children—were living on the farm that is now Villa Rosa dei Venti.
Fortunately, the chickens laid eggs every day, so fresh pasta became the main dish.
After the war, the younger members of the family moved to nearby cities—Arezzo, Florence, Rome—in search of new jobs, while our grandparents Ezio and Eugenia decided to remain in the countryside. They built a new house on top of the hill, where my grandmother Eugenia, now 103 years old, still lives today, just a few meters from the farm they once shared with great-grandparents Felice and Angiolo.
Our parents, Rino and Ornella, also moved away for a few years, but our father's dream was always to renovate the villa and offer the whole world the opportunity to discover our history and the wonders of our land.
As tradition dictates, my grandmother Eugenia taught her daughter-in-law Ornella—my mother—and me, her granddaughter Barbara, how to cook the dishes of our tradition. This time not to feed 35 family members, but to introduce guests from all over the world, staying at Villa Rosa dei Venti, to the delights of our cuisine, made of simple products and conviviality.
As we know, in life we do not decide when we are born or when we die. Now that our parents have passed away, we children—Barbara and Stefano (the fourth generation)—carry on what our great-grandparents and grandparents kept alive, and what our parents Rino and Ornella restored and, through many sacrifices, brought back to its former splendor.
Today, by my side, there is Chiara, my sister-in-law. Together we continue to cook traditional Tuscan dishes and share with our guests the aromas, flavors, and techniques needed to prepare simple yet delicious meals using fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Stefano, in addition to taking care of the villa's garden, the swimming pool, and the estate, tastes our dishes—just to make sure we don't lose the flavors and tastes we grew up with as children.
Grandma Eugenia is 103 years old and has the wisdom of a woman from another time. Still in great shape, she repeats with the same passion as always:
"To cook, you need patience, love, joy, and a pinch of madness; with your hands, a knife, and fork, you can prepare delicious meals."
See you soon. We look forward to welcoming you.
Barbara Micheli
