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In the small Tuscan town of Fiesole, I had a dreamlike experience that simultaneously engaged my imagination and made me feel serene and restored. As I wandered the labyrinthine streets and tried to take in all the cypress trees and roofs that covered the distances, I found myself being filled with light and softly lifted out of the linear time-space continuum. I let my thoughts merge with the deeply warm atmosphere and the changing scenes from history that went through my mind. I also felt somehow at home – as though I had lived there at some point in the past. A lucky friend of mine once spent a year living in Florence, where she immersed herself in the studies of printmaking and photography. When I decided to spend a week in the same part of the world, I asked her to recommend me a little town that I could visit in Tuscany. I’m the sort of person who likes to focus the intensity of her attention on a smaller area, so I can establish a routine and really take in the details. There was enough history and art in Florence itself for me to be enraptured by for a period of six days. Yet it seemed a shame to not experience another part of a region that itself always looks like the background in a Renaissance painting. I wanted to view it all from the top of a hill. And so I took a day trip to an elevated spot that my friend recommended, without really knowing anything about it. I immediately learned that Fiesole is an anthropologist’s dream come true. In one concentrated space, you can find layers of entirely different cultures that had, at one time or another, picked a strategic settlement spot high up on a hill. I explored a site that had the remnants of Etruscan walls, a Roman amphitheatre and baths, and the skeletal remains of wandering Gothic tribespeople. I found myself so absorbed in exploring the ruins and artifacts that I nearly missed my ride back to the city – and I even bought a reproduction of an obscure Etruscan statue that I knew my mother had been fascinated by. The statue is a 3-D depiction of an elongated human shadow. It has an abstract, modern look – I wouldn’t have guessed the shape was designed in a civilization that existed in the year 900BC. You don’t necessarily have to be a history nerd in order to enjoy this town. You can just observe the entirety of Florence and all those rolling hills from an incredible vantage point. Even if you think you’re easy to distract, you may find yourself zoning out into a gentle daydream as you take in a multitude of painterly moments. The people will most likely leave you to it. It’s a perfect day trip for an introvert. If you would describe your personality in the opposite terms, you might still find yourself turning into an introvert for the day and undergoing a peaceful inner reflection. When I returned to the more populous world below, something within me felt calmed down and regenerated. The usual modern-day static of information overload was replaced by a renewed capacity to muse and imagine. I can imagine Fiesole being the backdrop of a romantic scene or an atmospheric thriller – depending on the light and the editing. I’m a little surprised that more people haven’t unravelled the cinematic nature of this location for their own social media visuals. You can project almost any mood and any period in history onto this warm bit of alternate reality on top of a hill.