Under the Tuscan Sun: My Fave Travel Film

Last week someone asked me what is my favorite travel movie? Well that is really hard to do as they are so many amazing movies out there. Even breaking it down to just movies related to travel is hard. I started thinking about some of the travel greats: Lost in Translation, The Beach, Thelma and Louise, Seven Years in Tibet, Lawrence of Arabia, Wild, and the Bucket List.

There are so many good ones. However one of my favorites has to be Under the Tuscan Sun which was filmed in beautiful Tuscany, Italy. Yes, I know it’s a chick movie (which is why I probably like it), but it is intriguing and inspiring. –

Spoiler alerts are below if you haven’t seen the movie.

It is about a San Franciscan woman named Francis who is a writer struggling with her latest book. Then her world falls apart as she finds out her husband is cheating on her. Wet, he leaves her for the woman he is having the affair with. In this dark time in her life, her best friend Patti gives her a gift of a bus tour of Tuscany. She doesn’t want to go, but eventually decides it is what she needs to escape dealing with the emotions of the divorce.

While on the bus tour she comes across this aged villa in the beautiful Tuscan countryside. It is an aged villa and in need of a lot of work, but it’s hers, and even though she is scared at times, she is determined to make it livable. She hires a bunch of locals and immigrants to do various jobs to repair the villa to its original Tuscan beauty.

What she doesn’t realize is that not only is she rebuilding the villa, she is also rebuilding her life. She makes lifetime friends with these workers and their families. Later she welcomes Patti to stay with her as well.  At one point in the movie she tells a friend that she wants to fill the villa with friends, family and love. At the end of the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, she had all of it.

I know it’s a sappy movie, but it helps me remember, that good can come out of bad things. Your life may not be the way you thought it would be or how you thought it would turn out, but it can be even better. It can throw you for a loop and knock you down, but you just have to get up and keep going. I think that is why I liked the movie Under the Tuscan Sun so much. Have you seen it? If so, what did you think?