We discovered Cortona 10 years ago.

While we visited many beautiful places in many countries, only the Etruscan village on the hill got an unique and authentic place in our lives and memories. So since 2003, we have been coming back and back: wandering around in the streets of Cortona never gets boring and the gelato from Snoopy on the stairs of the Piazza della Repubblica became a "classico" :-)

The location of Cortona is also exceptional. Close to many of the must-see cities of Tuscany such as Montepulciano, Siena, Pienza, Arezzo, Firenze, etc. But also close to Umbria, hence cities like Perugia, Todi, Spoleto, ... are within car-distance. With Val di Chiana, Val d'Orcia and Crete Senesi (and the "greener" Umbria around the corner), the Cortona area hosts a diverse palette of Tuscan landscapes, truly the most beautiful and authentic part of Tuscany. (We can highly recommend to explore the area by (racing) bicycle to experience the Tuscan nature!)

So no-suprise that an article on Borgo di Vagli in a local magazine caught our immediate attention. We had been checking in the past the pricing of houses in the Cortona area and gave up our dream immediately :-) But the Borgo di Vagli project turned out to be different: with an affordable investment one can become fractional owner of a unique Medieval hamlet! In the summer of 2012 (yes we were again on holidays in Cortona!) we made an appointment with Lee to visit Borgo di Vagli and to better understand the T&C's of the project.

It became a very memorable day ... Not only for us, but also for our fellow-citizens: Patrick and Marleen: as we apparently both decided to test the edges of the strada bianca :-) To make a long story short, we finally had a great lunch with Fulvio, Lee, Patrick and Marleen. And that was the first time we enjoyed the fabulous kitchen of Dina. We made a tour of the hamlet, visited some two-bedroom houses and when we drove back to Cortona late afternoon, we basically made the principle decision to go for it... We had seen with our own eyes that indeed Fulvio re-created a medieval hamlet in a unique and authentic way, superbly located in the Tuscan hills and all this close to Cortona. The fractional ownership value-proposition and the conversations with Lee was also straightforward and honest.

The kids had the final say (but that was easy :-) as they have the same connection with Cortona and Italy and after going through the administrative process we became owners at the end of 2012. We stayed for a first time at Borgo di Vagli during the Easter Holidays: it was a happy reunion with Fulvio, Lee, Stefania and Daria. And already several great dinners in the Trattoria.

To finish on a personal note: We are a family of four, living near (another) medieval city of Bruges (also called "Venice of the North") in Belgium. The eldest daughter (Manon) is already at university, and Mauranne is still at secondary school. Professionally we are both active in the software industry and while at Borgo di Vagli we enjoy the Italian people, culture, food/wine and Tuscan landscape.

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