It was a very unusual stopover for me in that I had a car accident less than 1km from the house after driving 1100km that day from northern France (beware Google maps satnav as it suggested I should turn around when I was on the right road, which effectively led to the accident). Luckily I wasn't hurt, but I had already received a text from Raffaela asking if all was ok. Within minutes she had come to help and I ended up limping the car home and following her wise insistence to drive me to have some dinner. The local restaurant of her choice was fantastic with local produce prioritised and very tasty (and great value) pizzas. Plied with local red wine, I went back to enjoy her lovely and historic house and slept like a log in my comfortable bed. After an early breakfast, she really went out of her way to sort my car repairs, taking me nearly 20km to her local garage, who immediately rescued my vehicle, did the repairs and called us in little over an hour to say it was roadworthy again. She also drove me out of her way to find an ATM and we returned to a delicious lunch of local tomatoes, ham and parmesan, plus the best focaccia I have had in a while. In my spare hour I had walked around the vineyards just behind her house, laden with thick grapes and she brought out a sun lounger so I could sit by the pond and watch the carps and goldfish. It was perfect idyll in a quiet rural farming backwater just minutes from the highway. I will return and hopefully stay longer...