Massimo Meucci (The Great One!) –

How we know him – Massimo was one of the first people we met in Italy. He was responsible for showing the castle to us on that fateful first day that we encountered it. Following our tour of the castle, he drove with us to the kids school to see how long the commute would take. At the time, we spoke very little Italian and he speaks no English, but there was just something special about Massimo, something that we would learn later…

What he does – He owns a gardening company that services the castle among other properties. Gardening in Italy is a bit different than in the US. Massimo knows more about plants and flowers than anyone we know. I’m not sure what formal education he has on the subject, but he’s certainly not just a “Mow and Blow” type gardener. He’s a landscape artist/ horticulturalist

Our Friendship –

Massimo is the person that we can rely on most to make sure that our best interests are being taken into account. You may recall that he and his wife Paula invited us to dinner for their anniversary back in late September. They welcomed us into their family with open arms from nearly the first day we met.

We have gone for the day by train to Pisa together, have had several dinners and lunches together, gone bowling with one another and will be spending time together at their beach rental in early June.

Massimo is such a thoughtful man. One Sunday morning as an example, our phone rang. It was Massimo, telling me to go down to my car as he left a surprise for me. When I went downstairs on that cold winter morning, inside the car was a gift package from Georgio with fresh pastries to enjoy with our Sunday morning coffee.

Interesting Quip – You know the old saying “Never Judge a Book by Its Cover”? Anna says it best when describing Massimo, “He’s so deceivingly sophisticated. At first glance the impression would not be that of someone who knows fine food, fine wine, and fine olive oil. He definitely understands a lot about the better things in life.”

I’ll never forget the night of Anna’s surprise birthday party when Massimo said to me “Your family is now a part of my family.” It brought tears to my eyes.