We walk into an olive grove near the sea at Venturina, where a digger driver nicknamed Michelangelo lifts boulders into place like a sculptor. He works for Nicholas Hopton, the former British ambassador to Yemen, Qatar, Iran and Libya, who traded some of the toughest postings on the planet for an old farmhouse in Tuscany.
Hopton spent 35 years in the diplomatic service and also served at the British Embassy in Rome. He tells us why the Maremma won out over Chianti, what visitors come here for, and why negotiating with a Tuscan builder, a geometra, and the town hall matched or exceeded the challenges of Tehran or Tripoli.
It is the story of a diplomat, a farmhouse, and a quiet act of restoration carried out one olive tree at a time.
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