Under The Tuscan Sun With A Tuscan Tablescape, Revisited!

Under The Tuscan Sun With A Tuscan Tablescape!

Friends, I have been working on my old archives and trying to update a few, which some days make me go one step forward and two steps back, if you know what I mean.  However, I remember this tablesetting well and I really enjoyed setting this table as I had watched the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” one Saturday afternoon on TV.  I have to laugh at some of the old photos..the lighting, etc.  BTW as I look back at some of these older posts, I smile because I think…where is that particular plate?  I have not seen it in years. Knowing me, it is still here because I find it hard to part with any of my dishes.  I do still have the pieces on this table…minus the fruit of course. 🥰 Plus, I have not changed my dining area much…same table, chairs, wall paint, etc. and that is a little embarrassing, considering this was about 8 years ago.🥴 So lets go back in time and revisit this table.

I have Tuscan on the brain….And I can’t help remembering the movie “Under The Tuscan Sun”!…one of my all time favorite movies because it was about Italy, Tuscany, romance and fixing up an Italian Villa.  Bet Ya Didn’t know that Our home has a Tuscan name!  Villa de la Luna!

And we have a courtyard………and we eat at a table by the pool and we,…..ok, you get that I like Tuscan, don’t you? 

I especially love playing with my dishes….and when I went to the Farmer’s Market and saw those wonderful heirloom tomatoes with their Tuscan hues,…and  I saw the tomatillos, and the red, green and purple grapes, I just had to load my straw bag, with fresh veggies and fruits and rush home to set a Tuscan Table!

Sigh!  I couldn’t help it.

A force was moving me right along and I had no choice but to flow with it.

Several years ago I found the rust-rimmed salad plates with 4 special recipes printed right on the face of the plate.  I knew the right time and place would pop up and I could use them in a Tuscan Tablescape.  I love tall vases and I had purchased two of the clear vases on sale at either Marshals or  TJMax.  In my haste to grab up my bargain, I didn’t realize that the vases were not the same size.

One vase is actually 1/4 inch shorter.  Normally, that is not a problem, but when you are setting a table with a book-end effect….they really should be the same size to mirror the other end of the table.  These don’t.

But that is ok. They are large and I believe “large” makes a statement.  I placed red, yellow, orange and green cherry and grape tomatoes in each of the vases.  I also added green tomatillos and maroon heirloom tomatoes.  Then I topped the large vases with clusters of red, green and purple grapes. 

For the centerpiece, I used a cream colored vase with brown bottom and filled it with yellow sunflowers, rust colored zinnias, and orange dahlias, which I placed on top of a burlap table runner.  I placed a couple artichokes on each side of the vase to match the artichokes on one of the salad plates.  The chargers are rattan, carrying out the rustic theme. 

The white plates hold the recipe salad plates and the flatware is the “stick” bronze which also adds to the Tuscan flavor.  For napkins, I chose two.  A white one and a rust colored one which I put one inside the other and clasped with a rustic wood napkin ring.

The amber stemware was a purchase from the Dollar store, while the water glasses were from Pier 1 about 18 years ago…(that would make it about 26 years ago now)  I used votive candles in crystal candle holders, because I like the juxtaposition of the rustic and the classic.

The music was playing softly ….the strains of Andrea Bocelli and Il Volo, while I put the finishing touches on the chicken piccata, mushroom risotto and green salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing!

Dessert?  Tiramisu, of course!  Altho….I seriously considered cannoli stuffed with cream and tiny chocolate chips!

What a magical evening and I felt we were back in Italy……Under the Tuscan Sun with a Tuscan Tablescape right here in SW Florida!

Make every day a special day, and enjoy the pleasures you are blessed with.

 

Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”