Not all villages are the same. Here are the signs that tell a living town from a postcard for tourists.
The first sign is the sound. In an authentic village, at nine in the morning, you hear the bread coming out of the oven, the shutters opening, someone calling from a window. Not the distracted chatter, but everyday life.
The second is the workshop: if behind the counter there is still someone who produces — the cheese, the lace, the wine — and not only someone reselling souvenirs, you are in the right place. The third is the table: a short, seasonal menu, in the dialect of the place, is worth more than a thousand reviews.
We choose these villages one by one, and we entrust them to those who were born there. Because an authentic village isn't visited: it is frequented, even just for two days, as a friend of the place would.