VINO · JAZZ
An Evening
in Tuscany
Wine, music, and the long, golden table of the Italian countryside.
Thirty-some years ago an American writer named Frances Mayes bought a crumbling farmhouse outside Cortona and wrote a book about what happened next — the olive trees, the long lunches, the slow and golden days — and a whole generation of readers fell in love with Tuscany through her. Here's the part we love: she still spends part of every year just down the road, in Hillsborough.
For one night, the bookstore becomes a long table in the Italian countryside: a Tuscan spread, a glass of something from the hills around Florence, and music that runs from Puccini — born up the road in Lucca — to the old Florentine serenade Firenze sogna and the Italian swing of the 1930s.
You don't need a word of Italian, or a thing about opera, to belong at this table. You just need to arrive unhurried and stay a while. The room holds 65, and Tuscan time doesn't rush for anyone.
Three Movements
The Tuscan spread, with the band playing the way they'd play in a courtyard outside Florence — unhurried, and in no particular rush to get anywhere.
The lights come down and the room goes quiet for Puccini and Firenze sogna — the Florence that Tuscans have been singing about for a century. The part everyone talks about afterward.
Italian swing from the 1930s and the film music that came after it. The lights come back up, the glasses refill, the night opens out again.
Tickets are live.
Thursday, October 15 · $59 · 65 seats · doors 6:30 PM
The show and a Tuscan spread. Italian wines available à la carte.
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Gypsy Reverie
Gypsy Reverie is an acoustic ensemble rooted in the 1930s Django Reinhardt tradition — gypsy jazz and the café music of Europe, played with a ferocious, elegant intensity you won't find anywhere else in Asheville. They've drawn full houses at City Winery and the Avalon Theater. For Tuscany they turn to Puccini, the Florentine serenades, and the Italian swing that followed.
"Unparalleled musicianship."
"An Evening in Lisbon was wildly successful — truly beautiful. It's the beginning of something very special for Asheville."
"I'm a world traveler, but I don't get to travel much these days — this gave me a chance to connect with that part of myself again."
Back in January
We're dark in November and December. The series picks up in the new year — same room, same 65 seats, a different city each time.
Tickets go on sale closer to the night.
Music by Gypsy Reverie · gypsyreveriemusic.com