“The moment we spotted Pienza from the road, perfectly placed atop the rolling Tuscan hills, I was transfixed. We pulled over to take in the first view of my ancestral town. It was so quiet and the air around me was thick with the smell of burning olive branches. I just knew that was the exact same view that my ancestors saw when riding their horses home after a journey to Firenze to conduct family business or visit a nearby relative.”

The protagonist of our monthly series about traveling to Italy to research one’s roots and visit ancestral towns is Megan Kunze, who shares a story of commitment and perseverance to discovering more about her Italian ancestors.