been there, done that

A few days ago I was asked by an old friend living in
Rome to help him find a location for a movie to be 

so I ventured out through old gravel roads looking for
neglected plants and factories with a brooding
post-industrial mood. I suppose that my dear friend,
an experienced playwright, is about to spend the
summer toying with the idea of directing a movie
asking his trusted friends to seek ”jewels out of
sight” as he pointed out. I was honestly in need of 

a break and a daycation under the bright summer sun 

touring the Tuscan countryside on its 'strade bianche', 

or 'white roads' as we call the old unpaved roads climbing 

up the steep hills full of vineyards and cypress trees, 

rusted iron ceilings, tall smokestacks, brick walls and huge 

glass windows. Overgrown and deserted, shady and covered 

with dust and debris (strangely with not a single tag or 

graffiti), it instantly took me back to a bygone era
when everything was quite different.