For David and Scott, retirement in Tuscany has become a story of friendship, belonging and learning to slow down.

A plumber brings a leg of wild boar as a welcome gift. Friends from the piazza cook it and invite everyone to dinner. After a powerful hailstorm, a neighbour helps repair a broken window.

For David and Scott, these are the moments that explain what moving to Cortona has meant. Just a few months after arriving, the town was already becoming more than their new address. Together since 1991, they spent much of their lives in the Washington, DC area. Before Italy, home was a twenty-acre property in Virginia, surrounded by horse farms and overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was beautiful, but maintaining it alongside two demanding careers left little room to slow down.David retired in January 2025 as Chief Counsel for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, overseeing legal services provided by approximately 700 professionals across more than sixty offices. Scott retired in January 2026 as CEO of the American Physiological Society, having previously led the conservation organisation American Forests.

Retirement offered the opportunity to imagine something different. “We wanted an experience that was enriching, stimulating and even a little challenging,” they explain.

The possibility of living abroad had been on their minds for years. Italy became a serious prospect when David emailed Scott a house he had found online in Bagni di Lucca. Scott’s response was simple: what were they waiting for?

Previous holidays had introduced them to Italy’s major cities, its food, history and way of life. But choosing somewhere to live required a different kind of thinking. They wanted a smaller community with cultural opportunities, access to healthcare, friendly people and an established international presence.

Tuscany was on the list from the beginning. Cortona was a possibility, although neither had visited. That changed after they met Nicola Burazzi and the team at Cortona International. Following an initial exchange of emails, they spent a weekend exploring the town and surrounding countryside with Nicola.

One visit proved particularly memorable: Le Celle. Learning about its history, and the wider history of Cortona, helped them picture a life here. “We hadn’t even found a house we wanted, but we knew we wanted it to be in or near Cortona.” The search was no longer simply for a property in Italy. It was for their home in Cortona.

Planning began in 2024, followed by several visits from Virginia over the next eighteen months. There were setbacks along the way: two properties fell through, and the fully renovated home they had originally imagined eventually gave way to a very different choice.

In February 2026, they bought a large apartment in Cortona’s historic centre that required a complete renovation. Their move also involved preparing for permanent residency. Their elective residence visas arrived just a week before their scheduled departure in April - a stressful final stretch after months of preparation. Yet much of the practical experience has been more positive than they expected. They describe helpful officials in Arezzo and Cortona, alongside an architect and contractors whose skill and reliability have made an impression. Nicola and Bianca remained a source of support beyond the purchase itself, accompanying them to appointments and helping with translation.

Having bought and sold several properties in the United States, David and Scott had plenty of experience working with real estate professionals. What stood out here was the continuity of the relationship: help did not end when the transaction was complete.

Their social life in Cortona began before the permanent move. Ahead of a month-long house-hunting visit in August 2025, Scott posted in the Cortona Expats and Friends Facebook group to introduce them and explain their plans. Invitations followed. They met dozens of residents over aperitivi and dinners.

Meanwhile, Nicola and Bianca introduced them to people through the house search and the practical business of preparing for life in town.

Since arriving permanently in April, those early connections have continued to grow. Familiar faces, conversations in the street and everyday encounters with shopkeepers, neighbours and local business owners have become part of their routine. Friends have also helped them find essential services, from healthcare to a veterinary clinic for their cairn terrier, Hamish - now affectionately known as Giacomo.

For David and Scott, the welcome has carried a particular significance. “As an older, married gay couple, we naturally had concerns about how we would ‘fit in.’ The response from the community has completely erased those concerns and made us feel like we belong here.”

That sense of belonging lives in ordinary gestures: an invitation, practical help, a conversation that becomes a friendship. And, occasionally, an unexpected gift of wild boar that becomes a shared dinner.

As they learn Italian and take part in more organised community activities, they hope those connections will deepen further.

Daily life now has a different rhythm. There are walks with Hamish, carefully navigating neighbourhood cats and the vehicles that offend his “Scottish soul.” There is coffee and a cornetto, a stroll through the Parterre overlooking the Val di Chiana, or time on a bench in Piazza della Repubblica, listening to conversations and catching an occasional sentence in Italian.

Afternoons sometimes call for a nap. Evenings might mean a cocktail at Il Solco, dinner at home when Scott feels like cooking, or a meal at one of the town’s restaurants. Retirement is also making room for interests that once competed with work. Scott is pursuing artistic and creative projects more seriously. David is discovering the pleasure of having less to do.

They are clear that life is not perfect. The internet can stop working; small frustrations still arise. But after years of high-pressure professional life, they are learning to see inconveniences as temporary, rather than allowing them to set the pace of the day. Piano piano, they are learning to slow down. Asked to describe life in Cortona in a word, they choose “sublime.”

The renovation is still under way, their Italian is a work in progress, and there is plenty left to discover. Yet some of the most important foundations are already in place: familiar faces, people to turn to and invitations that make a new town feel like home