Painting in Italy had always been a dream of mine. This experience in Tuscany brought together my passions for painting, travel, teaching, and history. After leading my college art students on trips to study art in Italy, I sought out a small school for myself in a remote part of Tuscany. Finding little connection with the other adults there, the director arranged for me to work in an empty 15th-century manor. From its ancient wooden stable door, I gazed out at the sun-drenched summer landscape. Intriguingly, the director was researching whether this very manor was the site of The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci (1472), as its details seemed to match precisely.