It's no secret that the whole of Italy was hit hard by COVID-19. Between March 2020 and May 2021, travelers were kept out of the country while it went into lockdown. Since Americans and other travelers have been returning to the country, rest assured that Italy — and from my experience, especially Tuscany — is still as beautiful and bucolic as it used to be.

Deciding to take the big leap into traveling again isn't easy after over a year and a half at home. Living in New York City, an original "center" of the pandemic, also meant that I was acutely aware of the risks even though life in many ways had evolved into a new normal here.