I came across this photo on Twitter, and I’m not sure what place this photo depicts. But I’m sharing it because it comes close to depicting probably my ideal vision of “village life” in Europe or European-style American communities.

A sort of oasis of community, tucked between mountains and nestled amongst the hills, with rising steeples and signs of industrial life and aesthetically meaningfully architecture, all within a physical space that can be experienced in its entirety on foot while peeking in shop windows, saying hello to neighbors and making new friends, and ultimately coming to your own little home amidst it all.

At least from this angle, it looks like the polar opposite of the atomized sort of communities we’ve built through suburbanization.