San Vito

Except for the tropical greenery, the rolling hills around the bustling hilltop town of San Vito could be mistaken for a Tuscan landscape. The town actually owes its 1952 founding to 200 Italian families who converted forest into coffee, fruit, and cattle farms. The Italian flavor lingers in outdoor cafés serving ice cream and pastries and an abundance of shoe stores. A statue dedicated to the pioneros stands proudly in the middle of town. San Vito is also the center of the Coto Brus coffee region. Many coffee pickers are from the Guaymí tribe, who live in a large reserve nearby and also over the border in Panama. They're easy to recognize by the women's colorfully embroidered cotton dresses.