Autumn in Umbria
When is autumn in Umbria?
Well autumn here is officially September, October and November. But with the mild climate it is really when we get to late October/early November that the traditional signs of autumn start to creep in. Fires start to be lit and the dark evenings take effect once the clocks go back.
Where we live there are largely non-deciduous trees so we don’t get those wonderful banks of autumn colour that you get in some parts. We get the odd splash of colour as shown in this image ‘Along the White Top Road’.
I explored what the Italian seasons mean to me in another blog post.
Signs of autumn
Given that we don’t have such a lot of the classical deciduous trees, the ‘fall’ is left to other trees such as the fig trees we have around our house. As you can see in the image ‘Blending into the Scenery’, the leaves of the fig tree are turning yellow. They will eventually fall and make a complete mess in my little enclosed cat garden!
Of course the countryside provides other clues of autumn. Hunting season is now in full swing and you regularly hear shot guns on the designated hunting days as the small groups of hunters and their dogs go after the wild boar. We keep our heads down and hope the cats keep safe – we have had several cats killed by hunting dogs.
Olive picking has been in full swing for the last three weeks and will continue until the end of November. Olive fly has hit the locality again. Some people have had no olives that could be picked whilst others have had a good crop. The land shows the signs of olive picking! There are discarded olive branches and the tracks of tractors and the mechanised tree shakers show clearly on the land between the olive trees.
Marvelous light for photography
As the sun is lower in the sky, the towns and countryside take on a different look. Long shadows contrast with bright sunlight but you get some wonderful effects as a result. You can see this in ‘Light On The Way Up’ which shows how the low light has bounched off the side of the house. It has lit up the outside stairs in an interesting way.
What do we do with ourselves in autumn?
I am often asked what we do with ourselves up the mountain when the nights start to draw in. Well actually autumn in Umbria is quite a hive of activity. What with the Eurochocolat festival in Perugia in October, the big Fieri dei Morti market in November, new wine and Winter Jazz in December. All of which I talked about in my column in CQ International Magazine. Here is how I summarised our experience of autumn in Umbria:
“… worn out from olive picking, vaguely tipsy from new wine and feeling sick from eating too much chocolate, with blisters on our feet from walking round the market several times and with a credit card that is no longer speaking to us, we will crawl into December and welcome long evenings in front of the log fire as the cold weather starts to arrive. But don’t feel too badly for us as we have the Umbria Jazz Winter event to keep us occupied over the final days of the year and into the New Year.”
Purchase My Images Of Autumn/Fall in Central Italy
You can browse my collection of fall/autumn images at my Pictorem (free shipping in North America) and RedBubble (worldwide shipping) stores.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
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Thank you for reading!
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