I just love Autumn! I really mean that – Autumn has that magical something that wakens my senses and has an amazing power of making me feel alive. I am overcome by the crisp air that stings my eyes in the morning and bubbles in my lungs when I breathe deeply, the colours and the special kind of light that slowly flutters over the hilly landscape takes my breath away. The season starts with the bluish purple shades of grapes that are harvested in September and October and ends with the dark black olives that are harvested in November and December... which turns into a dark green oil. The intense shades of brown of the proudly found porcini mushrooms, the shiny chestnuts ready to be roasted on the side of the roads... the orange hues of the leaves or the persimmons hanging off the bare branches and dark red pomegranates looking like natural early Christmas decorations... It's an enrapture of the senses – sounds, smells and sights! When you open the windows in the morning and you let the mists move in, you hear hundred of birds singing in excitement and you can see the swallows fly in flocks over golden brown recently ploughed rolling hills. Gunshots echo from the fields as the hunting season is out. The sun shines blinding your eyes and it is hot in the day, but the evening brings its first chills and you sit around the fire warming your hands after dinner... Oh, and the lake, it mirrors its wonders on its glittering and shimmering waters... like in no other season, it's constant changing and ripples. Sitting outside the café you hear the only topic of conversation of the moment – olive picking, how many crates, how many kilos, how much oil, the mill …...The olives are too small or too big, it's a good year or a bad... There’s a strong sense of community among those who grow and harvest olives … it isn't just about olives or about oil - it is such an intrinsic social happening, you can't but feel the excitement living here. As my friend Franca says “It's not about seeing and sensing, it's about truly living and being captured by a whole style of life, which, with its ups and downs, whatever the season maybe, you cannot but be carried away with...” Here is Franca's house in Monteleone d'Orvieto, which mirrors her and her family's happy attitude! http://www.ilcastelloditara.com/en/houses-for-sale/p117