The first week of October, between summer and the harvest
Why we think early October is the best week to stay in the hills: warm water, empty roads and the first fires.
By Livia Rossetti, Host, Casalta
Ask any of our hosts when they would come, and they will say the first week of October. The summer crowds have gone, the pool is still warm from September, and the light has softened into gold. The mornings are cold enough for a sweater and by eleven you do not need it.
The roads are empty. The trattorias still have tables outside, but you no longer need to book them. In Pietrafonte the old men have taken their usual chairs back from the visitors, and in Borgo Sant’Elia the market has half as many stalls and twice as much conversation.
It is also the week the first fires go in. Not every night, and not for warmth: you light the stove at La Pietraia or the fireplace at Ginestra because it is October and the evening has a slight edge, and everyone sits a little closer to the glow.
The one thing to know is that the harvest begins soon after. The olives are picked in the last week of the month and pressed within a day. If you stay then, you will hear the mill working from dawn and smell the new oil in the air, and it is wonderful, and it is loud.