Chasing Flowers

Last week we headed into the Umbrian countryside searching for flowers. We knew the time was about right for the sunflowers to be blooming, and a friend had mentioned there was a valley to the east, near the village of Castelluccio, that was worth seeing too.

So with a plan that really only amounted to the idea of tootling around the back roads, off we went. And, of course, you know what happened – we found flowers. Fields and entire hillsides of colour.

The word for ‘sunflower’ in Italian is girasole which means ‘turn to the sun’. Perfect, isn’t it? We spent a lovely day photographing these huge, happy flowers as they tracked the sun across the sky.

And then we found Castelluccio. For a few weeks a year, this wide plateau in the Apennine Mountains is carpeted with colour. Fields of poppies, cornflowers, violets and the area’s famous flowering lentils form spectacular patterns in the landscape. It’s really something to see.

And, fortunately, tourists travel from far and wide to do just that. In 2016 the region was devastated by a series of earthquakes, so visitors who come to admire the flowers – and spend a few euros in the area – are welcomed. But for the people of Castelluccio, recovery is still a long way off.

This was the first field of sunflowers we came across - picture postcard pretty!

We love the vibrant colour of the flowers

But for farmers, they're simply an important cash crop

For them it's all about what happens when the girasoli have finished flowering and the seeds can be harvested

As well as being a tasty snack food, sunflower seeds are used in the production of a range of products

From margarine and cosmetics to bio-diesel fuel

Sunflower is also a widely used cooking oil

Well, widely used elsewhere in the world, but certainly not in Italy!

Here it's all about olive oil

Two lovely, happy faces; and how about the size of that flower?

A field of flowering lentils

And this is what's known as 'La Fiorita', with the town of Castelluccio perched on the hill behind

Really, what else is there to say?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Castelluccio - the town was devastated by an earthquake in October 2016

Very fortunately no one died, though the damage was severe

The people of Castelluccio are still fighting hard to get back on their feet

With much of the town still little more than rubble, locals have set up stalls in an open area at the top of the road

Among the products on sale to visitors is the local specialty - delicious lentil soup

Two years ago this lady was running a successful restaurant in the town

Here's what's left of it today

About 30 kilometres away, the area's main centre, Norcia, was also devastated by the quake

What's left of the Town Hall and the 14th century Basilica di San Benedetto

How they looked before the earthquake

Only the facade of the church survived - and even that is barely standing

Again, fortunately, no one died here; two months earlier a quake had killed 300 people in the nearby town of Amatrice, so when the October quake struck many residents of Norcia had already fled their homes

Norcia previously had a population of 4,000 but now only a few hundred people remain