COPY LINK

CULTURE

Pumpkin risotto and the great wardrobe switch: How life in Italy changes when autumn arrives

Now autumn has arrived in Italy, writer Richard Hough in Verona describes the distinct seasonal changes to what we eat, wear and do - and why some of Italy's international residents are lagging a few weeks behind.

Published: 27 October 2020 12:05 CET
Updated: 28 October 2020 12:05 CET

Pumpkin risotto and the great wardrobe switch: How life in Italy changes when autumn arrives

Teenagers playing football in a park in northern Italy on a sunny day in late October. File photo: AFP

It took me a few years to realize it, but one of the things I love most about living in Verona is the existence of four distinct seasons. Growing up in the central belt of Scotland, it wasn't always easy to distinguish between one season and the next. That’s certainly not a problem in Italy.

Summer is long and hot. Winter is cold and short. In between, of course, spring and autumn have clear characteristics of their own.

When autumn arrives in Verona, it does so suddenly and with little warning.

Those of us from northern climes tend to lag a couple of weeks behind the locals. Our kids still wear short trousers and t-shirts long after the Italians have been impacchettato [wrapped up] for the winter with bubble jackets, hats, scarfs and gloves.

READ ALSO: The truth about Juliet's balcony in Verona – and why it's still worth a visit

Autumn in Italy is famously beautiful, but for residents, life changes along with the landscape. Photo: AFP

Just a few weeks ago, we were enjoying a late summer picnic at Parco Sigurtà, I was playing football late into the evening in little more than shorts and a vest, and my little boy was still wearing his worn-out summer sandals.

This week, however, found us hastily rummaging about in the darker reaches of our closets, trying to find an elusive matching glove and woolly hat for the chilly morning cycle to school.

Italians are much better organised than us and schedule in advance their seamless sartorial transition from summer to autumn.

This process, which puzzled me when I first encountered it, even has a name: Il cambio dell'armadio. It involves carefully pressing, folding and storing dormant summer wear, and taking out of storage autumnal necessities such long sleeve jumpers and overcoats.

For those tricky days which are neither summer nor yet winter, Italians have a range of gilè at their disposal, and they are, of course, discerning wearers of scarves, an essential style statement, but also a necessary protection against the notorious colpo d’aria.

Insects which made a nuisance of themselves during the summer – ants, wasps and mosquitos – have now vanished, only to be replaced by a docile, but no less formidable, adversary – the cimice. These smelly bugs arrive at this time of year with persistent regularity and seem intent on setting up home in every nook and cranny of our apartment.

You'll find yourself buying more seasonal produce if you live in Italy – perhaps without even thinking about it. Photo: Gabriella Clare Marino/Unsplash

While Verona seldom has the relentless rain and blustery winds that I typically associate with this time of year, there is undoubtedly a chill in the air. But by lunchtime, when the sun has risen high above the city’s spires and the morning whisps of mist have fizzled away, it’s pleasant enough to enjoy a brisk pranzo all’aperto (outdoor lunch).

Of course, the changing seasons also mean culinary adaptations too, since the Italian diet is still very much rooted in fresh seasonal produce. Grapes and olives are harvested in late summer and early autumn, and oranges, pumpkin and chestnuts take centre stage at local market stalls and greengrocers.

READ ALSO:

Bars, restaurants and trattorie modify their menus too, to include rich, hearty dishes like pasta e fagioli (bean soup), risotto zucca e formaggio (cheese and pumpkin risotto) or tagliatelle ai funghi (pasta with mushrooms). To wash it all down, I instinctively veer towards a deep autumnal red, rather than the refreshing light beer of summer.

Fresh tagliatelle ai funghi (pasta with mushrooms) Photo: Gabriella Clare Marino/Unsplash

Of course, this autumn is quite unlike any other I’ve spent in Italy.

In Bardolino, the bustling resort on Lake Garda, which lends its name to a fruity red wine produced locally, the annual Festa dell'Uva e del Vino (Grape and wine festival) has been cancelled. In San Zeno di Montagna, a pretty village on the slopes of Monte Baldo, the annual Festa delle Castagne (Chestnut festival) is going ahead in a very different format.

Team sports have been cancelled, shopping centres are being shut down and bars, cafès and restaurants are teetering on the brink of closure.

As the crisis once again intensifies, there is a growing sense that everyday life is shutting down around us. Like the passing seasons, though, we know the crisis can’t last forever.

Richard Hough has lived in Verona since September 2011 and writes about the region’s history, football, wine and culture. His first book, Notes from Verona, a short collection of diary entries from inside locked down Italy, is available here. He is currently researching his next book about wartime Verona.

Member comments

Anonymous - 28 October 2020 at 19:50 CET

I love your paragraph about the four seasons, one of the many reasons why I hope to move to Piemonte one day. I live in south Florida, and after my dear friends and family over there, it’s the change of seasons I miss. I’ve visited from September into mid-October, found your recounting delightfully accurate.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Ice to AC: Nine of the most common American misconceptions about Italy

It’s no secret that Americans love to visit Italy; the Washington Post predicted in December that the country would be Americans’ top foreign tourist destination for 2023, and the volume of US visitors who’ve arrived in Italy since then appears to have borne this out.

But while many Americans have a deep knowledge of – and love for – Italian culture, there are some surprisingly enduring myths about Italy that can be found in the USA specifically.

Some come close to the truth, while others fall wide of the mark.

There is no ice in Europe/Italian restaurants charge for ice

Fiction – Americans love ice, beverages are routinely served with it and refrigerators in the US often have some type of ice dispenser attached to the door.

But in Italy, ice is simply less prioritised. While ice in your drink will usually not cost you extra, you might need to specifically request it. Soft drinks in Italy are usually served without ice, so if you want your beverage iced, you need to request the drink con ghiaccio – with ice.

A classic Italian spritz should always come with ice. Photo by Tomasz Rynkiewicz on Unsplash

Italian homes don’t have dryers

Fact (mostly) – Tumble dryers do exist in Italy, but they’re rare. A survey published by Italy’s national statistics office (Istat) in 2014 found that just 3.3 percent of Italian households had one, whereas 96.2 percent had a washing machine and 39.3 percent a dishwasher.

Those washing lines strung with laundry hanging above the heads of passers by aren’t there just to create a quaint backdrop for photos – people make wide use of the abundant sun to air dry their clothes and sheets.

That does not mean that Italians in cities don’t occasionally use clothes dryers though if they’re in a rush; some might take items to a nearby laundromat.

McDonald’s is healthier in Italy

Fact (sort of) – McDonald’s uses different ingredients based on the country, and the Big Mac in Italy is (slightly) healthier than the one sold in the United States. It is slightly less calorific, with 509 kCal in contrast to the American Big Mac’s 540 kCal per 100g.

The Italian Big Mac also has less salt and fat, but it does not compare to the world’s healthiest Big Mac (found in Israel).

McDonald’s in Italy also uses EU-sourced ingredients, and the EU restricts the usage of additives and growth hormones. For example Azodicarbonamide which is used to bleach flour, is banned in the EU, but not in the United States, where McDonald’s was still using it as of 2016.

It is true, however, that you can buy beer in McDonald’s in Italy.

McDonald’s burgers are marginally healthy in Italy compared to the US. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Italians drive small cars

Fiction (increasingly) – Think of Italian cars, and you might picture a classic Fiat 500 puttering around picturesque cobbled streets – but that’s all changing.

2021 was a historic year for the Italian automotive industry: the sale of SUVs surpassed those of medium-sized sedans for the first time, claiming 48 percent of the market share compared to the sedan’s 45 percent.

That may not match the US, where SUVs and pick-up trucks currently account for around 73 percent of vehicles sold, but it’s a huge increase from 2012, when SUVs made up just 17 percent of vehicle sales in Italy.

There are no free public toilets

Fact (mostly) – You will occasionally find an Italian town or city that offers some free public toilets. For the most part though, you’ll have to pay, including in train stations – and even paid public toilets are few and fair between.

Instead, you’re better off heading to one of the many caffe-bars found all over the country and paying for a euro for a bottle of water or a coffee so you can use their facilities – if you ask nicely, you might even be allowed to go for free.

Metro stations, supermarkets and grocery stores tend to not have any toilets at all, and neither will most clothing stores. One place you will find plenty of free public bathrooms, though, is a motorway service station.

Something that strikes many visitors to Italy as odd is the lack of seats on public toilets. Exactly why this is the case is debated, but there’s a general consensus that the phenomenon has rapidly accelerated in the past couple of decades.

A street sign at an antiques fair in Turin. Free toilets in Italy are few and far between. Photo by rashid khreiss on Unsplash

Italy doesn’t have air conditioning

Fact (sort of) – There’s not no air conditioning in Italy – in fact data from Italy’s national statistics office showed that one in two Italian households had AC in 2021.

It’s far less popular than in the US, though, where 90 percent of households have air conditioning. There’s still not much of a culture of AC in Italy, where many believe it will give you a colpo d’aria leading to at best a sore neck and at worst pneumonia – so even households that have a unit tend to use it sparingly.

If your hotel or Airbnb doesn’t specifically mention AC, you can assume it doesn’t have it.

Coca-Cola tastes different in Italy

Fact – While Coke is available almost everywhere in the world, the actual ingredients in Coca-Cola are different in some countries, which could lead some Coke connoisseurs to notice a difference in taste between the products in the US and those in the EU.

The biggest difference is the regular Coke – in the US this uses high fructose corn syrup while in Europe cane sugar is used to sweeten the product, resulting in a significant difference in taste.

You’re much more likely in Italy to come across Coca Zero, the zero-sugar version of Coca-Cola, than Coca-Coca Light, the European version of Diet Coke, which has always been hard to find and which some online sources say Italy stopped distributing altogether in 2022.

Coke in the US: different to its European counterparts. Photo by Cody Engel on Unsplash

You don’t need to tip

Fact – It’s not necessary to tip after a restaurant meal in Italy. However, this is a matter of personal choice and you are free to do so (tipping certainly won’t cause upset).

Diners do often leave some change after a particularly enjoyable meal. In terms of how much to give, some people round up a bill to include a tip, while others give what spare change they have.

Some people may also opt to tip other professionals as well, such as taxi drivers and cleaners, but again – this is optional and typically not a large quantity. In some apartment buildings, residents may give a Christmas card with money inside to the portiere (doorman) as a kind of annual tip.

All cars are stick shift

Mostly fact – In the United States, stick shift vehicles are becoming a thing of the past, but in Italy they are still very much being bought and driven.

As of 2018, around 20 percent of new cars sold in Italy were automatic – which is much higher than the less-than-one percent sold in the 1980s, but still a lot less than the US’s figure of 96 percent.

That said, around 70 percent of SUVs sold in Italy use automatic transition, so with the popularity of these larger vehicles on the rise, you can expect to see more automatics on Italian roads in the future.

What do you think? Have you noticed any other common beliefs or misconceptions about Italy in the US, or elsewhere? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!