Autumn in Italy is nothing short of spectacular. The temperature is perfect, the weather is mostly dry and stable. As we have experienced and many of you will have seen in the news, when it rains, it rains! We have been lucky to be unaffected by flooding and have enjoyed a few snuggly days when it has rained but for the most part the weather has been glorious.
This past weekend was a three day weekend due to two national holidays – festa dei Santi (All saints day) and festa dei morti (like Mexico’s famous day of the dead) which fall on the 1st and 2nd of November each year. Since we were home from Friday to Sunday we decided that we’d have one ‘big’ adventure over the weekend.
We chose to head up into the mountains – gli Appennini. This mountain range runs almost the full length of the country for an incredible 1200km. We live in the Emilia-Romagna region so we chose to head to Zocca, a town between Bologna and Modena. It took us around one hour to drive the 50 or so kilometres as much of the journey was winding mountain roads. The view did not disappoint. From quaint mountain villages to breathtaking landscapes, it was a lovely drive, well for the passengers at least. I think Salvo had a case of white knuckles driving up those twisty and narrow roads – but he got us there in one piece!
Our trip wasn’t to the old town though – we headed to an event at an outdoor adventure park which I’ll tag below, called Parco Esploraria. For UK readers, it’s a bit like a GoApe or similar with climbing activities etc, but we came to forage for chestnuts with our two little girls.
We could have done this for free somewhere else, but the event was so cheap and gave us access to the open fires where we could roast the Chestnuts, local and seasonal snacks and drinks and a great atmosphere. We paid 7 Euros. 7!!! For all 4 of us to enjoy this great activity and we were given a lovely bag to collect the Chestnuts and a knife to open them with included in this price. There was no limit on how long we could stay and we would absolutely recommend this event to anyone looking for some wholesome family activities.
Here’s a link to Esploraria’s website:
https://www.esploraria.info/it/: Una Domenica in montagnaFor us, we hope this is the start of a family tradition. Something we will remember and cherish when the girls are grown up and have flown the nest, and maybe something they can share with their own families in the future.
Salvo grew up eating roasted Chestnuts in the autumn with his parents, his Dad, Enzo; especially loved them. Although it may seem trivial, this has been one of the loveliest things we’ve experienced on our return to Italy, as hunting for Chestnuts in the UK isn’t standard practice, nor do they form part of a typical British diet.
In summary this was a mixing pot of experiences old and new, a perfect autumnal Sunday, spent in the fresh air, doing something fun. Honestly, I would have hunted for Chestnuts all day long. 100% recommend!
Here are a couple of videos of what we got up to:
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