As usual, October is the quickest month of the year and right now it’s taking with it as much of the summer splendor that it possibly can. Except October this year in Rome is unseasonably warm. The papers are calling it “la lunga ottobrata” or “l’ottobrata bis” AKA “the long October celebration” (my lousy translation on a unique Italian word…ottobre= ottobre in Italian) and “Ottobrata Twice”. The bonus days of warm weather mean that even the tomato plants that should have given up its fruit and stalks weeks ago, they too are hanging around to offer just a few more gems of instant nostalgia. 

I won’t lie, the bonus stretch of days feels pretty good for the head just as much as the body.  

“You should try to come home this time next year,” my sister texted this to me a week and a half ago, “The colors are amazing!”  She even sent a few photos to give me a window into New England—but of course it was caveated with the usual, “The images don’t even do it justice” bit. Yes indeed, I knew what she meant.  And even in knowing that I would never truly see what she was getting to see, I looked more closely at the images and tried to draw forth the vibration of color. It’s because I know what it’s like to stand where she is, and I understood that she was in the midst of her own October celebration.  It’s special because if you live in a spot with notable fall foliage, then you can suddenly watch the seasons change in real time. Or at least it really feels that way. That’s the distinction of October: a spectacular yet ephemeral 31-day experience. 

Here in Rome, the colors don’t seem to change as dramatically. Of course the seasonal transition is perceptible, but it’s more like a slow fade from a dulled green into sandy brown landscape. It’s still nice, but the appreciation of transition feels more difficult to tease out. I say this largely because the topography in a place like Rome is always dominated by so antiquity and architecture of note. I’m not complaining, it’s just a different way to witness the autumn period. L’ottobrata is still very much something to behold. 

Even if it is still in the high seventies during the day, the leaves and treefall are starting to accumulate on the ground here. I look at them as I make my way to and from work. For the most part so far, I note their passing and feel a bit of pity since the ones that have fallen never managed to attain that crimson color that we see back home. The kind of colors that you could get in a stack of construction paper, cut out in the shape of a leaf and the cartoon colors would still be believable because, well that’s how fall colors are. Instead the leaves seem to brown up and just drop. And then I watch as they swirl about on the ground, outlining those little wind whirlpools that we wouldn’t otherwise perceive. 

But October is a wonderful month to be in Rome. I say this because the ease in the temperature encourages you to go everywhere on foot if you have the ability. The mornings are cool, but by midday, you’ve got all your long layers slung over one arm and your brain is wondering how they were every needed just a few hours earlier. These are the moments where you nearly forget that the darkest days of the year are just dead ahead. My brain goes through this thought cycle every year, and I never seem to learn because the end result always seems to take me by surprise. I think it’s because I don’t want to think about dealing with the dark until it’s actually in front of me.

But in the meantime as time shifts more overtly, I have set up some mini-quests for myself. Not quests in the Arthurian sense, but rather small tasks that provide simple satisfaction and help to move me along when the rest of the world tries my patience. For now, it’s seeking out a pumpkin to carve for Halloween. Una zucca, as it is called in Italian—except the normal Italian zucche are not like the Construction Paper Orange ones that we have at home. And the ones we have at home are what I seek.

In addition to all of the traditional Roman October festivals, Italy is slightly getting into the Halloween spirit (and as a High Candy Holiday like Easter and Christmas, as well it should). So slowly I am starting to see pumpkin patch-style pumpkins show up. In one of the supermarkets, I found them in the produce section but oddly boxed up with tags that say, “not for consumption”. They are clearly for decoration, but the smallest guys are also a whopping 6.80 euros each (which is about the same in dollars right now). That seems a bit princey…and I still have some time before Halloween. This quest, as it takes me into November, I will allow to continue just for the sheer enjoyment. Call it my ottobrata bis, but I know at least that I will continue to enjoy this season immensely.