Fall 2020 - Live Events
Work in Progress
THANKSGIVING - Thursday, October 26
Traditional turkey dinner. At ViVi - Villa Pamphili + Le Serre by ViVi
HALLOWEEN - Saturday, October 31st
Kids' Halloween in the afternoon at Villa Pamphili with a haunted pumpkin. Adults can enjoy the evening at Villa Pamphili and Le Serre.
""Autumn is a second spring,
when every leaf is a flower""
Albert Camus
Today – September 22, 2020 – autumn arrives, the season of grapes, blackberries, and pomegranates, of falling leaves and fiery red forests, of warm hues and grape harvests, of daylight saving time and festivals. The season of Halloween and pumpkins, of Oktoberfest and Thanksgiving, of the Moon Festival in China and the burning of straw puppets in the countryside. A season of soft, enveloping beauty that some say is the best for falling in love.
The arrival of autumn can be felt even in a city like Rome, where the plane trees are starting to lose their leaves and the parks are breathing fresh air after the scorching summer heat. Nature is everywhere around us, with its cyclical rhythm of seasons, each with its own characteristics, its fruits and vegetables, its gardening activities, its beauty treatments, and its festivals.
Here's a quick look at autumn for those of us who love to experience the seasons!
Equinoxes and daylight saving time
The season officially begins with the autumn equinox, when the hours of daylight and darkness are equal, and ends with the winter solstice, when the days start getting longer again. This year, in our Northern Hemisphere, autumn begins on September 22nd and ends on December 21st. Perhaps not everyone knew that the first day of autumn varies by 24 hours due to the Earth's orbit, which is not entirely regular. During autumn, at the end of October, a significant portion of the world switches from daylight saving time to standard time. Suddenly, the days become shorter, and we quickly approach winter.
Autumn: the season of Bacchus
Autumn is considered by many to be the season of decadence, but in reality it is above all the season of abundance. In ancient peasant societies, it was the time of harvest, the grape harvest, and the return of the herds to the stables, according to the age-old rhythms of transhumance. Wine is one of the symbols of autumn, and Bacchus was its god. During this period, ancient Rome celebrated the famous Bacchanalia, secret and orgiastic festivals dedicated to the god of wine. In Ancient Greece, it was the season of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the secret rites that embodied the legend of Persephone, forced to live six months underground with her husband Hades, and six months above ground with her mother Demeter, goddess of the harvest.
Autumn: seasonal fruit and vegetables
As daylight hours begin to decline, it's important to support your immune system through diet in autumn. Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables is the foundation of a healthy diet. Seasonal fruits and vegetables require fewer pesticides and fertilizers to grow, and they aren't grown in greenhouses. Autumn is a month packed with the fruits of the earth; here are the main ones.
Vegetables
The queen of autumn vegetables is undoubtedly the pumpkin, whose warm sunset orange hue is a prime candidate for the season's finest. Native to the Americas, it's a nutritious vegetable, rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and also makes a beautiful table decoration. Broccoli is another quintessential autumn vegetable, a real panacea: calorie-free and rich in protein, it's considered a natural cancer-fighting vegetable. Cabbage in all its varieties is a must-have on any autumn table: from cavolo nero, the most commonly used in haute cuisine, to white cabbage, the most well-known, and red cabbage, excellent both cooked and raw and very decorative. Then there's chard, which is highly digestible; fennel, healthy and low-calorie; leeks, excellent for cream soups; spinach, rich in iron; and potatoes, the most versatile.
Fruit
Autumn fruits are a true source of long life: pomegranates and persimmons, raspberries and blueberries, apples and tangerines, pears and oranges, champions of vitamin C. And don't forget chestnuts, another symbol of autumn.
Autumn beauty tips
After the oxidative stress of summer, the key word in autumn is: hydrate. Taking care of your skin is possible even without expensive beauty creams, because nature provides us with all the essentials. To make a homemade cream for dry skin, simply warm two tablespoons of milk and two drops of olive oil and sweet almond oil, shake well, and apply with a cotton ball.
Natural scrubs are also very effective, especially for removing dead skin cells. There are countless recipes: honey and oats, honey and clay, sugar and yogurt, or sugar and lemon. Try it and believe it.
In addition to your skin, you need to pay attention to your hair in autumn. It's natural for hair to fall out this season, but if it's falling out excessively, you need to intervene. In your diet, first and foremost, replace refined bread, pasta, and grains with whole-grain versions, rich in vitamin B7, essential for keratin synthesis. Yeast flakes are another natural remedy for hair.
Autumn garden work
Autumn is the season for planting bulbs, fertilizing the soil, and pruning plants. During these months that transition from the heat of summer to the chill of winter, the garden can offer us splendid autumn blooms. The most beautiful flowers of the season are pansies, with their explosion of color that lasts until spring; asters, the brightly colored September asters; hebes, easy to grow even in pots; the splendid autumn-flowering camellia; and, of course, cyclamens, whose elegant flowers will accompany us through the winter.