Here on the beautiful Tuscan coast as November approaches the year is noticeably drawing to a close. When I arrived in mid-September, the tourist season was still in full swing; the restaurants, bars and tourist traps around the town were open seven days per week, as were the regular stores, which tended to stay open until 9 in the evening. The weather was warm, in fact too warm for me as the sirocco was much in evidence.Here is a wind rose for you to view:

This wind is from the south east and carries with it hot and humid air from the eastern Mediterranean. Around the equinox the temperatures in CDP were somewhat lower than they are at the height of summer, so it was not so bad overall and caused only a few grumbles. At the beginning of October the wind moved around to the West (the ponente) and the air was much drier and the days have been cloudless and pleasantly warm for most of the month and no complaints have been heard from your correspondent.

October is the season for the Porcini mushrooms and this year one has seen an abundance of this tasty fungus. They grow in the woods above and around the town and many locals go out searching for them. Most of my local friends related their own stories about the size and quantity that they had collected. Here is Loreano presenting a prize one that he had discovered; it weighed about 14 ounces (400 grams), and here is Greta, of Bistro 22, hamming it up with the same treasure.

Loreano is the village reprobate with whom I have a delightful mutual friendship; he has some land in the countryside where there are fruit trees and the like. He brings me quantities of apricots, peaches, prickly pears, pomegranates, whatever is in season, and of course the porcini. In exchange he will accept a glass of wine or a vodka-tonic, and we are both all square and happy.

Last Thursday and Friday the wind had moved around to the northwest (maestrale) and the air was super-clear, so much so that the islands of the archipelago looked as if you could reach out and touch them. Not only that, but the mountains on the northern finger-like peninsula of Corsica, some 120 km distant were clearly visible against the setting sun.

In all the time that I have spent here, I have never witnessed such atmospheric clarity. The accompanying photos show this and my delightful companions who were similarly enchanted by the vista. These last two days the maestrale has brought much lower temperatures and when I go for my morning exercise walk I wear my warmer clothes.

Now the season is surely over, I think that I am the only non-resident still around; many restaurants are closed for the winter, as are the shops that sell beachwear and the like. The town is closing in on itself and becoming a seeming ghost town; at least until next Spring!