Italy in its golden hour

The season begins in the vineyards. By early October the vendemmia, the grape harvest, is mostly finished across Chianti and Montalcino, and the wineries, busy as they are, are happy to pour and happier still to talk. Meanwhile in Florence the bakeries are selling schiacciata all'uva, a sweet flatbread baked with the wine grapes, which appears for a few weeks and then is gone.

If you want sea days as well as harvest, go south: the Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Puglia stay warm well into October, with the beaches almost to yourselves.

Wine tasting and buying in Tuscany →The Amalfi Coast in October →

Romans have a word for a warm, golden October day: ottobrata. You still hear it every year, che bella ottobrata, said with real pleasure when the sun is out, the air is soft and the city feels at its best. The word comes from an older custom, because from the 1700s until the early 1900s, on Sundays and Thursdays all through October, Romans left the city through its gates for the vineyards and wine caves beyond the walls, where they celebrated the end of the harvest with gnocchi, roast lamb and the new wine, and danced the saltarello until dark.

The favorite spot was Monte Testaccio, a hill made entirely of broken ancient amphorae, whose cool caves kept the wine, and the trattorias there are still built into them today. A little further out, on the first Sunday of October, the fountains of Marino in the Castelli Romani run with wine for the Sagra dell'Uva, which is as close as you can get to the old Ottobrata now.

What is the Ottobrata Romana? →Rome day trips →

Three things make a fall villa feel right for the season: a reliable way to heat the house, a warm place to swim or soak, and a living room you genuinely want to spend the evening in. The first matters more than you might think, because Italian rules set the date heating systems can run, November 1 in Florence, Siena and Lucca, so it is worth knowing how a house stays warm before then, whether by fireplace, wood stove or heat pump. We ask all of this before we suggest a house, so you don't have to.

Renting a villa in Tuscany in October or November →What to ask us →

An unheated pool is too cold for most swimmers after the first week or two of October, but that is hardly the end of swimming. The answer is a heated pool, a private spa, or the thermal springs that Tuscany has in unusual numbers, from Saturnia and Bagno Vignoni to San Casciano dei Bagni and Rapolano. Warm water feels best when the air is cool, which is why a thermal day is the most rejuvenating thing you can do with a rainy afternoon, and the one everyone is still talking about on the flight home.

Best thermal springs in Tuscany →

The olive harvest starts in late October and runs through November, and because the mills press within hours of picking, you can taste oil that is only days old: green, peppery and a little cloudy. The way to do it is fettunta, grilled bread rubbed with garlic and soaked in the new oil with a pinch of salt, and the easiest way to see the nets go down under the trees is to stay on a working estate while it happens.

November 1 is All Saints' Day, and Italy takes it slowly: families visit, bells ring across the valleys, and when it falls on a Sunday the state museums open their doors for free. It is a lovely weekend to be in the country, where the harvest is in full swing and the mills are running.

The olive harvest in Italy →Villas within walking distance of a village →

White truffle season peaks now, and the markets follow: San Giovanni d'Asso, south of Siena, on the second and third weekends of November, then San Miniato on the last three. In between comes San Martino on November 11, when every town pours the first new wine and roasts chestnuts in the street. By then the evenings are dark by five, and a villa with a fire lit and a long table becomes the coziest room in Italy.

Tuscany restaurant guide →Rome restaurant guide →

A few restaurants serve a proper Thanksgiving for Americans abroad, and they have become small traditions of their own. In Florence, Ristorante Accademia near Piazza San Marco has done it for more than 25 years, with pumpkin soup, turkey with stuffing and three desserts, while in Rome the Cavalieri hotel sets a buffet with live stations and Adelaide at Hotel Vilòn serves a multi-course dinner around a stuffed turkey. Tables go fast, so we book early.

Or stay in, which may be the better Thanksgiving. A private chef can roast the turkey in the villa oven with chestnuts, porcini and the new oil on the side, and since whole turkeys are not easy to find in Italy, the butcher appreciates a little notice. Tell us when you book, and the concierge handles the rest.

The Doorways concierge →Staffed villas →

December 8, the Immaculate Conception, is a national holiday and the day Italy switches on. By that evening the lights are up in Florence's streets, the German Christmas market fills Piazza Santa Croce, Siena's Mercato nel Campo spreads across the shell-shaped square, and Rome's Piazza Navona fills with stalls. Meanwhile the museums are quiet on weekdays, the truffle season is still on, and the first panettone is coming out of the bakeries.

Days are short and golden, about 52°F in Florence and dark by 4:40, which is the best argument for a palazzo in the center with a fireplace, where the city becomes your living room. For a country Christmas, we know the handful of villas that are warm all winter.

Florence apartments →Rome apartments →