Tuscany in Fall is hard to forget. After months spent welcoming tourists and taking well-deserved breaks on sunny seasides, attention is turned inwards. You can almost feel the pace slowing as the crowds disappear. With no one watching, the locals spend the last of the good weather traipsing through the fields and foraging deep in the forests. 

In years past, their finds were celebrated in ridiculously kitsch festivals where tipsy mayors crowned giant pumpkins and girls in short skirts danced alongside bacchanalian homemade floats. In the Maremma, at least, fall festivals are for the locals.