If you wake up early enough on a spring day to take the 7:15 am train from Parma towards Brescia, you’ll find yourself captivated by the swift passing of pastel-colored wildflowers, and maybe even catch rare scenes of boar scattering deer across the prairie. It’s an intoxicating image, and feels as though life and color are being splattered onto the prairie’s green canvas at 100 mph.

If you wake up early enough on a fall day to take the 7:15 am train from Parma towards Brescia, you might expect to see spring’s vivacious portrait mirrored in hues of orange, red, yellow, and brown, but trust that the only pigment and image you’ll see is a yawning cloud of gray.