By Francesca Lungarotti
If the impressionist master of the variations of light in the open air, Claude Monet, had visited the Plateau of Castelluccio di Norcia in Umbria, Italy he would not have hesitated to paint them. The striking natural beauty of this place features a mix of time, patience and unpredictability in the natural spectacle of the annual blossoming of flowers that begins each May, the month of awakening, and lasts until mid-July when the overwhelming heat of summer takes over. This magical time comes to life on the plateau of Monte Vettore, in the areas of Pian Grande and Pian Perduto, a few kilometers from Castelluccio di Norcia.
Italy, Umbria, P.N. Monti Sibillini. Castelluccio, Blooms on the Great Floor. Image: Renato Valterza/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. summer flowering . Castelluccio di Norcia. Umbria. Italy. Europe Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park, Summer flowering, Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Italy, Umbria, P.N. Monti Sibillini. Castelluccio, Blooms on the Piano Grande. Image: Renato Valterza/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group
In an event linked to the balance, now delicate and unpredictable, of the climate, thousands of flowers bloom spontaneously, providing an explosion of colors ranging from yellow to ochre to green to purple and beyond. Lentils, poppies, gentians, daffodils, violets, asphodels, clovers cover the plains and fields, naturally enriching what seems like an impressionist palette. This part of Umbria is colored with real brush strokes of shades that range from the white, pink and blue of lentil flowers, to the golden yellow of wild mustard, to the red of poppies, to the white of chamomile and to the purple/blue of cornflowers. This place, already magical in itself, transforms by also changing the shades under the protection of clouds that carefully shade the fields below from the sun’s heat. Nature thus offers, without warning, an extraordinary and wonderful show: the Fiorita.
Monti Sibillini National Park. Flowering In Castelluccio di Norcia. Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini. mountains. National. Park, summer. Flowering landscape, castelluccio Di Norcia, Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Monti Sibillini National Park, Flowering June, Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Monti Sibillini National Park, Flowering in June, Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Monti Sibillini National Park. Flowering In Castelluccio di Norcia. Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Monti Sibillini National Park. Flowering In Castelluccio di Norcia. Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Sibillini Mountains National Park. Summer flowering. Castelluccio di Norcia, Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Monti Sibillini National Park. Flowering In Castelluccio di Norcia. Umbria, Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group 
Monti Sibillini National Park. View from Castelluccio di Norcia. Umbria. Italy. Image: Mauro Flamini/REDA/Universal Images Group
There is no precise day or week of maximum flowering as everything depends on the now truly unpredictable weather forecast. The last act of this extraordinary show is The heat that takes everything away, dissolving the enchantment and replacing the vibrant mix of colors with the dry yellow of summer.
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