Mornings are now cold, sometimes foggy, the top of the Walls is covered with dead leaves, there's that peculiar smell in the air, crispy and smoky. It's Fall.

Which means that it is also chesnut season. Chesnuts are really important in Lucca and even more so in the Garfagnana, the hilly region just North of here. Because of the terrain, you can't grow wheat there, so until recently chesnuts were used instead to make flour. Most of the mills in the Garfagnana used to produce chesnut flour.

Today you can find chesnut pasta, various kinds of chesnut cakes and... Castagnacci.

Castagnacci are oven-baked pancakes make of chesnut flour, with raisins and a little bit of rosemary on top. They are really delicious for breakfast. It's a seasonal food, that you can find only during the Fall. In Lucca most bakers don't even make them every day, so if you see them, don't miss them!

And if you want to make them yourself, here is the recipe.