« One day, one discovery »: a short trip to Italy, between shade and sun, to get some sunshine in 2021… What’s going on behind the shutters? D-9

At 2.30 pm at the village bell tower, the sun is beating down hard and no one can resist it. It’s time for a siesta in this little corner like in the rest of Italy.

Time to retire for a few moments away from the shutters.

The rare walkers who try to go out anyway will be surprised to discover the shutters suddenly all closed.

Jealousies painted in turquoise blue…

… or celadon green. They all have the same function: to protect from the sun in the hottest hours of the afternoon.

In Via Tripoli, we have chosen to hang up the linen that will dry during the siesta time.

Shutters with racks with closure from the outside…

…or straw blinds, the mystery is complete and leaves nothing to be seen of these precious moments.

No one leaves a book in the shade of the lace curtains.

Others are waiting for their princess at the bottom of a large bed.

For many, it’s the « vacanze » and everything is going well.

There, the washing was hung next to a small jar of basil, because here everyone knows that laundry and basil like to sunbathe.

In the main street of San Quirico d’Orcia, no one meets a living soul and everyone is now resting behind the swinging shutters.

At the corner of Via Del Giardino, the sheets are sunbathing before turning bright white.

On the fishing port, behind large white curtains, you can hear a TV telling stories that no one dreams about any more.

In the middle of the ascent to the Castello, no sound can be heard behind the slightly raised shutters.

No sound, no noise, everything is quiet and the inhabitants of the house have undoubtedly all fallen into the arms of Morpheus.

In the next room, no sign of life either…

While on the floor below, one perceives the bursts of laughter, of lovers, which emerge from the slightly ajar leaves.

In Via del Giardinetto, care has been taken to add colour to the windows….

…and the clothes pegs also provide the colourful touch that suits this type of shutter so well.

Aunt Marta’s house is a little more austere and you can imagine that she is asleep inside.

At cousin Enzo’s, you can hear a slight engine noise unless it’s the sound of his persistent snoring?

At Clara and Nino’s, you can hear the laughter of the children who haven’t been able to get to sleep.

At Livia’s, she took advantage of the break to hang out her washing just before starting a new novel, sheltered from the old stones.

Meanwhile, in the main square, all the shutters have closed and the dilapidated facade of an old palazzo has taken on an air of abandonment. One begins to imagine life on the celadon green floor, then on the larch green floor and finally on the empire green floor.

Going up a little further up in the small scattered streets, you will be surprised by the half-open shutters, in the middle of a mosaic of small multicoloured tiles. The inhabitants of the house must have colourful dreams in the shade of the green shutters.

And finally, we manage to find the only being still awake at this very hot hour: a cat hidden behind a mosquito net.

Par Nathalie

Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)