This is the farm outside Padova where I took the shots of the butterflies (both drunk and sober). The pumpkin arrived in Italy from Mexico, where cultivation of all sorts of squash goes back some 8000 years. In Italy, in the lower Padana region it's been a local delicacy for centuries, providing the primary ingredient for many regional dishes such as tortelli, risotti, ice cream and pumpkin pie which dominate the menus in the area between Mantova and Ferrara. Its influence is not limited, however. Fried pumpkin is featured in Monferrato, and in far-off Cosenza province long, green squash are stuffed with bread-crumbs and cheese. The pumpkin flan is a creamy specialty of the Veneto, my region, as well as baked pumpkin slices. In the past gardens have provided poor Venetian families with many vegetables, such as beans, white cabbage and pumpkins. It is the latter one however, that has inspired the creation of the best, most succulent and colourful recipes. A large number of specialities of the Venetian gastronomic tradition are made with it: pumpkin ravioli and risotto, gnocchi and last but not least frittelle (kind of doughnuts). The Venetian variety of pumpkin is produced in Chioggia (a town on the Lagoon of Venice): classified as ‘Marina’ (marine), this type of pumpkin is widely appreciated in the entire Veneto region for its excellent gustative characteristics intensified by the richness in salt of the littoral grounds where it grows. The denomination Marina di Chioggia is linked to the word marinanti, that is the people cultivating gardens in Chioggia as opposed to the ones carrying out sea activities. This vegetable was widely sold in Venice: the Suca baruca (baked pieces of pumpkin, also used as a very mild insult, a synonym for stupid) used to be offered by street vendors at every street corner, together with Seme col sal (toasted pumpkin seeds with salt). Dried pumpkins are also used for decoration. The celebration of Halloween has spread only since the 1990s. Thank you for your kind comments.