2016 - A Day in Castelluccio di Norcia

At Castelluccio di Norcia, the mountains surround a broad, open plain. Fields spread across the valley floor beneath the village, with the slopes of the Sibillini forming a backdrop. The scale of the landscape becomes clear in the distance between the cultivated land and the peaks above it.

During the flowering season, colour changes the appearance of the fields. Poppies, cornflowers and other flowers grow among the crops, creating patches whose shapes follow the cultivated plots. The result belongs as much to the working landscape as to the wild plants growing within it.

From further away, those colours form bands across the plain. Closer views reveal individual flowers and the differences between adjoining fields. The surrounding mountains remain a constant presence, giving depth to a scene that might otherwise seem almost flat.

Light changes how these elements relate to one another. Shadows reveal the folds of the slopes, while the open fields catch the sky’s changing brightness. These photographs bring together the flowers, the farmland and the mountains around Castelluccio, keeping the wider setting in view alongside the colour that draws so many people here.