Blossoms and buds

Walking through the countryside today we were surprised to see an almond tree in bloom. They are not a common sight in Northern Italy. It is Sicily that is famous for its beautiful almond blossoms and they have festivals to celebrate them and make sumptuous marzapane fruits with almond paste.

The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe loved Italy and travelled here from 1786 to 1788 . He seems to have particularly loved Sicily and it is him that famously said , to have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.
Here in Northern Italy nature is poised to shed its winter clothes as buds  prepare to unfurl and remind us of what beauty there is around us.

Maybe it was on a day like this that Johann Goethe wrote this lovely optimistic poem,

Let your trouble be,
Light will follow dark
Though the heaven falls,
You may hear the lark.