“Certainly one of the most unusual food festivals took place the first October we lived here, the Zucca Festival. Zucca supposedly means “pumpkin” in Italian; at least that’s how it’s most often translated in the dictionaries. But I think it more generally means squash. Now I know that pumpkin and squash are from the same vegetable family. And I know what yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, and pumpkins look like. However, I don’t think I’d ever seen _giant_ green squash that look like mutant zucchinis before: they’re green and at least a foot-long on the outside, but orange like a pumpkin on the inside. Bizarre.” — from the chapter “Welcome to Bolzano”  in  Life on a Gelato Diet.

Update: During the three years we lived in Bolzano, this festival only took place once, although it had been an annual event in previous years.  That was too bad – those zucca tableaux  really something to see. — March 2014