Poetical Flowers

The Prato Fiorito, that mountain presenting its grim fortress-like appearance in the Lima valley

shows a completely different and gentler look on its northern face.

It’s the difference between a scarp and a dip slope: gone are the steep rock buttresses known as ‘le ravi’ and, instead, a wonderful Elysian field spreads out containing the most varied collection of flora found anywhere in Italy.

Why is the mountain not wooded like so much of the Apennines?  Clearly there was a time when trees covered its slopes. They were felled centuries ago for fuel and construction and the cleared land given over to sheep and goat grazing thus preventing the regeneration of new forests. Instead, the calcareous soil has given birth to hundreds of flower species including some of the rarest orchids.

In May the Prato Fiorito’s slopes are covered with myriads of ‘Narcissus Poeticus’ or the ‘poet’s daffodil’.

It’s a most apt name for not only does it bring to mind the Greek legend of Narcissus and Wordsworth’s lakeside golden host but also Percy Bysshe Shelley’s own visit to the mountain while staying at Bagni di Lucca, which inspired his poem ‘Epipsychidion’ (trans: ‘concerning or about a little soul’) especially those lines beginning.

 Of flowers, which, like lips murmuring in their sleep
Of the sweet kisses which had lulled them there,

(For more of the Shelley connection see my post at

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/the-elysian-fields-of-prato-fiorito/)

I had meant to go the Prato in mid-May to see the wonderful display of Narcisi but was told that everything was late flowering this year, particularly on the Prato. May was so full of rain that I delayed my visit until yesterday and then it was a little late for the full display which only lasts around a week. It was a slight disappointment, perhaps, but still a gorgeous morning to spend in this paradisiacal place.

As with all lovely things there is a dark side to Narcissus Poeticus – as Shelley’s contemporary Keats writes ‘Ay, in the very temple of Delight Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine’. All daffodil species are poisonous but this one is more poisonous than any other and eating it will give rashes, vomiting and severe headaches. However, just sniffing its perfume remains seductive and in the Netherlands and southern France Narcissus Poeticus is cultivated for its essential oil used in the making of perfumes where it combines the fragrances of jasmine and hyacinth. Two perfumes brands, ‘Fatale’ and ‘Samsara’, are based on this oil.

Recently, Narcissus Poeticus has returned to many gardens as part of the search for heritage horticulture. Its simple form, contrasted with the standard rather showier common daffodil, has produced a hybrid known as ‘Narcissus Actaea’ which has won a Royal Horticultural society award and can be now found in several garden centres such as this one:

https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/narcissus-actaea/classid.2000008267/

Of course, even in Italy there are several mountains brimming over with fancy waves of this beautiful flower in May and June. Monte Linzone in the Bergamo Pre-Alps is famous for its crop of Narcissi and is a favourite excursion spot for those staying in Milan (as I used to do). Monte Croce which is near us, in the Garfagnana, is even called ‘Monte delle Giunchiglie’ (jonquils) and has what many regard as even more spectacular displays of this delicate flower.

You can read my post on Monte Croce at:

Elysium on Earth

And more of the Prato Fiorito at:

A Perfect Shelleyan Day

Narcissus Poeticus has even helped save a heroine and her pet from the depth of Outer Space where ‘no-one can hear you scream’. It was the spacecraft ‘Narcissus’ which enabled Ellen Ripley (acted by Sigourney Weaver) to escape with her cat Jones in that cult film ‘Alien’

and I managed to get off the Prato Fiorito in time yesterday morning before rumbling thunder proclaimed another afternoon of dramatic cosmic storms.