Every year, there comes a time when summer ceases to be a promise and becomes a burden. There's too much light, too much heat, and too much noise. It's a numbing sensation that blurs the days into a single blaze. Then, suddenly—without any gradual warning—a gust of wind rattles the windows. Ismail Kadare was the first to capture this phenomenon, and Duccio Demetrio echoed it in the opening of his Foliage: "Autumn doesn't arrive; it announces itself with a jolt."

From that moment on, everything changes. The light becomes slanted, the pace slows without anyone deciding it, and the villages return to what they've always been beneath the tourist surface of summer - orners of escape and necessary refuges -restored to those who know how to wait for the frenzy to wear itself out. Caorle, with its color-shifting lagoon, opens this issue as a window opens, not to display a landscape but to finally let in a breath of fresh air.

Wandering through villages is never merely geographical: it's a shift from reality to imagination. It's true that autumn also brings landslides, flash floods, and flooding—the toll of months of heat. But autumn is the sweetest season precisely because it is the most honest; it does not hide decline, but puts it on display. It is a symbol of existence itself - of its blossoming and inevitable withering. In the last generous burst of light before winter’s silence, Puglia welcomes us. This year's Festival of Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages is taking place in Sammichele di Bari. From there, roads branch out across the peninsula to Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Marche region (to be explored by bike or on foot), and Mel and Valbelluna, nestled between the Piave River and the Belluno Pre-Alps. This issue reflects on how digitalization is reshaping the way we live and work. "Work is tiring," said Cesare Pavese, "but if you do it from a houseboat on the Tagliamento or from a desk by the river, it's certainly better." These pages will take you through the landscapes of remote work, from Valtellina to the Riviera dei Fiori, from Romagna to the province of Enna, and all the villages in between.