Autumn or the long summer
Who said that Autumn brings out melancholy -as says a famous Neapolitan song of the 1950s - because the leaves fall from the trees, the days are shorter, the Sea water is colder, the sun always warmer? In Ischia Fall is a long summer”. Prof. Cristofaro Mennella (1907-1976), mathematician, physicist demonstrated it scientifically and especially among the forerunners in Italy climatology and meteorology, and certainly one of the greatest scientists that Ischia has given birth. Mennella founded, with other scholars, in 1944 the Center for Studies on the island of Ischia to which he devoted his entire life. He was honorary director of Geophysical Observatory on the Gran Sentinella in Casamicciola and struggled, with little success, so that the Observatory became a Multidisciplinary Center for Climatology.
In 1959 he published a book of 150 pages with tables, comparisons, analysis, observations dedicated to the climate of island of Ischia that cost him at least twenty years of study and rigorous research. He called it “ L’isola d’ Ischia, gemma climatica d’ Italia” (Editrice EDART-Napoli). He demonstrated scientifically that the island of Ischia for its geographical position and its morphology boasted a remarkably mild climate. “The singular preciousness of the climate of Ischia is an entity truly exceptional and that makes the island a true gem in the shining crown of the weather stations, thermal and tourist Italian”, claimed and wrote that in Ischia there is a “happy coincidence of so many physical and environmental factors” for a tourism extended to the entire arc of the year. In fact, especially in autumn and winter thermal treatments - for which Ischia is famous in the world, and for centuries - are more effective.
“ Hot springs can last through November without using special devices, where it is already difficult in October at the same stations of the North” Mennella wrote in his study that showed his statements with climate data and other statistical spas - as Bormio, Salsomaggiore, Montecatini, Chianciano and others - comparing them with those of the island of Ischia has many "micro-climates" because there is Mount Epomeo with its 788 meters.
In October, for example, the maximum temperature of Ischia - town of Sant’ Angelo - is 29.8 while in Ischia Porto is 28.7, in Salsomaggiore the maximum temperature is 22.4 and the minimum even less than 7, 4 while the minimum temperatures of Ischia are 10, 9 and in Sant'Angelo 9.8. If to this value we add the great environmental improving of the hotels with beautiful "Wellness" and the pools with hot thermal and miraculous water can be said with the slogan already launched in the 1960s that “the sun spends the winter to Ischia”.
This year, for the months of October and November for the “autumn tourists” and for the islanders is also the first national festival of amateur theater, of which we speak in this issue, with a program of performances until November 30 while the Giardini La Mortella created by Sir William and Lady Susana Walton, present the life of autumn of this extraordinary exotic garden and the spa parks are still open - until the end of October - to catch the last rays of the sun of this “long summer” for happy goers.
October and November are the months of the harvest and the ripening of the grape pending the November 11th for the Feast of St. Martin when each must become wine and is celebrated in dozens of wineries Ischia.
Also in this issue the recipes of the month with our recommended restaurants, local products, the beauty centers, the sights to see, parks, spas and useful information, and of course our best wishes for a good and peaceful holiday with...Ischia in your pocket.