Japanese Persimmon – Cachi

painting of cachi in Fosciandora by Keane both Oil on Canvas 1988

As the leaves start falling on the hills surrounding Barga we can begin to see the shape of the mountains, houses and barns and even roads snaking up the mountainside which for months have been hidden from view by overhanging trees.

The green verdant colours of the summer are gradually being replaced by orange, yellows and browns until later on this month or early next, all will be bare and almost monotone until that shocking burst of green once more fills up our eyes in the spring.

All this paring away of the vegetation does reveal some interesting things though – not least of which, the Cachi or to give them their botanical name: the Diospyros kaki, better known probably as the Japanese Persimmon

Once upon a time, more or less every house that had some land surrounding it would have a Japanese Persimmon tree growing close to the buildings. Their orange fruit stands out as probably the only bright colour in an otherwise drab winter landscape.

Nobody is really sure when these plants actually arrived in this area but what is known is that once they’d taken root in Garfagnana soil they also took firm roots in the local culture as they became the fruit of the winter season.