Waiting for the Fall

Here’s a Chestnut: Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Rome’s Isola Tiberina in autumn (EJL photo)

The nutty sizzle of roasted chestnuts starts in northern Italy in early October and then works its way down the peninsula.

The nights turn cooler, the first yellow leaves appear. Then, one day, a castagnaro shows up on a street corner priming a wood fire in a dented steel drum. Soon, he’s turning glossy brown c…