A dash of colour has returned to the mediaeval town of Castelluccio di Norcia this summer after a series of earthquakes in 2016 devastated this region of central Italy.

Every year, tourists from all over the world visit Castelluccio di Norcia in Umbria to see the breathtaking landscape, when millions of flowers turn the lentil fields into a carpet of red, blue, yellow and purple.

Castelluccio is also home to what famous cooks like Jamie Oliver and Antonio Carluccio regard as the world's finest lentils. Wild cyclamen, iris, poppies and others, which also grow in these fields, are essentially weeds, but they are as useful as they are pretty, their stems helping prop up the delicate lentil plants.

Even without lentils, Castelluccio would quicken the pulse. At 1,452m, it is the highest village in the Apennine mountain range.

Sadly, the village was damaged so badly in the 2016 earthquake that it forced the evacuation of all residents and the closure of all roads.

While it is still uninhabitable, roads were reopened briefly last year so lentil farmers could sow their crops, and have since been reopened to the public.

THE GUARDIAN, REUTERS