A look back at times in Italy

Hello.  I hope you have had a good week.  We are well and continue as before.  We find new ways of occupying our time and there's always plenty to do in the house and garden.  Next week I'll do a roundup of April's garden and gardening activities. 

During a weekend we usually phone relatives in Italy or my sister-in-law phones us. They're still required to stay at home, being in the vulnerable category. Younger members of the family are permitted to deliver food to them.  Most live in family groups, but the sister-in-law and brother-in-law who went back to Italy on retirement live on their own.  They're somewhat isolated from the rest of the village, although they do have good neighbours to help in an emergency. They're particularly in our thoughts. In fact, my thoughts often turn to Italy and our house and family there which we very much miss.  Mr P and grandson were there July 2019, but I haven't been there since 2018. Today I felt like looking at photos and made some collages to share.  Some images are new and regular readers will be familiar with others.  I'll post the ones of visits to the nearest small town.  I can imagine that the streets right now will be empty of people. I hope that some day some sort of normality will return to those cities, towns and villages that are having such a terrible time.  

The door bottom middle is not a real door, but painted on boards like the ones in the photo above that have been installed around some houses of historical interest that are being restored. The illusion was completed when over the months the plants grew and trailed down over the boards.

cafés and restaurants daytime and in the evening

a pizza van, day and at night

The barber's shop is on the left of the photo.

There's a van and barber's chair outside.

Thank you for your visit.  Take care, stay safe and well.

Fossanova Abbey (2)

The Abbey of Fossanova is famous for its Gothic-Cistercian architecture and is situated near the town of Priverno at the foot of the Lepini Mountains. Originally a Benedictine monastery in the 12th century it was taken over by the Cistercian Order.  The monks first drained the marshy land by digging a ditch to run of the water (new ditch - fossa nuova) and a new church was built. It's less than an hour's drive from our village so Priverno and the abbey at Fossanova is one that we know well.  The woods in the area are a good place to have a picnic and gather wild asparagus when it's in season around about Easter time.

The frescoes on the otherwise unadorned walls in the abbey and others in the monastery date back to the 14th century.

                                               

The Cloister: Rectangular in shape, three of the sides are Romanesque in style whilst the Gothic-styled fourth side was constructed much later in the 13th century and was done with the help of Roman marble workers. The covered kiok with its pyramid-shaped cover supported by beautifully-carved columns was typical of Cistercian monasteries.  Here the monks would use the wash basin during different times of the day - first thing in the morning, after work and before meals.

On our last visit we also went into the buildings where travellers would have stayed. Here Thomas Aquinas, the theologian, died whilst he was on a journey to Lyon where there was to be an important church council meeting. His cell and a chapel can be visited on the upper floor accessed by a narrow, winding staircase. Thomas Aquinas was originally from the local area in South Lazio and a family castle is situated in a hill town near to where we live in Italy.

                                                                 the cell of Thomas Aquinas

                                                                             the chapel

                                                             the wooden canopy over the altar

                                                             a bee - a detail of the marble altar
                            Among other things, the bee in Christian art symbolises the resurrection.

a corner of the monastery garden

This will be my last post for a while as I'm taking a blogging break.

                         
                                         
                                            

A wedding at the abbey

Fossanova Abbey, Priverno, Italy

The choir was practising before the wedding service.

A wedding was taking place when we visited Fossanova Abbey during our day out in Priverno with my husband's sister and her husband. It was still possible to walk around inside the Abbey and I took photos at a distance as I didn't want to intrude during the ceremony. We happened to be outside when the happy couple came out of the abbey. The guests threw white roses and red balls instead of rice or paper confetti and everyone, especially the children, enjoyed the humorous moment. I'll post more of our visit to Fossanova Abbey another time.

It's chilly, but sunny here today. Hopefully the last lot of snow which settled after the heavy snowstorms mid week will begin to melt.