Yesterday, Florence and I took off to the wilds of Umbria (call it 40 minutes from the house) to visit the Abbazia di San Felice ("Abbazia" = "monastery" and "San Felice" = Saint Felix, but "felice" also means "happy"). Since it was the end of a holiday week, I did take the time to call in the morning to make sure they would be open. After a brief hold, a monk answered and said there was no problem visiting the site.
Off we went. The scenery around there is beautiful: a combination of wild, unspoilt hilly terrain with occasional olive groves to punctuate the vegetation. The sharp hills and the windy roads make for a delightful trip.
We arrived in the parking lot, only to find the entrance door sternly signposted with (roughly translated) "Not in service. Entry strictly forbidden for reasons of safety." Nothing daunted, because by now we well know the flexibility one can see (plus, they told me we could come, by golly!), we rang the doorbell. Nothing. I tried calling them. Nothing. Florence rang the doorbell while I was calling them. Nothing.
But wait! We heard voices! We peered around the construction fencing, only to see people who were plainly tourists. After a brief consultation, we decided to go around the complex to see if there was an alternate entrance.
Right on cue, an older woman plainly dressed for cleaning opened the "not in service" door, and asked what we were doing. We explained the situation, and she somewhat brusquely said we should follow her back through that door (and instructed us to come out the way we had entered when we were ready to leave). Our route took us through a lovely interior courtyard with frescoes and a fountain, and then through another door into the church. Said door ALSO had a "do not enter/not in service/sucks to be you" type of sign, but we decided it was best to ignore the sign and follow her spoken instructions.
The church itself is a lovely Romanesque structure dating to the 11th century. Its crypt is small and created with a series of complex arching, meaning that we just had to sing to enjoy the acoustics. We promise that we made some appropriate musical selections!
The altar itself is located up a steep stairway from the main part of the church, which is a very interesting effect. We wondered how it would be for priests in full regalia and possibly carrying monstrances as they went up and down the steps.
An intriguing thing we noticed were the carvings of animals, done rather schematically, but also somewhat at random. These carvings were found in the capitals of some columns in the crypt (a little odd, but sort of made sense...although they contrasted strangely with some of the other highly ornate capitals), but even more strangely, they were located also in the middle sections of some of the walls.
All in all, this made for a delightful morning.
Love,
Alexandra
Off we went. The scenery around there is beautiful: a combination of wild, unspoilt hilly terrain with occasional olive groves to punctuate the vegetation. The sharp hills and the windy roads make for a delightful trip.
But wait! We heard voices! We peered around the construction fencing, only to see people who were plainly tourists. After a brief consultation, we decided to go around the complex to see if there was an alternate entrance.
 |
| The door on the left just behind the shrubbery was our "do not enter" entryway Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it |
Right on cue, an older woman plainly dressed for cleaning opened the "not in service" door, and asked what we were doing. We explained the situation, and she somewhat brusquely said we should follow her back through that door (and instructed us to come out the way we had entered when we were ready to leave). Our route took us through a lovely interior courtyard with frescoes and a fountain, and then through another door into the church. Said door ALSO had a "do not enter/not in service/sucks to be you" type of sign, but we decided it was best to ignore the sign and follow her spoken instructions.
 |
| Interior. Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it |
The church itself is a lovely Romanesque structure dating to the 11th century. Its crypt is small and created with a series of complex arching, meaning that we just had to sing to enjoy the acoustics. We promise that we made some appropriate musical selections!
 |
| The crypt. Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it |
An intriguing thing we noticed were the carvings of animals, done rather schematically, but also somewhat at random. These carvings were found in the capitals of some columns in the crypt (a little odd, but sort of made sense...although they contrasted strangely with some of the other highly ornate capitals), but even more strangely, they were located also in the middle sections of some of the walls.
 |
| From the outside, you can see a splendid view of the countryside Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it |
All in all, this made for a delightful morning.
Love,
Alexandra
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love to hear your comments! They encourage us to write more!!