Monday's Monsters

Bomarzo in the distance

Monday was the day we'd fixed on for a longer field trip; Jim and Sharon decided to go to the "Parco dei Mostri" (the Park of Monsters) otherwise known as the Gardens of Bomarzo or "il bosco sacro" ("sacred wood"). The last time I went was several years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover apparently new restrooms, walkways, and other improvements on what had been a really interesting experience the first time.

The human is more than life-sized

Constructed in the middle 1500s in response to his wife's death, the gardens are oddly modern in their surrealism. Dalì, for example, is known to have taken inspiration from the place. The interpretive signs have a lot of long words describing what one can expect to see, but really the best summing up of their content is, "This is really weird and we don't understand what the scenes represent completely or why the Count chose these pieces." It's like a walkable Alice in Wonderland, if you will. The photos (as usual, courtesy of Jim) have no way of showing the scale of the sculptures, but most of them are extraordinarily large.

Crooked house

This visit, I was struck again at how our brain responds to the perceived environment. There is a "tilted house" that was built to be at an angle. If it were just a slope or a tunnel or a different type of structure, it would be no big deal. But because the exterior and interior say "house" (windows, doorways, fireplace, etc.), walking through it is extremely disconcerting.

Frescoes, still in decent condition

After the gardens, we decided to take a more meandering route home. Through inattention to the maps, I didn't hit quite the lakeside road I had hoped for, but we did end up in Montefiascone as planned. Perched atop a high hill overlooking the Lake of Bolsena, it is one of the more picturesque locations in my book: it has a large cupola-ed church (similar in look to Consolazione, if you will) right at the top, along with a fortress. A mid-sized town, it has charm aplenty.

Thanks to advice received at the bar, we decided to drive to the parking near the top and check out the overlook. That done, we went up to the fortress (we'd been told to climb the tower there). Sadly, the tower was closed but the gardens were open. Hurray! Also open was a small church with frescoes dating to the 13th century. Apparently at some time in the church's history, its orientation had been changed. What were 2 "chapels" (alcoves) flanking the main altar are now alcoves in one side of the building. So curious!

It was then time to head back, which meant driving by Bagnoregio (we didn't go into the town, but admired from afar), another favorite.

Love,

Alexandra