Assisi - 24 April

View from the walk in the Bosco San Francesco

Walked around some more in Assisi today. First to the Basilica again to see the upper church with the Giotto frescoes of the life of Saint Francis. Then to a walk down the side of the hill and into a valley below the basilica, the Bosco di San Francesco, or Saint Francis' Forest. This is a piece of regenerating forest, renovated by the FAI (Italy's version of the National Trust) to represent what the area would have looked like in Saint Francis' time. A pleasant walk down to the valley leads to a small group of buildings that belonged to a Benedictine convent in the fifteenth century. The convent chapel has been renovated and the convent buildings are now a visitor centre. 

The old city wall, extended during a period of peace and prosperity, but abandoned later when Assisi withdrew back inside the old walls due to war with neighbouring Perugia. 

Interpretation boards on the way down explained the differences between the Franciscan and Benedictine approaches to the relationship between nature and humankind. Franciscans were mendicant and practiced subsistence harvesting, only taking what they needed and moving on, like hunter-gatherers. They relied on the charity of others for food and funds. The Benedictines on the other hand, actively farmed and managed their lands, but still with an emphasis on nurture and conservation.

View of the Basilica from the old convent garden

The little convent of Benedictine nuns here helped the poor and sick, offered accommodation to travelers, gardening and praying, but eventually life outside the protecting walls of the city became too dangerous and they moved into Assisi. There is an ancient bridge here across the river; apparently it was used by both Charlemagne's troops and the later Lombard invaders to attack Assisi from the rear. Hard to believe now that such a peaceful and apparently insignificant spot was once of vital strategic importance.

Orchids grow wild in the forest here

Street scene in Assisi

Belltower of Saint Stephano

Wandered around a lot in the afternoon. Many, many souvenir shops here, all selling the same thing - images of St Francis and Saint Clare, various religious items (you can buy a rosary then take it to the Basilica to have it blessed by a monk, no doubt for a small offering). I can't help but wonder what the two saints would have felt about the huge basilicas and commerce associated with their names. It's a far cry from the beginnings of the movement, housed in ruined buildings and wattle huts, wandering the streets begging for bread and wedded to Lady Poverty.

Saint Rufino, the church where Francis and Clare were baptised. Clare's childhood home is in a building on the left of the square.

Romanesque tympanum of Saint Rufino.

Found the church of Saint Rufino, the oldest surviving church here. Lovely Romanesque facade, but what a disappointment inside. All Baroque and nineteenth century stuff of the worst kind (to me, a non-believer), agonised saints pierced with daggers and arrows, spouting blood and haloed with electric lights. Not for me at all.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) second trailer

The secret life of Walter Mitty

Watched this movie last night, really enjoyed it. I saw it on the plane coming home, but it's not the same as watching it properly at the movies or at home; there's too much background noise, the jerk seated in front keeps moving his seat back so the picture looks weird and has to be readjusted, you know the thing. I know a lot of people don't like Ben Stiller (what's not to like?) but I've always adored him and really like his movies, and this is his best yet, more serious than some of his others, but in a good way. It's about a man who starts to live an more adventurous life, almost against his will. No sex scenes thankfully (just watched a movie where the hero and heroine keep having sex all the time - I think we realise they are in a sexual relationship by the second time around and don't really know why the producers hammered the theme again and again. I kept having to fast forward) just fun and a little profundity. Walter's boss is probably one of the most obnoxious screen bosses I've ever seen, and there are a lot. Try it, I think you'll like it.

Assisi - 23 April

View across the plain of Assisi. The dome is the Basilica of the Porciuncola, which encloses the little church in which Saint Francis died. Beautiful light.

 First day in Assisi. The weather is not as good as it could be, a bit cold and cloudy, but Assisi is still lovely. The place I'm staying at is the Monastero Santa Colette. It's a French foundation so many people here are visitors from France and speak only French! Just when I'd got used to speaking Italian. My French is very limited, Oui, Bonjour, Merci and Non are about it. Santa Colette was a French nun of the early 15th century who brought the Franciscan women's order into France, St. Clare of Assisi being her inspiration. Colette wrote her own Rule for her nuns, which was accepted by Pope Benedict. I'd not heard of her before, but she seems to be a particularly popular French saint.
   I had trouble finding the place and only came upon it by chance. Street numbers in old Italian towns are often eccentric, owing to subdivision and infill. Hence no.3 Borgo San Pietro comes after no .9 and is over the road from no. 17. It's a much bigger, buzzier place than Villa i Cancelli, so no hopes of an afternoon snooze. A group of kids outside playing hide and seek very noisily, so I'm going to go out to get away from them.

The Basilica of Saint Francis in the evening light.

I thought at first that this was where I was staying - sadly not.

The main gate into the town from the massive bus-park for the pilgrims.

Main door of the lower Basilica, where Francis is buried in the crypt.

Basilica in daylight.

Villa i Cancelli and Santa Maria Novella - 14 April

Villa i Cancelli in the morning sun

Tonight I am writing this in the peace and quiet of Villa i Cancelli, a convent up in the hills to the north of Florence. Last night at the appartement I hardly slept at all, the noise of cars and passers-by was very annoying. I don't know how people can live like that and retain their sanity; some people like it buzzy, but there are limits, and mine have been well and truly reached and gone beyond. Now I am at Villa i Cancelli, surrounded by olive groves, gardens and orchards; it is lovely. It's the convent of the Suore Orsolino di San Carlo, the Ursuline Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo, whose foundress was Saint Angela Merici, a remarkable woman who set up her own order based on the third order of the Franciscans. They were later absorbed into the Catholic Church because the male hierarchy was uncomfortable with a community of religious women who were not under direct Church (read male) rule. Typical men!

There are lovely gardens here, decorated with terracotta urns and with views over Florence and up to Fiesole

And an old tortoise

Fiesole is on the highest hill.

"The Faith is a comfort of our day"

White banksia rose

Statue on the wall of the guest wing.

This was a Medici villa, one of the smaller ones, but lovelier for all that. It has a human scale and was built to accomodate, not to impress. The German Army requisitioned the building during the war, and one of the nuns showed me a mirror with bullet holes where soldiers shot at it. But "that's in the past, now" she said, "we're not supposed to talk about it". 

Went to Santa Maria Novella this morning, my favourite church in Florence - if you see only one church here, it should be this one. Unlike the Duomo, much of the artwork and furnishings are still in place, so we can get a much better idea of how the church would have appeared during the Renaissance, plus there has been very little Baroque meddling. The frescoes by Ghirlandaio in the apse are wonderful, particularly because the artist portrayed the characters in contemporary costume; it's like an encylopedia of late 14thc women'swear. This must have been quite startling at the time, even avant-garde. Imagine if Biblical scenes were painted in churches now with characters in modern dress. Miley Cyrus as the Magdalene, complete with foam finger? Yes, definitely.

Massacio's Trinity

Ceiling behind the high altar

Altar pillars

Here's a particularly Renaissance device; one character looks out from the picture, including the viewer in the action, in this case a very fetching young man.

 Nativity of the Virgin

Nativity of John the Baptist; women coming to coo over the baby and congratulate the mother.

Altarpiece in the Strozzi Chapel - late Medieval

A lot more of the Santa Maria Novella complex is open now than when I first visited in 2007; then, only the church and the first cloister were able to be visited, now 2 more cloisters and several other chapels surrounding them are open, plus a small museum of reliquaries and vestments. This is a treasure house of art. So many churches have been stripped of their treasures, it's good to see so much still in situ and in context.

The Duomo - 12 April

Giotto's tower for Florence Cathedral.

Bit of a wander today. Stayed in bed till late (11-ish) after being wakened at various intervals during the night by noise in the street outside, then went back to the flea-market at San Ambrogio to see if I could find more second-hand books in English. Nothing to my taste; most of the books seemed to be The Da Vinci Code, a sad reflection on tourists' reading tastes. Finally made contact with my emails. Very hard to find public internet facilities here. I also found a lavanderia so I can do my washing before I go up into the hills. I remember now that this was quite a problem on my last trips, being able to get washing done and dried.

Poor patient horses waiting for tourists outside the Duomo

Popped into the Duomo, Florence's Cathedral. I noticed the line was going fast, so tacked on to the end of it. The building is surprisingly dull inside, many of the famous artworks are now housed in the nearby Cathedral Museum, such is the risk of them being stolen or vandalised.  Sadly, the Cathedral has now become almost entirely a tourist attraction; the interior is a dull, dark, undecorated shell, and there is little feeling of a continuing spiritual life there at all. The big celebrations of Easter, Christmas and the blessing of the first Chianti bottles of the season are held there, but there seem to be no everyday worshippers, just a parade of bewildered tourists going up the left aisle and down the right.

Duomo facade

Tomb of Sir John Hawkswood, English condotierro and mercenary.

Side of the Duomo - incredibly 

ornate and very large

Comment overheard while sitting in the Piazza eating icecream - two American tourists looking at the Cathedral:

"Oh yeah, that's that Domo thing". And Brunelleschi and Michelangelo are whirling around in their graves like tops.

Bits and pieces

Going to leave my holiday journal for this post, I'm getting a bit bored with it! 
    Some pictures instead, of everyday things.

Washing day for the doilies. I'm having a tidy-up around the house at the moment, making use of the few fine days we have had to do a little washing and gardening. 

I've signed on to a watercolour class at the nearby community centre, hoping to give myself a bit more incentive to attempt and complete works. This is a painting of the Seven Sleepers above Lyttelton Harbour. There's something wrong with it, I'll take it to class tomorrow and the teacher can tell me what. (I think it's the road at bottom centre).

And here's the gorgeous Thomas, in his thick soft winter coat, sitting on my blue chair. This is the one I have in my painting room; Thom sits on it so I have to move him and the chair to one side then go and get another chair from the living-room for me to sit on. Boy, is he spoiled!