THE MONASTERY AND THE CHURCH

Today we had some time so we decided to go past Cortona and way up into the mountains and found a Monastery called Eremo Celle. This is the home of the Capuchin Friars.  It is a serene place built around a beautiful gorge. This was the favorite place of St. Francis of Assisi.  Here is where he lived out the remainder of his life as a monk.  You can see by the plaque at the entrance that the Monastery dates back to 1211.  The monks lived in cells as shown in the picture below.  The cell of St. Francis of Assisi is pictured below in this blog.

This is a picture from the top of the hill leading down to the Monastery.  Those tiny windows are the cells the Monks lived in long ago.  The Monastery is still in use today although I am sure the monks live a more modern life there today.  We did see laundry hanging out to dry.  Dryers are a rare thing in this part of Italy.  The wall at the top of the picture has a path that circles the hill.  Along that path are the stations of the cross.  How this was build starting in the 1200's is beyond me.  A lot of people must have worked very hard over many centuries to build such an edifice up in the mountains of Cortona.  You can feel the peace and serenity when you are there.

This is a view of the surrounding hills from the walk way leading down to the Monastery.  In the distance you can see the fog that has settled in the valley.  The road leading to the Celle is winding and up hill all the way.  In fact, the signage is very poor so we were just hoping we were in the right place.  We did meet some cars coming the other way and, believe me, it's a good thing we were going to a religious place because God had to be with us. 
Getting by one another is a trick that I guess most Italians know.  Maybe some day I'll get to learn it also.  I know one thing, it would be good if your mirrors folded in automatically so you don't break them off as you go by someone.  Also, do not get too close to the side of the road.  There are no guard rails.  Rosary beads would have come in real handy that day.

This is a view of one of the gardens there.  It is very neat as are all the gardens including the vegetables and olives.  There probably is some significance to the way this is laid out but we couldn't find any information.  Notice how the flowers are still in full bloom.  This is near mid October and it still looks like summer here.  Even at the top to this mountain.

Here is another view of the Monastery from the path leading down.  Everything is terraced because this is on the side of the mountain.  I am not sure how many people are in this Monastery but we did see evidence of several still there.You can do a pilgrimage there, as thousands do each year, and stay for a period of time in thought and prayer.  

As I said above, it still looks like summer at the top of this mountain.  Here are some tomato plants still producing tomatoes.  If you look closely you can see some green tomatoes.  Also notice how neat everything is arranged.  Next to the tomatoes is some kind of greens, perhaps lettuce or maybe something used in salad or cooking.  Most meals here in the homes consists of pasta, meat and salad.  The salad is their vegetable.

This is the gorge around which the Monastery is built.  There is very little water in it this time of year.  But I can just imagine how it must rumble after long periods of rain.  Remember there is very little, if any at all, snow in the winter so they do not get the kind of run off that we would get at home.  It is truly a beautiful scene and I wish all of you could enjoy it as much as we did.

This is the little chapel dedicated to St. Francis.  It is rustic and very small.  You are allowed inside to say a prayer or light a candle or even take a picture.  The beams in the ceiling are large and, most likely, hand cut.  That ceiling is typical of many that you see here in this part of Italy.  In fact, at IL MOLINO most of the ceilings are similar.  You will see that is some of the pictures I will include in a future blog.

This is the celle of St. Francis of Assisi.  It is very, very small and looks like a dungeon to me.  It is very damp and dark.  It's hard to believe that he would spend hours in this cell praying.  I guess you have to be extremely devoted to do something like that every day of your life.  It is believed that he stayed here in 1226 plagued by illness.

Another picture from below looking up.  Where you see the rails is the walkway.  And yes, Brenda did climb down and back up again.  Slowly, but she did it.  The building you see at the top is where the parking lot is.  Actually, just to the right of the building.  If you pull too far forward you better hope you are in good graces with God, because you are going to see him very soon.  Again, no guard rails.  Actually nothing to stop you from going over.  I guess the rules here in Italy are not as strict as in the USA.  Frankly, even the traffic lights are just suggestions.

Here is a picture from above the gorge.  That bridge crosses the gorge and leads to a path around the Monastery.  Eventually leading to the stations of the cross at the top level.

OK, so St. Francis lived in a cell that looked like a dungeon.  But look what I saw on one of the terraces.  As I said earlier, the monks do not live the life that St. Francis did.  I wonder if they were watching TV while we were there because we did not see anyone, just tourists.

Here is a cell that is in the side of the gorge that you saw in a previous picture.  There is a name over the entrance to the cell but it was difficult to make out from our vantage point.

On the way back to Cortona we stopped by this church dedicated to Saint Margaret.  She was know as the "bad lady of Cortona".  At the age of 17 she ran away with the Italian Lord of Vilano.  She was not accepted in his castle as his wife, but as his mistress.  She lived there until one day he did not return from a hunting trip, but his dog did come back without the lord.  She went looking for him and found him dead in the woods.  Apparently, he had been murdered.  At that point she gave all the riches she received back to his family and left with a son fathered by Vilano.  When she was not accepted by her mother and step-father, she went to the nearby monasteries operated by the friars.  Her son was accepted as a friar with the Franciscan order and she devoted the rest of her life helping the poor and sick.  After three years of prayer and fasting on bread and vegetables she was accepted by the Franciscans. She established the order of Our Lady of Mercy which is devoted to helping the sick and poor.  She died in 1290 and in 1728 she was canonized by Pope Benedict VIII.

Here is a picture of the inside of the church dedicated to Saint Margaret.  It is typical of most churches from the 1500's with its frescoes and gold etchings.  You can walk to the church from Cortona but it is not for the faint of heart as the path is steep and long.  Many people do walk there, but we took our junky car.  On our way out of the gate with our car we were stopped by a couple from Canada who asked us for a ride back to Cortona.  Apparently, the woman was overcome by the walk up and she was having a panic attack from the extreme height.  They hopped in the back seat of our luxury Italian car (they barely fit) and we drove them down to the Cortona city gate.  They were staying at a hotel within the walls and had no car.  Obviously, they were quite thankful.

There she is, Saint Margaret of Cortona.  I am not kidding that is really her.  She has been preserved and has been placed on the alter.  I don't know how they did it back in the 1200's, but here she is in a coffin with a glass side so all could see her.  You can't go on the alter so this picture was taken from a distance.

As I said earlier, the church is way up there in the hills of Cortona.  Here is a picture of the countryside from the back of the church near the monastery.  That lake in the background is Logo Trasimeno.  That was the subject of one of my other posts.  By the way the Franciscans still occupy the monastery a the rear of the church.  We did see one of them (a female) come out with some laundry and get into a car.  She was probably going to the laundromat (lavanderia in Italian) in Camucia, the center of our Universe here under the Tuscan Sun.

Once again, The end to a perfect day.  This is sunset viewed from our back porch just outside the kitchen here at IL MOLINO.  In the background you can see a pointed a pointed peak.  Believe it or not, but there is a house on that peak.  I could see the lights at night and barley see a house during the day.  I don't know how they get up there, but there must be a winding road to the top.  Maybe one day I will look for it.

An even better ending.  This hit the spot after a day of roaming around Cortona.  If you can't read the label on that bottle of wine it says Cortona Sangiovese.  It is the vino locale.  It is a DOC wine.  That means that there is a guarantee that all the Sangiovese grapes in this wine came from Cortona area.
Stay tuned, more to come.  Not much however, as our trip is coming to an end.  It is kind of bitter sweet.  We miss home and family, but we really like it here and would love to stay longer.  Maybe a year or two.  Just kidding, or am I.