Sunday, May 14 2017 – Happy Mother’s Day
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| The start of a beautiful morning at the Borgo |
Happy Mother’s Day (which they don’t have in Italy, by the way). Up
at 8 AM and down to the ristorante for breakfast by 9. A nice buffet – you could also get made
to order items, like omelets. I
had the best caffe latte of the trip – in a tall glass with lots of warm
milk. I’m a little tired of the
sweets, although they had a really good apple cake. As we hadn’t yet decided where we wanted to go, we went out
to sit in one of the outdoor patio tables outside of the restaurant. Mike and I talked about options – maybe
Spoleto, maybe Montefalco, maybe over the hills/mountains. We were disappointed to learn that we
couldn’t go see the Grande Piano near Norcia, as the roads were destroyed by
the earthquake last fall, and most still haven’t been repaired. One of the receptionists, Serena, is
from Norcia and her family’s home was somewhat damaged as well. She says the church was also damaged
pretty badly and they are waiting for the resources from the Italian government
to help repair it. It reminds me
of the earthquake that occurred in Assisi in 1997, the year before I visited
with Suzanne.
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| Best caffe latte at this Borgo! |
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| Lots of protein options for breakfast |
We sat outside on the
patio furniture for a while and talked with an interesting couple from New York
– Beth is a lawyer for Doctor’s without Borders and Stan is a retired
psychologist. I had a second caffe
latte while we chatted about travel, work and politics.
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| Many nice choices for relaxing outside before we motivated for our next drive |
We decided to drive to the
hermitage above the city of Assisi, on Mount Subasio, where St. Francis would
go for retreats in the 13th Century. We first drove up into the hills above our agriturismo for
some “spelunking” with the car, as Mike wanted to see again the roads where he
went running and hiking yesterday evening.
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| The Castle of Poreta above our Borgo |
We eventually made it to
the autostada, heading north past the pretty town of Trevi, and then past
Spello. It was fun to see them
again and brought back fond memories of our trip with Marianne Esposito and our
cooking class 15 years ago.
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| The beautiful hill town of Trevi |
We drove up the mountain
to the area of the hermitage.
Because it’s Sunday, there were lots of people out hiking, walking and
picnicking – plus some that seemed to be there for the religious aspects of the
site. The hermitage area is dotted
with small caves – grottos- that were used by St. Frances, and other monks,
such as Father Rufino, for solitude, prayer and meditation. A number of small chapels and a
sanctuary have been built into the mountainside and a few brothers of the
Franciscan sect live there now.
The Eremo delle Carceri is above Assisi on Monte Subasio. St. Francis would come to pray and contemplate regularly in between his travels. The word carceri means "isolated places" (and it also means prisons). It is said that Francis spoke to the birds here - and that they silenced their song when he was present so as not to disturb his prayers. The views of the Umbrian valley from this isolated location are amazing.
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| L'eremo delle carceri |
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| You can walk the paths in the woods that were traversed by Saint Francis and the other hermits |
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| One of the grottos used by Saints Francis, Rufino and others |
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| Views of the Umbrian Valley from the hermitage |
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| The church and small living quarters for the Franciscan monks |
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