Friday, May 12 – From monastery to abbey -- and a peaceful lunch
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| The tower gate and drawbridge at the Monte Oliveto Maggiore abbey |
After visiting Pienza, we decided we wanted to find a place that seemed more holy – to evoke that sense
of peace we had yesterday at Sant’Antimo.
So we decided to drive to Sant’Anna in Caprena. I remember visiting the monastery from our previous trip and that is was in a serene and quite setting. It has some beautiful frescos by Il Sodoma. A number of famous scenes from the movie The English Patient were shot in this location. While we enjoyed the drive up and down the hills of the Val d'Orcia,
when we arrived at the hermitage, we found it to be closed, and now turned into
(what looks to be a high-end) agriturismo. We did walk around the grounds a bit, enjoying the olive trees and the late spring flowers.
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| Sant'Anna in Caprena - a beautiful peaceful setting, now an agriturisom |
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| Very early olives, creating a beautiful spring green color on the silver grey olive trees |
We
decided to continue on and visit the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore – and were so glad we
did. It was a bit tricky to
find. We parked and entered the
fortified gate after crossing the drawbridge. Immediately on our left was a trattoria – must have been put
there by God, because by now it was 3 PM and we were hungry and getting cranky. We stopped to eat lunch at the Ristorante La Torre before we toured the actual abbey complex. I had bruschetta and a ham and cheese
omelette, and Mike had a mixed salad and spaghetti with mushrooms. We both had a nice glass of the house
table red wine. We were now
fortified, just like the gate, and ready to tackle the Abbey.
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| The entrance to the Monte Oliveto Maggiore abbey, over a drawbridge and barbican gate |
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| The trattoria's menu features one of the "bad women" from the fresco of Signorelli, inside the abbey |
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| Eating our lunch outside in their garden terrace |
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| Fresh pomodori bruschette and a salad for starters |
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| A terracotta glazed statue of Saint Benedict on the inside of the barbican tower gate |
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