Abbazia delle Tre Fontane

On March 14, 2012 Daniele and I visited the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. This is an abbey built on a site of three springs, the site of martyrdom of St. Paul.

This write-up and photos are from over a year ago, March 2012, but they never made it up. I'm trying to upload old pictures and the accompanying stories now with back dates so they are archived in order.

Today we continued our tour of Italian monasteries with the Abbazia delle Tre Fontane. The place is very beautiful and religiously important. This is the sight where the Romans martyred by beheading the apostle St. Paul on June 29, 67 AD.

You enter the monestary from the Arco di Carlo Magno (Arch of Charlemagne). Much of the original art work has faded because it dates to the 8th century.

Once inside there is an open courtyard with the main abbey (left) and the church of Santa Maria Scala Coeli (right). The Abbey is the largest structure. The church inside is not as fancy as the other two, this is where the nuns and monks perform their daily activities. It was build to the specifications of all San Benedetto monasteries, so the sun comes into the part of the building relevant for the activities prudent for that time of day.

Santa Maria Scala Coeli literally means ladder to the heavens in Latin and is the smallest of the three in the Monastery. It received this name because on this spot in 1138 San Bernardo, while celebrating a mass for the dead in the presence of Pope Innocent II, had a vision in ecstasy of angels leading souls from purgatory to heaven. The church itself is beautiful.

The church dedicated to St. Paul is down a small path. It is not incredibility big, but it is very ornate. You enter from the side and immediately notice the sound of running water. On your left is an altar for St. Peter, on the right an alter for St. Paul. Each has beautiful artwork. Straight ahead are three niches of black marble for the three fountains. They are at different heights but they fit seamlessly into the church architecture. Behind the middle fountain is another altar, but it was closed. In the center floor is a mosaic representing the four seasons taken from Ostea Antica (ruins close to Rome that are similar to Pompeii). Above the entrance door is a plaque dating to the martyrdom stating that this is the place there the apostle died. Like many Italian structures, this building was build on the ruins of another, that was another. The current structure dates from 1599. Every piece in this church has history and significance, they have it all on their website [http://www.abbaziatrefontane.it].

Like Sacro Speco, these monks are Benedictine order, who follow the teachings of San Benedetto. Specifically they are the sub-order of trappisti. There are many orders but the other popular one in Italy is Franciscan, who follow the teachings of San Francisco.

The moto of San Benedetto is “prega e lavora” or “pray and work”. They hand produce and sell many goods for the income of the monastery, including honey, jam, beer, liqueur, chocolate, as well and clothing, gold, wood goods, all sorts of stuff. This particular monastery is famous for their chocolate and having just tried some, I wish I had bought more! They are also known for goods with eucalyptus, and in fact the grounds of the monastery were covered in eucalyptus trees, as well as olive trees, and other herbs. I saw a bay leaf plant that had grown into a tree! Like Sacro Speco they sell a variety of honeys, but a few more options here. I picked up some eucalyptus honey and some pollen to add to the walnut honey we got before (so much delicious honey!). I'm excited about the pollen, it's a jar of little grains of yellow pollen. You are supposed to eat a spoon of it in the morning for added energy.

I mentioned they make booze. Here they make all sorts liqueurs from herbs, eucalyptus, chocolate, and citrus. Their brothers in Germany make beer and have gotten pretty famous for it. I was looking at a shelf of some of these crafted brews when I saw one I recognized as a particularly delicious beer available in many US bars, probably just mixed in, right? Nope Chimay is made by Trapisti monks. I picked up a color label I've never tasted – hope it's even better than the red!

Full album from this day trip:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5868250225318597217

Zio Amato in Anzio

This is an older post that never made it online. I'm putting it up now with a back-dated post-time. Since this blog is, primarily, my own travel diary.

Yesterday Daniele and I went to visit his father's brother Amato and his wife Cinzia for lunch. I had not met them before. They live a bit south of Rome by the beach.

Since I have never been to the area and it was a beautiful day we arrived early to walk around on our own. Anzio is an adorable beach/fishing town and we had a great time walking its seaside paths. There was also some type of celebration going on (or maybe just your typical Sunday in Anzio?). I bought a small bag of pistachios from a farmer's stand that we munched on while walking around.

The port was busy with boats that seemed to have just come into town and were sorting and selling all of their fish.

Ancient Roman Emperor Nero had a seaside home here. It is located right between the sea and the park-like paths that skirt around the beach.

Daniele's aunt and uncle were so nice. They welcomed us in their house with some prosecco before taking me on a tour of their large apartment. Amato has a patio in the front and a small garden in the back. He grows a few palms and fruit trees including a cherry, lemon, and pomegranate. The pomegranate tree only made one fruit last year and he used it to make liqueur (following the same process as limoncello). Amato collects antiques and all of his furnishings are beautiful antique pieces.

Amato and Cinzia made special vegetarian dishes just for me. And then after lunch, in true Italian fashion, or at least in Daniele's family, we enjoyed some rounds of cards.

The pictures from this day are buried about halfway down my catch-all album for the 3-month trip to Rome I took January to April 2012:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/6010435566436983425

Monastery of Saint Benedict - Sacro Speco

On March 5, 2012 Daniele brought me to the Saint Benedict Monastery of Sacro Speco.

This write-up and photos are from over a year ago, March 2012, but they never made it up. I'm trying to upload old pictures and the accompanying stories now with back dates so they are archived in order.

Saint Benedict Monastery of Sacro Speco

Our trip to Assisi seems to have reminded Daniele of the largely untapped “places to visit” the Catholic Church offers us here. We've visited a few exceptionally pretty churches, abbeys, and monasteries, but there are much more we still have yet to see.

Saint Benedict Monastery of Sacro Speco

The two largest orders of monks are of Saint Frances and Saint Benedict. Saint Frances, famously walked from Assisi to Rome. Saint Benedict prayed in a cave and had visions (to simplify things a bit). That very cave was turned into a monastery, which is not far from us in Rome. Benedictine monks also believe in a “work and pray” model which leads to awesome hand made goodies in their shops, like honey.

Monk on a cell phone

This monastery, Monastero San Benedetto - Sacro Speco, in the city of Subiaco, is very old with beautiful stuccoes on the walls. Like Assisi, and apparently any church, the older church is the lower level and they built on above it. Here the lower level showed its age with a fair amount of scratched in graffiti. People are animals.

Monastery of Saint Benedict - Sacro Speco : Stucco of Madonna Saint Gregory's Chapel in lower/older church covered in graffiti signatures

The amazing thing about this place, and what I really didn't expect, is the cave is there in its original form built right into the church. It is not covered in tiles or other wise refinished; it is a cave just in a church.

There is another Benedictine monastery below Sacro Speco, Monastery of Saint Scholastica. We took a tour of this one. They had a store so I bought some honey.

View from Monastery of Saint Benedict - Sacro Speco, including Monastery of Saint Scholastica (front left) and city of Subiaco (back right).

As a little bonus there are some Ancient Roman ruins just on the road to Sacro Speco. A villa of Nero. You find old villas of Nero everywhere you go around Rome; dude had a lot of houses.

The rest of the photos from this trip can be found here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5865687971036327841