Day 19 Italy 2008

Well, this was certainly an interesting day! We decided to drive to Monte Oliveto Maggiore, an Abby that Cheryl had visited a few years ago. It was a little more difficult to find than places we had already visited. We knew it was near the town of Sinalunga. As we drove into the town, we followed signs to the visitors center. The further we drove, the smaller the streets became! We headed down a street that said (in Italian) “limited traffic” which got smaller and smaller. They should have said, "Only motorcycles and bicycles!!!" We saw we could not get out the other side, so we had to back up the hill, with about 2 inches on either side of the car. Cheryl got out and directed me, inch by inch. By the time we made it out, the little car was smokin’!!!! We drove to a place we could park and let the car (and us) cool down.

With the help of her GPS Nuvi, we made it to the Abby. What a delight!!! On our way up the hill, we saw the lovely yellow flowered shrubs that cover the countryside here called Fioritura di Ginestra or Genista lydia. They have a lovely fragrance of honey.

This is the entrance to the Abby with terracotta reliefs by the Della Robbia school.


The Great Cloister, so named to distinguish it from two smaller ones, is the main focus of the Abby. All of the walls are covered with frescoes by Luca Signorelli and Antonio Bazzi otherwise known as “Sodoma”. These frescoes were started by Signorelli in 1495 and by Sodoma in 1505. No other abby contains such renowned work.




This is the ceiling going up to the Library:


We each bought a book at the book store that described the Abby, which will come in handy for my Art History class!

It was 8:00 p.m. when we returned to Casa Rondini, so we made fresh chicken with marinara sauce over bow tie pasta, fresh salad, bread, and of course wine. We topped it all off with Limoncello, and had a very good nights’ sleep! We did put our swim suits on and tried out the pool before bedtime. It was way too cold. We only got in half way. I hope it will be warm enough before we leave to get in a good swim!