01/30/10

Yesterday Filiberto took us on our second excursion: to San Ginesio, Abbazio di Chiaravalle di Fiastra, and the Castello della Rancia.

San Ginesio: small, scenic town medival town in the mountains
Abbazio di Fisatra: Abbey founded in 1142
Castello dell Rancia: Castle originally belonging to the Fiastra Abbey, turned to a defense fortress in 1350's

I wish Macerata was closer to the mountains, they were beautiful and covered in snow. San Ginesio got some snow, which made it feel more like home. We got on the bus in the morning at 8am...andI guess Filiberto didn't think it was too early to bring along a microphone on the bus ride and be our 24/7 tour guide. We passed the remains of an ancient Roman town (piles of stones stacked randomly, the remains of the town's walls, and coleseum) called Urbs-Salvia. The Romanesque architecture in San Ginesio and in the Abbazio used the marble from this roman town because it was so close.


We visited a 10th century church in San G. Beautiful. There was a crypt under the alter with Gothic frescoes so we got to see those too.
Medieval churches were always covered in pictures of stories of Christ because the mass was in Latin, so they couldn't understand it, and most people were illiterate. Apparently, the Litanies (what you say after the Hail Marys, in Catholicism) were created in Loreto..a town close to us. What's weird is that even though Italy is known for Catholicism, a lot of people now don't practice it regularly. We also stopped in to see a restoration studio for architecture--friend of Filiberto's. It's more expensive to restore old buildings than to just start over like we do in the States, usually--but Italy likes it's history. So do I.

The Abbey was really cool. It preserved a whole collection of local ancient artifacts from the roman town. It's an active abbey, but we didn't run into any monks. In the church was a painting of St. Ignatius - founder of the Jesuits (the abbey became a Jesuit college in 1581-1773). St. Ignatius was from Loyola, so Loyola college in Chicago is named after him.
...so I thought that was pretty cool.

We ate lunch there - I tried gnocci ragu (creamy potatoes in a meat sauce); amazing. And got an espresso. They always ask you if you want a caffe at the end of a meal in a restaurant. I like them because they keep me buzzing the rest of the day. Some Italians drink up to 7 a day...I have no idea how.

The castle was in Tolentino. We climbed the Mastio=tower (the dungeon is also on the lowest level of it). There was a bridge in front that used to be a drawbridge, when there was a moat.

Then we went to a winery. Il Pollenza, I think. The guy who owns it (is married--damn) also owns thousands of gas stations in Italy. We got to taste three kinds. Two reds and a white. I bought you (Mom and Dad) a bottle of the red because it's the first red wine I've ever really liked. I'll save it until you come over here and we'll celebrate! :)

Hsuan Hsuan and I stopped in the little bakery we love so much on the way back home last night and Adrianna was closing up and had to throw out some of the food. We ended up taking a bag home of pizza and croissants. How lucky was that?

Alyson came over and we spent 4 hours planning our spring break trip--more like tour. We got the cheapest flights we could and did pretty well. I think the exchange rate might have gone up...?
Anyway, we have from February 19th until the 28th. So here goes....
Friday 19/02
Rome(Ciampino) to Barcelona(Girona)
21:30 - 23:10

Wednesday 24/02
Madrid to Dublin
11:30 - 13:05

Friday 26/02
Dublin to Brussels (Chareloi)
20:20 - 22:55

Sunday 28/02
Brussels to Ancona
16:35 - 18:30


...Yeah, I'm making a budget right now so I have money to eat. Still I booked these flights altogether for about 100 euro. Plane tickets are really cheap.