While many of our BC students were scattered throughout Italy and Europe this weekend, yesterday we Ramages returned from a refreshing weekend trip to southern(ish) Italy. As is usually the case, I have alot of pictures from this trip and have even more that I have gathered from the web after returning. Below I’ve posted a small chunk of these — though likely even still there are more than you will care to digest.
Highlights of the trip:
- An impromptu private tour of excavations under Orvieto’s church of Sant’Andrea. Underneath this medieval church lie yet three more layers of history — a paleo-Christian church, an older Etruscan city, and an even older Villanovian town. Why doesn’t Rick Steves mention this gem? Maybe because it’s not something you’d really expect from the outside and not something you find in ads. Amazing piece of history!
- Walking unhurried through the romantic streets of Orvieto with our family
- Eating a nice meal of wild boar and honey-chesse lasagna (Jen’s highlight of the trip)
- Orvieto’s magnificent Duomo with the artwork inside and out. This semester I am particularly obsessed with Last Judgment scenes relevant to Dante, and this cathedral fed my appetite.
- Eating pizza in Naples, the city where Pizza was invented
- Naples’ duomo with the blood of St. Januarius and Europe’s oldest baptistery
- The extensive excavations of Pompeii, especially the haunting bodies visible for viewing which were frozen in time giving us a view of the very last breathing moment of these persons. It was yet another chilling reminder to remember death daily and that the Lord will come to all of us like a thief in the night.
This weekend we have a BC school trip to Assisi, Norcia, and Perugia. In the meantime, time to go discuss Pope Benedict’s discussion of the Sermon on the Mount in his Jesus of Nazareth.
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- Descent to the crypt containing the mortal remains of St. Januarius in Naples’ duomo
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- Apse of Naples’ duomo — does that glass image in the center look familiar?
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- View of Orvieto’s historic center from the valley below
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- Looking down on the valley outside Orvieto after our stroll
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- Church of San Giovanni, where our Orvieto rampart stroll ended (the climb was much more demanding than this photo indicates!)
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- Beginning of a romantic stroll along the ramparts of Orvieto, with the church of San Giovanni in the background
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- “Heaven Street” — an apt name for many of the little streets around the outskirts of Orvieto
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- Sant’Andrea in Orvieto with an imposing tower to its side
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- Facade of Orvieto’s duomo
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- Side shot of Orvieto’s duomo revealing its characteristic stripes found inside and out
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- Julia hanging out after we enjoyed tasting some Orvieto Classico outside
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- Bones of Orvieto’s early bishops visible underneath Sant’Andrea in Orvieto
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- Foundation stone of the medieval church of Sant’Andrea in Orvieto. It is now visible thanks to excavations beneath the church.
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- Paleo-Christian altar (front-center) and apse underneath the medieval church of Sant’Andrea in Orvieto
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- Medieval “recycling” — this is the older or paleo-Christian side of a floor stone later flipped and reused in Sant’Andrea in Orvieto
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- Medieval “recycling” — this is the newer or Medieval side of a floor stone in Sant’Andrea in Orvieto
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- Etruscan well under Orvieto’s Sant’Andrea,
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- Looking down the floor of the left nave of the old basilica under Orvieto’s Sant’Andrea, with an ancient Etruscan road underneath the mosaic floor
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- Marvelous excavations and tour under Sant’Andrea in Orvieto. In the rear-middle you can see steps that led up to the entry of the first Christian church built on the site. This church was built over a 7th century B.C. Etruscan forum and temple, which itself was built over an even older Villanovian town — incredible!
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- Early-Christian mosaic church floor in Sant’Andrea in Orvieto — this design symbolized at once the cross (fairly obvious) and resurrection (b/c it’s a flower)
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- Nave of Sant’Andrea in Orvieto
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- No explanation necessary
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- “Have” is a variant on “Ave” or “Hail” — this is outside on the ground in front of a house in Pompeii — a 1st-century Roman welcome mat!
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- Well-preserved bath in Pompeii
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- Julia before a perfectly-preserved tub in Pompeii
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- Pompeii’s basilica (not a church–this was the Roman term for a courthouse whose structure was adopted in Christian architecture)
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- Nice panorama of the front side of Pompeii upon entering the site
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- Entryway to our pizza joint
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- Neapolitan pizzas cooked right in front of you in the place pizza was born
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- Ramages living it up at Di Matteo (“Matt’s Place”)
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- Julia kickin’ back at one of Naples’ famous pizza joints
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- Facade of Naples’ duomo
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- Santa Restituta, paleo-Christian church annexed to Naples’ duomo when it was built in the Middle Ages. It is now basically a side chapel along the left side of the main church.
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- Chapel of St. Januarius in Naples’ duomo, containing the saint’s famous blood which is reputed to liquify every year on his feast (we came there the day after his octave, and this was as close as we could get to the blood)
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- Descent to the crypt containing the mortal remains of St. Januarius in Naples’ duomo
