we were delighted to visit with the fine musicians of the St. Vincent Camerata, who made the trek from Pittsburgh to Rome on a choir tour! Nick accompanied them for a few performances, including singing for mass at the monastery of Monte Cassino. they graciously invited the whole family aboard the chartered bus to drive an hour and forty-five minutes south of Rome to the little town of Monte Cassino where they would sing for mass. St. Benedict himself founded a monastery here in the year 529, and it was for this monastic community that he composed his famous Rule. the monastery has flourished here despite numerous setbacks during barbarian invasions and, unfortunately, was almost completely destroyed by Allied bombs during World War II as there was speculation that the Germans might be using the hilltop monastery as an outlook post. since we were a group of Americans visiting the ancient site, that made for a few awkward moments with the tour guide, but she was gracious!
Monte Cassino is in the very southernmost part of the region of Lazio (where Rome is)
happiest little traveler
approaching the monastery building!
hot mess express!
various archaeological fragments decorate the walls
back to the courtyard to burn off some energy!
the monastery vineyard
photo credit: i'll give you one guess
beautiful, even in the rain!
lots of adopted uncles, aunts, and grandparents in this group!
Nick and the choir then went inside the church to warm up prior to mass, while the girls and i stayed outside for a while before finding seats. the church was beautiful, but had my absolute least favourite chairs: single chairs with squeaky legs placed in rows. every single time the girls shifted in their seat, or got up and down, or traded places with each other, it made a horrible distracting noise and moved the chairs out of alignment. my kingdom for a solid wood pew! nevertheless, the mass was beautiful and the music especially so!
coloring outside one of the side doors before mass began
after mass, we explored the crypt below the church and visited the tombs of St. Benedict and his twin sister, St. Scholastica.
original wall of the monastery with a more modern column supporting the church
St. Benedict built this altar over the site of the original pagan Roman 2nd century temple
the bones of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica were initially preserved in this box
then, their relics were transferred to this more secure location in the crypt
when we finally emerged from the church, the sun was shining brilliantly!
it's so beautiful it doesn't even look real.
we made a swift visit to the museum, made progressively swifter as we went along and the girls were starting to lose patience!
12th century fragment from the original portal of the monastery
a tenth century document attesting that the abbey owned a particular plot of land
17th century missal
18th century map of the abbey
this illuminated manuscript dates from 1475
incredible inlaid ornamentation on the wall
15th century statue of St. Nicholas
finally, we said goodbye to the monastery and drove back down the mountain to enjoy a delicious lunch!
the doves are kept here in honor of St. Scholastica
looking out over the Polish cemetery (for soldiers who fought against the Germans occupying the monastery during World War II)
i'm completely obsessed with this wrought iron gate
a few days later, we met up with the group again for a concert at Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino, the Benedictine monastery and university on the Aventine hill -- right next door to the famous Aventine keyhole that allows you to peep through the gate around the gardens of the territory of Malta across to see the dome of St. Peter's. after the concert, we walked down the hill for a delicious dinner at da Bucatino, a restaurant in the Testaccio neighborhood famous for its namesake round pasta coated in flavorful sauce. this dish is notoriously messy, so anyone who ordered it was ceremoniously presented with a bib!
inside the courtyard of Sant'Anselmo
Greta convinced them to swing her as we went along ;)
Cecilia approves!
mangia mangia!
delicious pistachio panna cotta
Cecilia was in hog heaven after Greta had her fill of the ice cream they both shared
and of course, no meal is complete without a digestivo or three!
thanks again to the Camerata for including us in some of your Roman adventures!
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Those mosaics!! Be still my beating heart 😍😍😍
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