Casentino Day Trip

July 30 2011

Casentino Day Trip

Yesterday, we took our first day trip to Casentino. It’s very much like a jungle area that we hiked to get to a cathedral built for Saint Frances of Assisi located on the very tippy-top of the hill. Because of the recent rains, everything was extremely muddy but we got through it alright, helping each other out. A few people found large sticks to aid their journey.

I also got to use my new Italian shoes! They were perfecto! I never would have been able to make the trip in my boots, but my feet didn't even hurt at all after the three hour hike uphill and through the muddy woods!

We took the charter bus from the bottom of the Accedemia hill on ‘di San Fabiano’ (the name of our street) all the way about 60 very windy and curvy kilometers in the hills. Then we walked a little further to a very old wall, from St. Frances’ time. Painted on this wall is the start of markers for a few different pathways that St. Frances took in his lifetime, some very often. There are yellow ‘t’ shaped markers and markers with a thick red line on top and a thick white line below. Some have numbers written in them for various distances or pathways.

These Italian geysers (named so by myself only) are actually mud puddles that Wild Italian Boars create from the rains and the surrounding dirt. They create the mud, then they roll in it and scratch themselves on nearby tree trunks to get off any grime or loose hair or skin still attached to their bodies once Summer begins. Apparently, Wild Boar is a specialty of Italian cuisine, so I expect very soon we will be trekking to some nearby ristorante (ree-stoh-rahn-tay = restaurant) to try some.

You can't really tell this is a hole, but to the right of the pile of rocks is a hole that actually blows out cold air throughout the year. I forget what year, but before refrigerators were even an idea, this little hole was used throughout the year to keep meats and cheeses cool. They would put ice in the hole during the winter time and it would still be there in the Summer and Fall! Isn't that amazing??

This is a new friend of mine, Jeremy, basking in the beauty of the Casentino forest landscape.

If a tree falls in the Italian woods... does it speak Italian??  :)

Some pictures of the Cattedral:

This little cave was burrowed out just behind the cathedral built for St. Frances. I don't know which came first, the cave or the cathedral, but I know that this cave was around long enough that he could have relocated to a small room in the cathedral if he wanted but he obviously didn't. He was so humble and wanted to be simplistic that he even slept on this metal 'bed.' You can't tell from the picture, but it's not even level; it's slanted. I can't imagine sleeping on this metal slate even one night! He is a saint!

We also saw many different kinds of nuns all over also visiting! These nuns were in white, although we also saw some nuns in cream-colored garments as well as some monks in brown garb.

There was also this huge, beautiful cross at the corner of the cathedral walls, out by the stone sitting wall. Behind the wall was a cliff that just kept going and going, and you couldn't tell where the wall ended and the landscape began.