Ciao once more!
On Monday, June 2nd Brother Rob took our class on a day journey to Fiesole, Italy. This small city lies roughly a 30-minute bus experience away from the middle of Florence and is really a hidden gem with wondrous views on the way in which up. Upon arrival, we obtained a glimpse of a small market that’s at all times open on Italy’s Independence Day–and I set myself a mission to switch sun shades that had randomly damaged the opposite day.
However first, we adopted our professor on a brief hike that led to most likely essentially the most breathtaking view of Florence and the higher Tuscany area, adopted by exploration of the charming but hidden San Francesco monastery.
As soon as house to an historical civilization referred to as the Etruscans, this monastery remains to be really inhabited by monks to today–which shocked me contemplating their dwelling quarters. I didn’t {photograph} their rooms, however think about a really small rectangular room with nothing however a picket slab on stilts for a mattress, a small picket desk, and a really plain, cramped chair. I used to be extremely fascinated by monks’ vows of poverty and their simplistic life-style typically; it prompted me to mirror by myself privileges and freedoms that I’ve entry to each day.
The monastery’s cloisters additionally caught my consideration; Not solely had been the brick columns and arches surrounding a glistening backyard house to attractive pink flowers, however I used to be all of the sudden introduced again into New York, and I used to be standing within the Cloisters of The Met. Earlier than this journey I used to be unaware of what Franciscan structure consisted of, and felt enlightening to have realized that this repeated type of development was purposeful.
Fiesole is actually a location in Florence that I might not have thought to go to had I been touring alone. I’m so grateful that I used to be capable of uncover a brand new city within the outskirts of Florence and completely respect the newfound data that permits me to make connections between acquainted and seemingly unfamiliar locations world wide!
Take pleasure in a few of the pictures I connected of Fiesole and the monastery under! 🙂
Grazie,
Natalia
