Capitoline She-Wolf, Etruscan, 500 BC. (© Museo Capitolino, Rome)

The Etruscans inhabited central Italy from 1000 to 700 BC. They built 12 city states in the region, all near metal deposits. The first city state established by them and their stronghold was Perugia. They were an extremely civilized, happy, peace loving people, and ate abundantly, twice a day. The women were treated equally and were present at debates, sporting functions and festivities. A large part of their life was spent preparing for their afterlife. They built barrel tombs five to six meters under the ground with shafts leading down to them. These tombs were discovered later totally by accident and till date much of their civilization and why it came to an end remains a complete mystery. The inside walls of these tombs were painted with stories of their lives and stocked with household goods. The paintings reflect a lifestyle that was focused more on festivities and celebration than military affairs. Each family had its own dedicated tomb. The first member of the family to pass away was cremated with the ashes placed in an urn inside. The last member was buried and the tomb thereafter sealed. Fourteen kilogrammes of gold have been discovered in these tombs and for the very first time in history, the double flute makes its appearance amongst their appurtenances.

The Etruscans were the first people to build hill top towns in Italy based on the need for safety and health, keeping a safe distance from infected rivers. They also developed the arch and worshipped virgins, traditions that the Romans adopted after conquering and assimilating them within their empire. The state ‘Tuscany’ is named after the Etruscans. D.H. Lawrence, the English novelist and poet (1885-1930) loved Italy. In his book ‘Etruscan Places’ published after his death in 1931, he tried to explain the civilization's abrupt disappearance by "You can’t dance to the music of the double flute and conquer nations at the same time."

During the 12th to 14th Centuries, a politically divided yet prosperous period, these hill top towns flourished. The low-lying areas were used for agriculture, especially in the central parts of the country which today is the largest producer of wheat in Europe, second only to France.

Umbria is the green heart of Italy. Its economy is based on olive oil and tobacco. The state is also famous for its dark chocolate called ‘peruga’ or kisses. Landlocked with no outlet to the sea, the state is named after the umbrians, an ancient tribe. Orvieto, meaning 'the old place', is an old historical city in the state. Its main attractions are a 70-meter deep well with two staircases leading down, called the well of St. Patrick's, and its cathedral. Built over a period of 200 years, the latter has 60 mosaics, and was worked on by 30 architects and 90 artists to house a miracle of god. According to history, blood started to drip from the religious articles of a bohemian whilst he was saying mass. The Bohemian immediately took these objects to the Pope who declared it a miracle of the Lord, and ordered for a church to be built to enshrine them.

Umbria was extremely popular with the Popes during the middle ages. The State of the Catholic Church ruled it in addition to ruling Rome. 20,000 saints have been born in this state alone through the pages of history - Benedict, Francis, Clare, Valentine... To be a saint ‘officially’ is no easy task. To start with one needs to be dead for five years after which a thorough check is made on one’s life. One has to have performed at least two genuine miracles during one's lifetime. Only then is one pietafied and then canonized by the pope in St. Peter's. Pope John Paul II has canonized the largest number of saints, 370 in total. The pietafication of Mother Theresa is currently in progress. Over 37,000 documents have been submitted to the Vatican Council to prove a miracle enacted by her. Once a saint dies, he becomes the patron saint of his home town, and that day becomes dedicated to him. Statues are taken from the church and paraded through the streets. Padre Pio, one of the most controversial saints is to be canonized on 16th June, the Sunday after my return. St. Catherine of Siena and St. Francis of Assisi are the patron saints of Italy.

Another interesting saint is Saint Nicholas, more commonly known as Santa Claus, who was born in Paris around 300 AD. He is claimed to have miraculously recreated three children that had been butchered. His day was 6th of December. The Dutch settlers took this custom to the United States of America and moved his day to coincide with the day of the three pagan kings, 25th December, and so we ended up having Santa Claus for Christmas!

St. Francis holds up the Church by Giotto, Upper Church of Basilica di San Francesco.

O Lord make of me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred let me put love,
Where there is resentment let me put forgiveness,
Where there is discord let me put unity,
Where there is doubt let me put faith,
Where there is error let me put truth,
Where there is despair let me bring happiness,
Where there is sadness let me bring joy,
Where there is darkness let me bring light.
O Master grant that I may desire rather:
To console than to be consoled.
To understand rather than to be understood.
To love rather than to be loved.
Because it is in giving that we receive;
In forgiving that we obtain forgiveness;
In dying that we rise to eternal life.
: a francescan prayer

Born as Giovanni in 1182 into a rich family in Assisi, St. Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant and a French lady. When he was born, his father was returning from one of his long trips to Provence in France and re-named him Francesco (Francis), the little Frenchman. Francesco’s early years were spent in drinking and womanizing. When Assisi declared war against Perugia, Francis was the first to enlist. But he was soon taken prisoner and spent a year in jail. On his return he became seriously ill and spent a lot of his time in solitary walks and meditation and eventually felt the need to give away his possessions to the poor, much to the disapproval of his father.

Not far from the city walls was the little church of St. Damian, a building in ruins. Legend has it that a voice from the crucifix spoke to him, "Go and repair my house which has fallen into ruin". Those words remained with him for the rest of his life. Realizing that its meaning did not limit itself to the church, he however sold draperies from his father's shop and with the proceeds bought the material for its restoration. His father was enraged with the theft. Having to choose between the renunciation of worldly goods and a return to his old life, Francis chose renunciation. Wearing a peasant cloth, he helped the lepers and preached to the poor. Rejecting all material trappings, he turned to the love of god through poverty and chastity. In 1209, the religious order of Friars Minor was born, orally authorized by Pope Innocent III after he had dreamt that the Lateran Basilica was about to collapse, and that a poor little man called St. Francis had supported it. During those years Clare of Assisi met Francis several times and decided to follow in his footsteps. She forsook all worldly goods and founded the order of the Poor Ladies.

At Greccio, Francis prepared his nativity scene in memory of the birth of Christ, giving rise to one of the most beautiful Christian traditions. Legends claim that he got his messages from the birds and he is therefore also the patron saint of animals. In 1224, on Mt. La Verna, he received the Holy Stigmata. Exhausted by privation and penance, he was entrusted to St. Clare and her sisters at San Damiano where he died on 3 October 1226. After two years he was canonized. Assisi went on to become the center of the Francescan order and Christian art. After his death, numerous artists flocked to Assisi, viewing his life as being on parallel lines to that of Christ. Assisi today is a well-preserved medieval town and center of the peace movement. A few years ago, Pope John Paul II, united in Assisi religious leaders from all over the world, to determine common aims and objectives.

The entire city of Assisi along with its basilicas are built of pink stones from the mountain they are built on, Mt. Subasio, and get their reddish hue from the iron content in them. The lower Church of the Basilica di San Francesco, completed in May 1235 houses the remains of the saint, whilst the walls of the upper church are covered with 28 frescoes by Giotto. The artist painted scenes from the life of St. Francis on the basis of St. Bonaventura’s account. Giotto accurately followed the text, but his innovative pictorial technique and poetic vision have given the 28 scenes the status of masterpieces all over the world. The inner surfaces of the roofs are painted blue, decorated with golden stars in the early gothic style, whilst the arches are bordered by incredibly beautiful geometric and floral patterns.

The city is lined with churches, monasteries and convents, and monks and nuns scurry down the cobbled roads. Passing through the Piazza del Comune (Town Hall square), I walked on to the Basilica di Santa Chiara, Basilica of St. Clare, which is gothic in design and built on more simple lines. But of all the churches, the most beautiful was the ‘Oratorio dei Pellegrini’ which I stumbled upon by pure chance. With just a handful of rows of seats for prayer, the tiny little room with its high roof was decorated with the most incredibly beautiful frescoes. The vivid colours against the white background gave the little shrine an air so pure and yet so deep. So rich and yet so simple.

ravenna
6 June 2002

We are on our way to Venice. En route we stopped at Ravenna today, a small town renowned for its mosaics, the finest ever produced. In early times, soon after the legalization of Christianity, places of worship called basilicas were built throughout Italy. These buildings, built over a tomb of a martyr, were made on the same lines as Roman public buildings with columns inside, and always faced east, towards the Holy Land. Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire during the time of Honorius (5th Century) since Rome was being continuously attacked by invaders. In the 6th Century Ravenna was invaded by the Byzantines. This led to the blending of the art and architecture of the two opposing styles, Byzantine and Romanesque, and the creation of the round dome on the square foundation and the bell tower. The Romans had earlier used mosaics mainly for the purpose of decorating floors. The early Christians developed this art a step further by using the technique to illustrate Christian stories on their church walls. With the advent of the Byzantines this art became even more elaborate and colour started being introduced to create a feeling of depth. Made of coloured stones set against a gold background, they embodied the very spirit of peace. Placed high up in the walls and facing the east, the sun’s early rays turned the mosaics in these basilicas into a vision of heavenly beauty.

Ravenna has three magnificent churches. The bishops of Ravenna are all buried within them. We visited the Basilica di San Apollinare in Classe (by the river) where the remains of the martyr Apollinare, who lived during Roman times, are buried. The Roman emperor Augustus had his Adriatic fleet moved here during his reign. Since then the river has receded some six kilometers.

pomposa

Pomposa’s claim to fame is its abbey, a monastery headed by an abbot, and the church and group of buildings belonging to it where the monks worked, prayed and lived together in poverty. At night they would lay down in ‘their coffin of rest’, and if god willed their spirits would rise again the next morning. There was no place for worldly goods or private lives for the inhabitants of the abbey. This concept of monastic life started with St. Benedict of Umbria who established the schedule and order for the monks. The abbot, the leader of the abbey, controlled all the daily activities of the commune, including prayer and art and was responsible for the discipline of its members which he enforced by whipping if he deemed necessary. Some monasteries were so rigid in their rejection of worldly life that even communication by speech was forbidden with only hand movements being allowed. The growth and development of Christian art and architecture commenced with these monasteries.

Monasticism, however, had a slow start in Italy, picking up only after the first millennium when it became popular again and part of pilgrimage routes. Over time these monasteries started receiving gifts from outsiders and accumulating a lot of land from its followers. They also took on the role of dispensers of justice and became points of reference for the general public. During the Renaissance the materialism of the abbeys reached dizzying heights with the abbots being selected on the basis of political rather than religious criteria. They subsequently became corrupt with mistresses and lovers often colouring their lax moralities. This decay led to many leaving the church in protest, leading to the formation of the Protestants, who asked for a reformation. The Roman Catholic Church replied with a counter reformation. These movements affected all aspects of the church. The monasteries thereafter never regained their former glory that they’d had during the middle ages when they were looked upon as points of salvation on earth. Many of these establishments have now been converted into flats, offices and shops and are only an echo of their past.

Note: My camera got damaged whilst travelling through Greece and Italy. I have thus instead used photos from various guides and museum books for my Italy web pages as per the credits.

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