New Weather and an Historic Monastery

 Buon giorno,

The weather has turned--temporarily. It is cool and rainy today, and overnight there was a massive thunderstorm. I breakfasted to the sound of falling rain. That part was nice!

Because of the weather I had determined to find an activity close to home and indoors, but first I needed an actual grocery store, which I did find and not too far away. I spent nearly fifty euros, but I'm well supplied. I came across some IGP Sicilian olive oil. IGP is Indication of Protected Geography, and is a guarantee of quality. Olive oil has become very big business and inevitably organized crime has become involved in fraudulent products, so I was willing to pay a bit more for the real deal. I tasted it. It burned the back of my throat and made me cough. You may laugh, but these are signs that I had obtained the Good Stuff!.

I had booked, it turned out, the last spot on the 11 am guided tour of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Nicola L'arena. This was once one of the largest monasteries in Europe. It is now part of the University of Catania but remains a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. I got a discount for being old, and I strongly encourage taking the guided tour. You can visit without, but you'll also miss a lot of areas otherwise restricted.  There were a LOT of stairs. I did not appreciat that part.

First let's visit my neighborhood church.

A bit on the austere side for Baroque, don't you think?

Here's the Eighteenth Century facade of the monastery. Like many other parts of the historic center, it suffered from earthquake and lava flow so few fragments of the original Medieval monastery remain.

This is the "Modern Cloister"  from the Eighteenth Centurymeant to impress guests. Coffee, chocolate and tea were served in that gazebo thingy.

We got to see the Roma foundation--an aristocratic townhouse complete with mosaics and a painted wall.  But the real revelation was the lava wall. Yes, I know I complained yesterday, but this was not some piddley little outcrop, it was a huge wall of gleaming black obsidian.  The monks couldn't get rid of it, so they built on top of it, and we climbed a spiral staircase bored through the wall to the upper monastery where we got to visit the Novice's Garden among other fascinating sites.

I have had some tuna because I need the protein and omega three, and I shall cook some pasta for dinner and dress it with garlic, a little salt and pepper and a generous pour of the Sicilian oil. Buon appetito indeed.

Ciao for now.