Fast Forward To Giano (Jano)

Its mid September now . Early autumn in many parts of the world.

In Scotland there's been some ground frosts and my sister is  throwing   logs into her stove. Here in Capua its often  still  30 degrees in the late afternoon. Cooler than it was in July and August  but hardly autumnal. Maybe I'll be throwing on a cardi next month? Looking forward to it!

Its one month on now from the  bridge tragedy in Genoa. We've two bridges over the river Volturno into Capua: one modern , one Roman. One has closed  for repairs. A banner has been hung over it saying that no-one else should die on Italian bridges. No prize for guessing which bridge is still open for use! I dodge the many cars of the morning rush hour  crossing it on my bike The stones still speak I guess!

There is certainly something reassuring about old buildings and structures that have stood the test of time. That's one thing I really like about Capua; the proximity of the old with the new. In the central Piazza dei Giudice one of the cafes has been renovated under new management, with new outdoor tables and plants. Across the square there's the 16th century town hall with its marble heads that once proudly adorned the arches of the Roman amphitheatre. God or human I don't know. But they still give a vivid impression of life to the town.
A goddess that would seem to symbolise this Roman- modern flavour of the area is Giano (Janus). The two faced woman who gives us the first month of the year, January. There is the ruins of one of her temples about 10 miles from Capua. The local village takes her name. Giano Vetusta. We've just bought a fantastic palazzo there. So let's fast forward to Giano!

It certainly doesn't take long to get there! The village is located only 25 miles or 40 km north of Naples and 12 miles or 20 km north-west of Caserta. From Capua itself its 13.2 km so about 8 miles and it takes about 20 minutes by car and about an hour with a good bike if you are very fit! I have got as far as Vitulazio in about 40 minutes, which  is just over half way. It's a lovely journey, with a 
number of fantastic little watering places- like the Café Relax- en route! There  is one small problem in the form of a very steep hill for most of the last mile. But for every modern  problem there's an ebay solution. And  I now await the arrival of my e- bike  battery charger. Fast forward to Giano then? Well, I sincerely hope so!

Whether you arrive by hybrid, horse or even Shank's pony Giano will not disappoint. This village- less than 10 miles from Capua- at 225 metres or 738 feet above sea level- is 2 degrees piu fresco.(Come August you'll appreciate this. Believe me!) It covers only 4.4 square miles- 11.5 km- and has only 638 inhabitants. No crowds, no  traffic, no rush hour. No fast forward!
Nothing that would disturb old Jano really! With his tw
o faces he can look to the future and the past. Giano presides over doors and thresholds, all new enterprises and new beginnings. It was to him that the ancient Latins prayed when they planted their seeds at the beginning of the year. Strange now to think  that he inspired my first blog post at the beginning of last year. Paying the deposit on our Giano house this weekend I may ask him: why not last September? Standing on the hill above surveying the whole valley below you can  hear him whisper:
 'My temple has been here for 2000 years and your house for almost 70 years.                                   What's your hurry? Here time means nothing'. I respond: And they'll be there long after I've gone.I'll slow down. Less of the fast forward.'

The Pleasant Summer Sun

It's late June now. My second year and second summer here. And quite a different one from last year! More later.The summer sun signals final year exams for some but for all it signals the  end of another long academic year. Time now to rest and plan something fun for the summer days ahead.

However there is certainly no fun on the immediate horizon for me. I'm sitting in a dark vaulted tunnel. It is the waiting room of the plastic surgery department of a converted convent. Now Santa Maria hospital. Indeed a few streets away from the anfitheatro where Spartacus fought.  Bet he wished it was built then!

It's only 8am. The sun has barely arisen but already there lots of activity going on. Big baskets of laundry being delivered  and trolleys of patients being pushed briskly into theatre.A porter walks past pushing a large wheeled cage. What type of being is he tasked to bring to surgery? A wounded minotaur?

My contemplation is cut short. My name is called. I look around desperately for my husband. I am informed by the lady next to me that he has disappeared for a fag. Clearly I missed this in my minotaur moment. Anyway it's just my paperwork and ticket they need to check. (Unlike the NHS every hospital visit has to be paid for).So I get by. My husband returns shortly. We're there all morning though. By the time we're all released to see sunlight again, battered, bruised and  bandaged, we're like old friends. An old Italian lady comes out from her post surgery meeting to kiss me on both cheeks. The nuns would be smiling down on us!


The house of God indeed seemed to be a fitting place to deal with the works of Lucifero. Last summer's heatwave left me with an enlarged mole and eye infection. I walk around now with sunglasses constantly on. I look like a film star but feel like a vampire. Looking on the bright side(!) I think I've perhaps gained an insight into Shelley's writing. I'll go and watch the new  film and find out. 

This summer has been quite different though. After a number of days of rain in April, the summer began in May. Pleasant summer sun? Indeed I couldn't complain. Few days in June exceeded the seasonal 30 degree norm. It's no wonder that visitor numbers to Italy are increasing. Airbnb report a 20% increase in bookings to Italy last year. Our region, Caserta, is where many of them are heading, containing no less than  5  of the Top 20 visitor attractions!   Pompeii comes in highest at Number Two position,(after the colosseum in Rome) Caserta Royal Palace is at Number 10, Herculaneum, not far behind at number 14, the Archaeological museum in Naples at 15 and  - not forgetting!-the blue grotto in Capri comes in at number 18.Who could??

This year we have been privileged to share some of these with our first clients on Tourhq. This summer I'll never forget  the colour of the sea as we  arrived at Amalfi by boat, with a surprisingly fresh wind blowing on a hot summer's afternoon. Equally memorable was the exquisite dinner and sunset  we enjoyed on the sands of Positano.  After a stormy afternoon, the sky cleared  for us to witness an explosion of colour before disappearing into a darkened sky.Very likely the same restaurant that inspired  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to pen 'The Midnight Rambler' in the 1970s. Our 'working'  (!) day indeed ended at just that time as we dropped our client off at their hotel. As they say: Everything is possible. Under the pleasant summer sun.

It's mid-July now  and already half way through the summer.  Many things that seemed impossible last year  are already a reality. Many days under the warm Campanian sun have ripened  diverse seeds I've planted. There may indeed still be fields to plough. But  they'll keep for another year!
 This year  I've even ploughed  through Website Creation Tutorials to successfully plant my first website. Surely it's time to sit back and enjoy my fruits! Recently I've taken time out to do just that. Enjoying gelati with a new friend in Santa Maria (old  Capua) we discussed our dreams for the future. This morning my husband may indeed have found our dream home. Will you be ploughing through Airbnb to find us next year? Who knows?  More in my next post....

Its a quiet Sunday afternoon in Capua. I stand on the balcony and enjoy the breeze and gentle bird song. Amid the trees in the green orchard below some pink roses are blossoming. Everything is still. Yet I think I can hear a voice whispering: 'Be patient now. There's still  a lot that can happen. Under the pleasant summer sun.'

Plough The Fields And Scatter

I wake up. The birds are singing. Its early March now.

Yesterday 

I cycled in the sun, the other evening

 in the rain (no coat-still recovering
from Lucifero!).

Yet just over a week ago I wasn't cycling

at all. Lucifero's brother paid a brief visit. Yes my Russian readers know him well! We even had the Beast From the East! Spring turned to winter. The fresh green  landscape suddenly disappeared. Everyone stayed at home. Snow days off work  here? You're joking? Right? No: rare but very beautiful- see video at the end of the post.

We took advantage of the break, driving to the sea in the late afternoon.

We watched the sun set between snow covered mountains- tramonto as its aptly named in Italian.I was glad of the time off work. 

(The two jobs I applied for in December? Yes I got both of them!) Finally I had time to stop, turn my head and look back over my first year in Italy.

The myriad of events swirl in my mind like corinadoli leftover from carnival. So much has happened since I wrote my first post a year and a half ago. Talk about only looking forward. Well I've scarcely been able to look up from my computer!

So many things have happened since I tentatively put my roots down into this rich Campanian clay. Rich volcanic  earth scorched by Mediterranean sun but sustained by abundant
underground streams. Neapolitan soil that can nourish endless varieties of seed and produce rich and abundant fruit.  A land I have toiled in these many months. Land in which I have done much ploughing and scattering of seed.

However even in such rich land life is not always easy! Nor has it been so for its local heroes -some of whom I've written about in my blogs.

Let's take another example who lived less than an hour's drive from  here.  He built his home on a rocky hill about 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast of Rome and 520 m (1,706.04 ft) altitude. This was the site of the Roman town of Casinum. It it is best known for its historic abbey. Yes you've guessed it! It's Monte Cassino. The hilltop sanctuary
was the site of the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, where the building was destroyed by Allied bombing but spectacularly rebuilt after the war. Exactly as it had been!

So who was this hero who had built the original abbey in 530 AD ? He is  the patron of Europe no less: Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-543/7 AD)

Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at  Subiaco Lazio  (about 40 miles (64 km) to the east of Rome), before moving to Monte Cassino. 

Benedict was born into a wealthy family in Norcia (Perugia) about 480 AD.  He went to Rome as a young adult to further his education. However he was disgusted by  the corruption and vice, he left the capital to live as a hermit in the rocks in Subiaco. Some monks living in this area  were impressed by his example  begged him to lead their order. Yet  when he tried to correct their dissolute way of life, they tried to poison him. Clearly he had been marked out for greatness and not only did he realise that the goblet was full of poison but making the sign of the cross over it, the goblet shattered!

His troubles did not end there however.! In the neighborhood there was  a priest called Florentius who, through jealousy, tried to ruin him. He tried to poison him with poisoned bread. When he prayed a blessing over the bread, a raven swept in and took the loaf away. From this time his miracles seem to have become frequent, and many people,

attracted by his sanctity and character, came to Subiaco to her his teaching.

Having failed by sending him poisonous bread, Florentius tried to seduce his monks with some prostitutes. Undeterred he ploughed on, founding 12 small convents in the area before moving southwards!

On arriving at Monte Cassino, he adapted the existing temple of Apollo to become a chapel for his monks, using the other buildings on the site to house monks and pilgrims. From there Benedict spread the Christian faith to the valley below.

Pope Gregory I's biography of Benedict claims that the devil tried to prevent the monks turning the pagan site into a Christian place of worship. In one story he sits on a rock making it too heavy to move until Benedict drove him off. In another story Satan taunts Benedict before collapsing a wall on a young monk, who Benedict brings back to life.

At Montecassino he also completed the writing of his Regula Monachorum; i.e. the Order Rule,

which has been described as a compendium of the Gospel.

During the invasion of Italy, Totila, King of the Goths, ordered a general to wear his kingly robes and to see whether Benedict would discover the truth. Immediately the Saint detected the impersonation, and Totila came to pay him due respect.


Saint Benedict contributed more than anyone else to the rise of monasticism in the West. His Rule was the foundational document for thousands of religious communities in the Middle Ages. To this day, The Rule of St. Benedict is the most common and influential Rule used by monasteries and monks, more than 1,400 years after its writing. Today the Benedictine family is represented by two branches: the Benedictine Federation and the Cistercians.

The abbey expanded over the centuries as did the Benedictine Order. It was Benedictine monks from Germany who decorated the crypt where the saint and his  twin sister Scholastica are buried in 1913. The gold work mosaic showing scenes from nature and the  Bible is stunning. 

During World War Two, in December 1943, some 1,400 irreplaceable manuscript , in addition to a vast number of documents relating to the history of the abbey and the collections of the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome, had been sent to the abbey archives for safekeeping. Fortunately, German officers Lt. Col. Julius Schlegel (a Roman Catholic) and Capt. Maximilian Becker (a Protestant), both from the Panzer- Division  , Hermann Goring  had them transferred to the Vatican at the beginning of the battle.

The influence of Saint Benedict produced "a true spiritual ferment" in Europe, and over the coming decades his followers spread across the continent to establish a new cultural unity based on Christian faith.

The early Middle Ages have been called "the Benedictine centuries." In April 2008, Pope Benedict XV1  discussed the influence St Benedict had on Western Europe. The pope said that "with his life and work St Benedict exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture" and helped Europe to emerge from the "dark night of history" that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/monks-rebuilding-monte-cassino

Saint Benedict wept after he had a vision of the destruction of his abbey. It was to be destroyed 4 times. The most complete destruction as the result of by allied bombing in 1944. It was  rebuilt from 1949-1964, following an international appeal.  Looking down from Heaven  now I'm sure Benedict is smiling.  For what he planted were no ordinary seeds. They were divine seeds that produced a harvest that  even he could never have foreseen. A harvest that over 1500 years later we marvel at.
Ploughing and sowing that has indeed  borne much fruit.

Back on the motorway a long distance off. The monastery can still be seen. Proudly it stands out on the hill. Te
stament to Saint Benedict's own dictum that prayer and work can achieve a great deal. Indeed the stones still speak. To me they say: Get on with it. There's still fields to plough

Back in Capua a few  days later. Much pink and white blossom can still be seen. But now, mid April (yes this post has taken a season to write!) the first fruits are  forming on the trees. To me the words of Meghan Hoffman come to mind:

You must scatter the seeds.

Love the seeds.

Have complete faith in the seeds.

Only then, will they become all that you have hoped for'

See below for appendix

.

'

Appendix

A local organization who have followed Saint Benedict's teaching to pray and labour is New Hope. The seeds they have planted have  been fruitful.  It began in 1995, when three Orsoline Nuns, order of Mary's Holy Heart, arrived from Vicenza and set up in Caserta, to a hospitality centre called “Casa Rut”

, with the purpose to help women in difficulty. They were mostly immigrants, alone or with children, who lived in invisibility condition and social and human precariousness.

http://www.associazionerut.it

 

In  may 2004, as a filiations of CasaRut, the Social Coop New Hope was born as a laboratory of ethnic tailoring It included the hosted women and a number of supporting friends

.

Together they 

• CREATED

Job opportunities, in legality and justice, in a territory dominated by illegal work, for many women, victims of trafficking or in difficult situations.

• PROMOTED

Freeing processes through formation to responsibility and work ethic, which both brought these women to regain their right to take active part to the social life of the territory.

• GAVE

These women the opportunity to take out their talents and creativity, typical of their culture, through the manufacture of ethnic unique and original products

Cooperativa sociale newhope

via J.F. Kennedy 19/21 – Caserta

tel. 0823 458465

                                                            www.coop-newhope.it

                                                          coopnewhope@gmail.com