Tom`s travels: January 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Benevento (18/08/16)

We left Salerno at around midday and reached the town of Benevento 1 hour later. I really wanted to see the city since the beginning of the holidays, as it used to be a really important Roman city and then Duchy during the middle ages. Once called Maleventum, or bringer of bad events, the romans then changed the city's name to Beneventum, meaning bringer of good events. So after finding a parking spot, we headed into town on foot by reaching the eastern end of the city center. The first sight we came across was the Rocca dei Rettori, or the local castle; it is composed of the main keep, which dates to the Longobard period with later additions and still features roman tombs and inscriptions utilized as stone to support it, and the palace dating to the 16th century. We then continued on, walking along the town's main street: Corso Garibaldi. We walked past the Church of Santa Sofia which we decided to visit later, and continued on along the main street, stopping in front of the beautiful Egyptian Obelisk located on Piazza Papiniano, with all the hieroglyphics still visible. The obelisk comes from the destroyed Temple of Isis, built during the reign of Emperor Domitian in 89 A.D. and was set on the Cathedral square in 1597 and moved to the current location in 1872. We were starting to get hungry so we decided to look for a place to eat; we eventually found a nice looking place called Ristorante Pizzeria Traiana, which had a lovely outdoor eating area overlooking the beautiful roman arch. After a nice lunch, we decided to take a closer look at the arch; the so called Arch of Trajan, was as the name suggests, built during Emperor Trajan's reign between 114 and 117 A.D. It is considered to be the best preserved roman arch in the world as it was incorporated in the city walls during the medieval times as the Golden Gate. It was really noteworthy with scenes of peace looking towards the city center, and scenes of war looking outwards. We then moved on, and got back on the main street heading west. We passed by the Cathedral which was still closed for lunch, but managed to see the Fontana delle Catene, or Fountain of the Chains, located in the Cathedral square and built in 1705. Not far, we passed by the ruins and foundations of the roman forum and then passed under yet another roman arch called the Arco del Sacramento. After a few wrong turns we reached the entrance to the Roman Theater; the cost for the tickets was 2 euros full price and 1 euro for students. Built during the 2nd century A.D. it is still quite well preserved, despite during the centuries its stones had been used to built houses and buildings and most of its outer and lower arches are still standing and quite impressive to look at. After visiting the theater we went on and reached the western end of the city where the Ponte Leproso, or Leper bridge a roman era bridge still stand across the Sabato river. After that we started heading back towards the city center, and stopped to admire the beautiful Bue Apis, a statue of a bull coming from the destroyed Temple of Isis and now standing on Viale San Lorenzo. Then heading back into town we reached and entered the Cathedral, which had reopened. Unfortunately, the building had been bombed during WWII and reconstructed in a modern style. Only the facade was able to survive and is a beautiful example of Romanesque architecture. The medieval door is also still remaining, though its pieces had to be put back together as it was also damaged; called Janua Major it as beautiful example of 12th century door with incredible panels detailing Jesus's life and other stories. Once inside, we went to see the small yet interesting museum, located in the crypt downstairs which shows the original arches and decorations which survived the bombing. There several fragments of medieval inscriptions and even some frescoes still remaining. Finally we headed on and entered the Church of Santa Sofia, inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage Site list as part of the Langobard heritage in Italy. The church is quite small but its nonetheless interesting as it is in the form of a hexagon and hold some beautiful columns maybe coming from the Temple of Isis; as well as still holding some 8th to 9th century frescoes here and there. In the church's monastery complex and cloister was the Museo del Sannio, an interesting archaeological museum holding artifacts from the Sannio area dating from the greek and roman times, passing through the middle ages and Langobard period all the way to 16th and 17th century paintings. Furthermore the cloister itself had amazing columns dating from the 12th century all richly decorated with scenes depicting humans and animals alike. After our visit it was time to go, so we headead back to the car, and drove home happy after a nice day visiting.

The Rocca dei Rettori

The extent of the Duchy of Benevento

The church of Santa Sofia

The Egyptian obelisk

The Arch of Trajan

The Roman theater

The Bue Apis statue

Detail of one of the columns

The peculiar columns of the cloister

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Certosa di Padula and Teggiano (13/08/2016)

On this day we decided to head south from Salerno and visit the Padula Charterhouse. It is considered to be the first charter-house built in the Campania region, and the largest in the whole of Italy. Together with Paestum (which I had already visited), the Cilento National Park and the greek and roman city of Velia it is inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage Site list. Construction on the building started in 1309 and was protracted till the 18th century, with most of it dating to the later period due to alterations and reconstructions. So we left Salerno after lunchtime and reached Padula around 3:30pm, with an hour and twenty minutes drive. We parked the car and headed on foot towards the entrance, located on the southern side. We crossed the main courtyard, sided by the stables, granaries, and other buildings that hosted all kinds of shops, and reached the main facade. Dating to the 16th century in a baroque style, the facade is probably one of the most noteworthy features of the whole complex. Once we passed through the entrance we bought our tickets (4 euros full price and 2 euro for student discount) and were given a map of the complex, as it is really large. From there we followed the suggested path, passing through the first cloister called Chiostro della Foresteria, because it was adjacent to the guest lodgings, which had a nice fountain at its center and then entering the church. The interior, dating to the 17th century is a joy of the neapolitan baroque with beautiful decorations, colorful paintings and lavish marbles. We then went through several rooms which included the Hall of the Bells, the Hall of the Chapter and the Hall of the Treasure, all with beautiful baroque decorations. Next was the cloister of the old cemetery and right next to it, through a door, the large Refectory which used to serve as the dining room of the monks. After that we entered the Kitchens, a beautifully preserved example of cooking space (which rarely survives in charterhouses and monasteries) with a huge furnace and chimney at its center and maiolicas decorating the walls. Right beside, through a door, is another cloister, this time very small and in the shadows as it still maintains its 14th century style and architecture. Following the map we reached what were once the Prior's rooms. now housing the Archaeological museum with ancient greek vases, weapons and other objects. There were also two cloisters, the so called Chiostro dei Procuratori and the Prior's cloister which is more like a small italian garden with trees and fountains giving it a peaceful and beautiful setting. Moving on we reached the Great Cloister, an immense rectangular (104x150m) with two floors on all sides and containing the monks' cells. It is in fact the largest cloister in the world, and took us quite a while to walk from one side to the other. We were done visiting so we headed back through the complex and out to the car. It was around 6pm and we decided to go to the nearby town of Teggiano as on that same day they were having a Medieval reenactment which we decided to see. So parking the car outside the historic town and taking the mandatory bus up the hill, we reached the city center. Before the actual fair started we decided to enter the two main churches on the central square: the Church of St Francis and the Cathedral. The first had an interesting baroque interior with some medieval frescoes still remaining, while the Cathedral, also baroque, had several medieval tombs and a beautiful Ambon dating to the 13th century. Exiting the church, we joined the multitude of people, standing to watch the parade start, with many people dressed in medieval costumes, dancing, singing and performing all along the streets. When the parade ended we decided to walk further on through the narrow streets, and ending up in another square overlooking the beautiful valley down below surrounded by mountains. It was getting time for dinner, and each neighbourhood, or rione, was setting up a open air food court on small square around town so we decided to look for a nice one to have dinner. We settled for the Wolf tavern which served excellent boar meat. Then after dinner we went back to the main square and saw the firework show which ended the day and the festival in a great party atmosphere. After that it was time to head back as we still had an hour and a half to go home in Salerno and rest after a great day.