Saint Francis, from the Eremo delle Carceri to Alessandria
Among the many Italian places that tell the story of Saint Francis, there is one that struck me deeply: the Eremo delle Carceri, in Assisi.
On 4 October Italy celebrates Saint Francis of Assisi. Among the many Italian places that tell his story, there is one I visited in September that struck me deeply: the Eremo delle Carceri, the hermitage above Assisi.
Maybe it is the silence, maybe the wonderful woods around it, or that feeling of suddenly being far from the noise and rush of everyday life. The Eremo delle Carceri is not simply a place to visit: it is a place to experience slowly, letting the landscape and the silence do the talking.
Wonderful!
A church closed for two hundred years
Staying with Saint Francis, and without going far, I also visited the former church of San Francesco in Alessandria, recently restored and reopened to the public after being closed for more than two hundred years.
It was one of the most important traces of the Franciscan presence in Alessandria, built between the late 13th and early 14th centuries. After the suppression of religious orders under Napoleonic rule it passed to the State, and in 1803 a decree of the French government turned it into cavalry barracks.
Can you believe it?!
Its purpose was not the only thing that changed: the building itself was physically altered to suit military needs. In 1816 a large horizontal structure split the church into two levels, used as storerooms and dormitories.
And the story did not end there. In 1833, by order of Charles Albert of Savoy, the whole complex became barracks and a military hospital!
So when you walk into the former church today, you don't only see what remains of an ancient Franciscan building. You also see the marks of the changes imposed over the centuries: the military works, the architectural alterations, the layers that almost hid the original nature of the place.
For years this building stayed closed and almost invisible to the city. So here is my advice: go and see it, because it deserves it. And I'm not sure we deserve it!
