The Sunday before I finally got to visit the nearby Sanctuary of Santa Lucia. It's visible from the house as it's built high into the side of the cliff. I've wanted to go and explore for a while but it only opens on Sundays in the summer, so this time Nuora booked us in.
Strangely enough I don't have an outside photo of it so here's one from a website.
A little minibus transported visitors up to the Sanctuary but if we'd known how terrifying the driving was going to be we might have walked!
The legend is that a mute girl living nearby saw a vision of Santa Lucia to whom there was a dedicated pillar in the village. The vision asked the girl to have the pillar moved to save it from floods and gave the girl the power of speech. Since that time the place has become known as a holy place of healing. They even have a tap for holy water.
Our guide on the day was very careful to say that 'some people' believe this to be holy water.
The sanctuary has a fascinating history having been a refuge for pilgrims and then during the war for partisans and housed a printing press for the underground movement to produce their leaflets. But the most interesting bit was the church in the cave, complete with secret passages and legends about geese.
At the end of the tour there was an opportunity to visit the little bookshop the walls of which were covered with paintings and images presumably done by people who'd experienced healing miracles. As you see this particular one was done in 1904.
But the one that fascinated me was this one.Did the saint make his hair grow miraculously? If so why did he cut it off? Was it some sort of early gender change? In this case it was fortunate I don't speak Italian because I've probably have said the wrong thing and indeed focussed on the wrong image.
At one time the building was a convent for nuns and later used as a retreat for young people and their families. The location guaranteed them a fabulous view. Nuora and Younger Son's house is in about the middle of the photo at the bottom of the hill among the trees above the town.
3 comments:
Wow, it is literally perched on the side of a cliff, isn't it? No wonder the drive there was terrifying. Beautiful view though, as you say.
I think I'd have a hard time letting go of the wall, or anything, in that location! I wonder if the hair was from someone who took religious vows? They used to cut long hair, I believe.
what a fascinating place.
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