Abruzzo Detour: Seeking Tenth Century Splendors

Pino often has quite a jaunt to bid on stone restoration work in distant sites. If I’m not booked for a tour on the day he’s headed to an area I’ve never seen, I go “along for the ride”…….and the wonders.

I joined in gladly when he headed to Magliano de’ Marsi, Abruzzo mountain town to view restoration needed on city hall.

[lcaption]Mountain majesty of Abruzzo on the way to Magliano de’ Marsi[/lcaption]

[lcaption]Pino views the restoration project: city hall in need of restoration[/lcaption]

Pino’s task completed, we followed the curvy road skirting wooden mountain peaks to the nearby mountain village, Rosciolo de’ Marsi. I’d read about a tenth-century Benedictine abbey there and just hoped we’d find the “keeper of the keys”: many of the ancient treasures in isolated areas can only be opened by the entrusted “local” holding the keys, a volunteer custodian.

[lcaption]Rosciolo de’ Marsi[/lcaption]

By then, it was close to lunch time and hopes were slight. But…che fortuna! Wandering the backstreets of the village, I ended up at the Gothic church, Santa Maria delle Grazie (another gem dating back to the 11th century) where a young man was locking the door….

[lcaption]Santa Maria delle Grazie, Rosciolo de’ Marsi[/lcaption]

I asked him hesitantly, “Dov’e Santa Maria in Valle Porclaneta?” He beamed and told me that he had the keys and would take us there.

We drove the windy narrow streets to the countryside just outside the village where our volunteer “guide,” key-keeper Marco, turned those keys to open a Romanesque treasure trove to us.

The 12th-sculpted ciborio (ciborium) over the altar and the ambone (raised platform for preaching, often covered) on the left, center of the nave, astounded with their sculpted intricacies. The 11th-c sculpted iconostasis stretching out over the nave is a rare example of a wooden masterpiece surviving for centuries.

[lcaption]In front of the12th-c sculpted ambone, fascinated Pino listens to Marco’s history of this Benedictine abbey[/lcaption]

[lcaption]The ciborium, intricately sculpted masterpiece over the altar[/lcaption]

[lcaption]The 11th-c sculpted iconostasis stretches out over the nave[/lcaption]

We felt Marco’s passione for his town’s treasure as he unveiled many a detail to us, both sculptural wonders and primitive fresco masterpieces:

We reluctantly realized we had cut into Marco’s lunch time so we left this treasure and headed back into town, insisting on an aperitivo together in the piazza. (Marco’s time and passione deserved more than our tip!)

That view from Rosciolo de’ Marsi’s main square toward that Abruzzo mountain majesty underscored our fascination with this region: Nature’s splendors hide so many artistic treasures.