Pbenjay's Blog

IN AND AROUND  GUARDIA SANFRAMONDI 

I’ve spent a lot of time  kvelling, (Yiddish for being delighted, gushing over) the never ending panoramic views from the mountainous town of Guardia Sanframondi.  But what about the town itself?  Well now that I’ve written that, inferring I will be posting lots of information and photos.  I want to…just not sure I have enough to do it justice.  I’ll try to fill in with some little snippets and whatever else comes to mind.

Marble is everywhere here as I imagine in most of Italy and I’m not talking about statues!  So many of the houses that I saw had marble floors, marble counters, and MARBLE STAIRS!  Do you have any idea how slippery and cold marble stairs are in a house? I really liked one of the houses that was for sale but not only were the stairs marble and the house had 3 floors, the stairs curved!  I could only imagine myself rushing down the stairs in the middle of the night to get to the bathroom which was naturally on the first floor.  One misstep and I would be sliding or rather bumping down right into the bathroom.  Somehow that whole marble story got to be a long lead in for a photo I took one day as we passed by this house.

I was told the owner of this house was a stone mason, possibly a marble cutter.

This lot was across the street from his house

There are 5 churches in Guardia, however, Mass is only celebrated in one of them.  There is a severe lack of priests and nuns in Italy or at least in the countryside and in   the town there is only one priest!  We went on a mini tour of the medieval village one afternoon with our friend, Raffaele, a professor who taught English, and a very knowledgeable historian of the area and Italy in general.  In fact, he grew up in the walled city, and as we walked along he pointed out places where the donkeys were housed, where there was a common fountain because the houses did not have running water.  Ah I digress a bit, Raffaele took us into the Basilica of  Our Lady of the Assumption.

The church is undergoing some renovations and repairs.

I never found out how the priest got up into that pulpit,

There is this huge clock which is being restored, it’s ancient but I forgot  how old  Raffaele said it was; It will be put into the spot you see in the next photo which has a temporary clock there now.

From the church, we went up to the top of the castle.  Needless to say the views are fantastic from there.

At the top of the castle there is a large room with tables and chairs which opens to the open roof top terrace;  events are held there, the space can be rented for a wedding.

A Rare Abandoned Property Fallen Into Disrepair

All through the medieval village homes are being renovated, rebuilt, repainted by American and Canadian owners.  The interest in renewing life within the walled city with the influx of about 100 residents has garnered the town a large grant from the state to repair the streets and lights.

There’s So Much Beauty and Character in This View

Can You Imagine Living Here? Maybe a Couple Of Month’s A Year?

There’s much more to explore, more to see, more to taste, so come back.

To be continued…