Today we went to the town of San Miniato. There are actually 2 towns, San Miniato Basso at the base of a hill, and San Miniato Alto at the top of the hill (in Italian basso means short and alto means tall). It was a short 30 minute train ride from Florence to San Miniato, a city known for white truffles.
My two guide books gave glowing reviews of the older, quaint city of San Miniato Alto and said there were shuttles running every 20 minutes from Basso to Alto. A website said to go on a Sunday as there would be more things happening. So we were off.
We arrived to a town that could not have been quieter and no buses in sight. We began to walk and came upon a map of the area, it looked as if the upper city wasn’t too far, so we continued. I don’t think the map was to scale. When we saw the map it looked as if we had already walked half way but the second leg ended up being much longer than the first (and uphill). From Google Maps I figured our walk in San Miniato was 10K (6.2 miles). When you add in to and from the train station in Florence and to and from dinner, we walked about 9 miles today.
San Miniato Alto was a very quiet little hilltop town with about 6 churches and 3 convents, a few museums, and a tower. It was a beautiful view. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant where I had tortellini with white truffles that was heavenly. Vic had a tortellini with a wild boar Bolognese sauce that was equally as good.
The highlight (besides good food) of our visit today was a painting in the Church of Saints Jacopo and Lucia. It was another one of those painting that made you say, "What in the world is going on?" It was very high on the wall so at first we weren’t sure if we were seeing it correctly but, yes, we were.
We arrived to a town that could not have been quieter and no buses in sight. We began to walk and came upon a map of the area, it looked as if the upper city wasn’t too far, so we continued. I don’t think the map was to scale. When we saw the map it looked as if we had already walked half way but the second leg ended up being much longer than the first (and uphill). From Google Maps I figured our walk in San Miniato was 10K (6.2 miles). When you add in to and from the train station in Florence and to and from dinner, we walked about 9 miles today.
San Miniato Alto was a very quiet little hilltop town with about 6 churches and 3 convents, a few museums, and a tower. It was a beautiful view. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant where I had tortellini with white truffles that was heavenly. Vic had a tortellini with a wild boar Bolognese sauce that was equally as good.
The highlight (besides good food) of our visit today was a painting in the Church of Saints Jacopo and Lucia. It was another one of those painting that made you say, "What in the world is going on?" It was very high on the wall so at first we weren’t sure if we were seeing it correctly but, yes, we were.
Called the Miracle of Lactation of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux there are two legends for this scene according to what I found on the Internet. The first has it that while St. Bernard was reciting a prayer to a statue of the Virgin Mary, he uttered the phrase written above the Virgin's head: "Monstra te esse matrem" (which can be translated to: "Show yourself to be a mother"). At this point, the statue came to life, pressed her breast, and squirted milk into St. Bernard’s mouth to nourish and wet the lips of the Saint, dry from singing her praises. With this gesture she showed him that she is the “mother of humanity”. The second version describes how St. Bernard fell asleep during a prayer. Mary appeared and put her breast into his mouth in order to receive the wisdom of God.
The painting we came across seems to be a blending of both stories. St. Bernard seems to be asleep and getting a squirt in the mouth from the BVM. This paining and the one of St. Agatha (see earlier post of 10/16) must be depicting the two oddest Christian stories ever (but I’m sure there must be others).
The painting we came across seems to be a blending of both stories. St. Bernard seems to be asleep and getting a squirt in the mouth from the BVM. This paining and the one of St. Agatha (see earlier post of 10/16) must be depicting the two oddest Christian stories ever (but I’m sure there must be others).