.
Buon giorno and welcome to Psychic Archaeology on A Road Retraveled.
On part 2 of the Ghost Town of Monterano series, we continue to explore the history and mysteries of this captivating ancient village as we follow Sandie’s Remove Visit Report.
.
.
.
Sandie’s Remote Visit
.
I see a very large tree grown out of the building….? It’s pretty cool to see the top of a tree taller than the top of the structure. That’s pretty cool! Inside the building I see a starburst… I don’t know if it’s a window, a painting, a tapestry, a carving…. but boy, there’s a bright yellowish light coming through and distinctive like spikes radiating outwards from the center of the circle. This might be a stain glass window? It’s hard for me to look at it and see IN the detail because it’s so bright. I see monks, types of monk spirits that are gathered here. They pray or they worship just for a short time. I don’t know if this is a Sunday church kind of place or where clergy once lived or worked or prayed, but still see some spirits, men spirits that kneel to an icon. I can’t see if it’s a religious icon, but I do see the men kneeling and their heads are bowed in a prayer. .Our Physical Visit in Monterano
.
.
The Altieri family brought glory to Monterano also in terms of architecture by instituting a rigorous program of urban and architectural renewal destined to permanently change the face of the town.
As you continue to walk on the dirt path along side the walls of Monterano, you will arrive at a clearing and discover a most imposing ruin of what was once a great church and convent.
Between 1677 and 1679, at the request of the ruling Altieri family, the famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the convent and church of San Bonaventura located on a small plateau just outside the walls of the village.
Constructed by Bernini’s pupil Mattia de Rossi over what was previously the small church of San Antonio Abate, it is believed that the church itself was built on top of existing foundations of an ancient Etruscan temple.
The monastery and church dedicated to Saint Bonaventura were embelished with precious works of art and relics. The church had a central plan with 4 chapels and a domed ceiling covered by an octagonal roof and skylight turret. Two bell towers were erected on each side of the facade. A particular interesting aspect about this church is that it contains the only original flooring of a church designed by Bernini. In front of the churchyard stood an octagonal fountain like this one – this is a copy though – the original is in the square of the nearby city of Canale Monterano.
After Monterano’s sudden tragic demise and abandonment which we’ll discover later on in the show, the damaged convent too became deserted by the friars who were the last to leave, and eventually nature took over after the humans have left.
.
.
Creating a stunning harmony between nature and architecture, a large fig tree grew possibly centuries ago right in the center of the ruined church, its branches rising above the roofless structure. Yes, this is an amazing sight to behold, and a surprise to those who did not come to expect it on their first visit.
When looking at the facade of the church, there is an obvious almost oval hole. Many churches in Italy have circular windows or rose windows located top center of the facade. Some windows are made up of just simple stone carvings, and others are made of stain glass with intricate designs and symbols that illuminate when sun passes through them. Of course, it’s possible that some windows had no decorations at all!
Sandy’s description of the starburst she saw in her remote visit could easily fit the description of the window that once occupied that hole. The only other existing church ruins in Monterano does NOT reveal a circular shape of a window on its facade.
It’s not possible to know for sure what was there since the only things to go by are a few remaining sketches by the architects themselves and sketches by artists, or study other churches built by the same architects, or in the same era and similar architectural style.
A couple of old drawings of the San Bonaventura church from mid 1700’s also depicts it with the same circular shape where a window of sorts would have been….although the artists did not elaborate in terms of any shapes or type of window that was there.
Something WAS there centuries ago that let light in….but whatever it was specifically, it’s been lost to time.
Further into the village through the 2nd surviving gate of San Bonaventura, to your right you will come across the ruins of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, of which only the massive Romanesque bell tower and apse remains. The church’s facade faced the valley below.
.
.
Further down a bit to your left is the church of San Rocco, next to the Ducal Palace. The church of San Rocco was built around 1400’s in gratitude of the passing of an outbreak of the plague, with Saint Rocco considered a protector from the plagues that tormented the populace of Europe during those times.
.
Sandie’s Remote Visit:
.
Dripping. Water is dripping under the stones…and I don’t know what that means. There’s lots of roots that have dripping water. I don’t think there are tree limbs with dripping rain water, but don’t rule this out. It is dark here…..and I can’t really see if what I’m looking up at are roots or limbs. . .Our Physical Visit in Monterano
.
.
Seeing water dripping under the stones and looking up at roots is not unusual in Monterano.
In the natural reserve of Monterano, water is plentiful above ground in terms of water falls and rivers, and underground in terms of groundwater, and sulfuric thermal waters gushing out of the ground thanks to the area’s volcanic origins.
Inside the ancient town of Monterano, there is one particular place where water did drip and still drips under the stones….and its one of the towns’ most famous features and one of Bernini’s great achievements!
Dominating the main square of the ghost town is the Ducal Palace, a palace that may have been originally built during the 8th century but underwent numerous architectural changes of the centuries. In the late 1600’s the Altieri family commissioned Bernini to design a new facade for their palace.
.
.
Bernini’s architectural masterpiece, the Lion Fountain, consists of a vertical fountain built out of a natural display of rocks with water cascading from the top emulating the surrounding region’s rocky tombs, ravines and water falls, embracing nature and architecture in one splendid creation.
By looking at this impressive facade you’re not sure if the palace itself is rising out of the rocky fountain, or if it’s supported by the fountain.
At the peak of the fountain is a stone lion. The lion is poised as though it’s striking the rock with its paw causing water to gush out of the rocks.
Nicknamed the Trevi Fountain of Monterano, Bernini’s Lion fountain precedes the actual Trevi Fountain in Rome by some 40 years. The innovative idea of incorporating a fountain made of natural looking rock formations at the base of a building was something Bernini was only able to achieve in Monterano, not in Rome.
The lion here is a copy of the original…the original lion has been restored and placed inside the town hall of the nearby town of Canale Monterano.
The fountain is not always turned on…on any normal visit, you’ll find the fountain turned off. On special occasions, such as during a festival, you may find it gushing in all its intended glory.
Towards the top of the Ducal Palace you will notice something familiar, something we saw when we first arrived….a row of arches. This is not a coincidence, the arches of this faux portico resemble the arches of the nearby aqueduct, creating an architectural congruity between two imposing structures that are in close vicinity of each other. Bernini was a creative genius, as always.
.
.
Just across the Ducal Palace is a small mound, with mossy, slippery stones…remnants of long gone buildings.
Walking to the top I discovered a peculiar ruin which appears absorbed by nature as we see trees have taken root in the middle of this structure as well. At the edge of this mount there seems to be a lower level chamber… if you were to stand inside this chamber below and look up, you’d see the limbs of both the roots and the branches of the tree reaching out above you. It’s a rather eerie feel to see how nature took over, roots embracing and possessing the remains of once massive stone buildings.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Learn more about Sandie La Nae and her phenomenal psychic gifts on her website http://www.sandiespsychicstones.com/
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
.
A ROAD RETRAVELED TRAVEL APP
.
This and many other episodes are available on the A Road Retraveled Travel APP (downloadable on iTunes App Store for just $1.99).
Bonus features for this episode:
VIDEO: What did the famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini achieve in Monterano that he failed to achieve (miserably may I add) in Rome…not once, but twice?
You’ll be surprised…. Find out in the Bonus Feature video on the A Road Retraveled App
Also for everyone who downloaded the A Road Retraveled app, you will receive a 50 Euro Promo Coupon to be applied to any private day tour starting from Rome with Stefano Rome Tours, one of Rome’s leading touring companies. Download the app and go to any of the Ghost Town of Monterano series for the special code.Enjoy Monterano, any of the Etruscan Necropolis, ancient towns in the countryside, or take advantage of the exciting tour itineraries on www.StefanoRomeTours.com website.
.
.