Montella, Campánia is in the Alta Valle Del Calore. The first inhabitants of the area can be traced back through stone artifacts to about 1000 B.C. In the central portion of the city was the Chiesa Santa Maria Del Piano. It was on the piazza Bartoli.
Inside the church. They were all pretty inside.
Since it was Christmastime there were plenty of nativity scenes around. The picture above was of the scene in the Chiesa Santa Maria Del Piano. You cannot really see it, but this display was quite intricate. It was three-dimensional with the objects in the background made to appear far off in the distance...trust me. I couldn't get the cradle in the picture because I had to brace the camera on a nearby wall and not use the flash in order to get this shot and there was stuff in the way, but baby Jesus was there.
There were the remains of a castle, Castel Del Monte (Castle Of The Mount) that was built during Norman times. It sits on top of the hill above the...
...convent Santa Maria Della Neve. The convent has been not used as a convent since 1921 and was in the process of being restored for more modern uses.
The convent overlooked the town of Montella as it was about 250 meters higher in elevation.
The ghosts of seismologist's present occupied the place for a bit. We were given the grand tour of the place by the caretaker Michele Biancaniello. Not only was Michele the caretaker of the nearly restored convent, but he lived in the building when he was growing up. I am pretty sure that Michele could have easily been a professional Hide and Seek player having grown up in a place like this.
A long stairway led from the kitchen/living area upstairs to the halls of the second floor.
There must have been at least 35 rooms on the second level. They were all in various stages of restoration and moderization.
The view from the cloister.
There was a wooden wine press in the convent which was constructed like the one whose parts were laying in the dungeon of the castle in Grottaminarda. This one was only about a meter tall.
While we did get a nice tour of the convent we were not able to place a station on the convent grounds...yet. The convent was privately owned, but being a historical site it was also under the control of a government agency called the Bella Arte. They fund the restoration and maintenance of the nation's historical buildings. They had strict rules about what modifications could and could not be made, especially any changes that would be visible, to the buildings under their jurisdiction. We needed to wait for permission.
The mountains around Montella are world famous for their castagne (chestnut) production. 50% of the harvested castagne, in every form you can think of from whole castagne to flour, go to the United States and Canada. The pallumina variety is the most popular variety grown in the area. The picture above is a small portion of the side of just one mountain that was COVERED with castagne trees. They were literally everywhere.
The 'skin' of the castagne which covers the hard nut shell inside is brown and fuzzy. There were brown and fuzzies all over the ground.
2018-03-05