Warm and breezy. Following the heat of July, when the cats flatten themselves against the cool stone, the chickens rest immobile on their shady perches and the rush-about people wonder if they shouldn't be doing the same - following the heat of July, August in Piemonte is perfect.
Carmine's Chiesa di San Gottardo attracts many visitors. Some simply make the walk from Cannobio to Cannero through the woods and happen upon the village and its jewel of a church by chance. Some ignore the church but enjoy the view along with their picnics. Others call ahead to be sure that the church is open and there is someone there to tell them a little of what we know about the frescoes. Some are knowledgeable, some just interested, and many are very tired. Most leave nothing behind them when they leave. A few leave their trash (harrumph!). But a small number leave behind something invisible and altogether indefinable.
The other day I unlocked the church for a group of six French visitors. I left them inside, gazing in rapture up and around, soaking up the colours, getting a feeling for the forms and losing themselves in the patterns. Among them was a man, perhaps in his late sixties, wearing shorts and a singlet. He had white curly hair, a farmer's sunny face and a warm Gallic greeting. When I returned a few minutes later, it was to the sound of this ordinary man's extraordinary lyric tenor singing the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria. We were all of us transfixed, as he caressed these ancient walls with his voice, as he played the church's acoustics like a master cellist, and when the final soaring notes came, it seemed that the church itself shuddered with pleasure.
Carmine's Chiesa di San Gottardo attracts many visitors. Some are moved by its beauty to add something unique and beautiful of their own. Thank-you to the unnamed Frenchman for those unexpected and exquisite five minutes.
Showing posts with label Chiesa di San Gottardo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chiesa di San Gottardo. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Of sogginess and saints
Fifteen degrees at 11am and raining, again. Raining hard. The moggies are soggy, the dog is soggy, the children are soggy, the sheep are soggy, the chickens are soggy and I am soggy.
So after all this rain, and with more on the way to disrupt the best laid plans of mice and Mamas to get the kids out of the house and taking part in outdoor activities for weeks at a time, I'm making an executive decision.
After 800 years, I'm firing San Gottardo as the patron of the church here in Carmine. I'm replacing him with St Agricola of Avignon, who, when you want to talk to someone about the weather is a kind of celestial one-stop-shop. You can pray to him for good weather or you can pray to him for rain. Take your pick. He's the dude.
Oh, yes, and he does a pretty good sideline in sorting out plagues of storks, too. If that's any help.
Pic: http://www.diocese-avignon.fr
So after all this rain, and with more on the way to disrupt the best laid plans of mice and Mamas to get the kids out of the house and taking part in outdoor activities for weeks at a time, I'm making an executive decision.
Oh, yes, and he does a pretty good sideline in sorting out plagues of storks, too. If that's any help.
Pic: http://www.diocese-avignon.fr
Monday, 5 September 2011
Monday morning
After yesterday's torrential rain. Hot, sunny with clouds.
I've said it before, and I trust nobody will blame me if I say it again. I love Monday mornings.
In Carmine.
No bathroom sprint, no emergency dash with the smoothing iron, no where's my briefcase, travelcard, keys. No traffic cough. No underground crush. No "Mind the gap". No train cancelled. No mobile ringtones. No bad-tempered queues. No litter streets. No roaring trash trucks. No blaring sirens.
Not late, dirty-fingered, tired already.
Just this...
I've said it before, and I trust nobody will blame me if I say it again. I love Monday mornings.
In Carmine.
No bathroom sprint, no emergency dash with the smoothing iron, no where's my briefcase, travelcard, keys. No traffic cough. No underground crush. No "Mind the gap". No train cancelled. No mobile ringtones. No bad-tempered queues. No litter streets. No roaring trash trucks. No blaring sirens.
Not late, dirty-fingered, tired already.
Just this...
Monday morning in the sacristy.
Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Wedding wishes
Bright skies at 8am, promising a beautiful wedding day.
Today the Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore, welcomes Nora and Michi, and all their guests.
Today the Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore, welcomes Nora and Michi, and all their guests.
"Serenità, felicità e complicità vi siano compagni per tutta la vita."
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Summer in Carmine
To visit the Chiesa di San Gottardo at Carmine Superiore, and to hear the stories behind its unique frescoes, contact Pro Loco Cannobio (Cannobio's tourist information office) for an appointment, or email me louise[at]carminesuperiore[dot]it.
You can reach Carmine Superiore from the lakeside strada nazionale in about 10 minutes. However, parking at lake level in Carmine Inferiore may prove difficult. An alternative is to take a bus from Cannobio or Cannero, or to walk. From Cannobio it's about 90 minutes and from Cannero (the easier route) it's about 60 minutes. Sensible shoes recommended.
Carmine Superiore is a favourite place for a picnic. May I mention, however, that there is no municipal refuse collection, and there are no public toilets. Please be prepared to take all your trash home when you leave - a small sealable freezer bag is useful for used toilet tissue and feminine hygiene items. Please don't leave us to pick up after you.
Happy summer!
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Beautiful visitor
Hot and sultry after teasing us with light rain during our descent first thing this morning. Perhaps tomorrow we'll be treated to a good soaking...
A Little Emerald moth (Jodis lactearia), just out of its cocoon, rests on the door of Carmine Superiore's Chiesa di San Gottardo. A good place to gather strength for tasks ahead.
A Little Emerald moth (Jodis lactearia), just out of its cocoon, rests on the door of Carmine Superiore's Chiesa di San Gottardo. A good place to gather strength for tasks ahead.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
The worst and the best job in the world
To all ye who took on the worst paid job in the world, the job with no fixed hours, no holidays, no pay, no early retirement, and definitely no promotion prospects (unless you happen to be Her).
To all ye who opted for a relationship with no chance of divorce. For cold little hands creeping into yours. For unthinking trust and innocent love and small-body cuddles that never end. For the pleasure of seeing the world through the eyes of a child. For the privilege of watching them grow, learn, strive and succeed.
Happy Festa della Mamma!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
San Gottardo
San Gottardo the feast day of the patron saint of Carmine Superiore, has dawned bright, beautiful and dry.
San Gottardo, I should explain, operates in much the same way as St Swithin. They say hereabouts that if it rains on San Gottardo, it will rain for forty days.
Phew!
San Gottardo, I should explain, operates in much the same way as St Swithin. They say hereabouts that if it rains on San Gottardo, it will rain for forty days.
Phew!
Friday, 25 March 2011
Feast of the Annunciation
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, celebrating old Gabriel's visit to Mary with her new job description.
Annunciation
Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore
Wouldn't life be so much more magical if instead of getting the news of impending motherhood from a little plastic stick covered in pee-pee, all mothers-to-be were visited by an angel conjuring flowers out of the air...?
PS Has anyone spotted Yulia Tymoshenko in this picture? Or is it just my imagination?
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
The church on the rock
Eleven degrees at eleven ayem when I went to pick up a very flushed and cough-y sort of boy from school...
Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore.
February 2011
Friday, 5 November 2010
Demons in Carmine Superiore
A glittering, bright autumn morning.The woods are in mid-moult and a wonder to behold.
A passing professoressa of art history recently pointed out to me that the Chiesa di San Gottardo here in Carmine Superiore has rather more than its fair share of demons. Here's a bunch of them doing their worst against the Saxon Bishop himself and a bunch of rather scared-out-of-wits-looking helpers. I particularly like the demon top left, which reminds me somehow of my 4-year-old daughter, B, in one of her tongue-out "I won't" moods. The snake tail is a nice touch - and even if B. doesn't actually have one of those in her flowery dungarees she sure as hell waggles that sassy 4-year-old butt as if she did!
Click on the pic to see a larger version, and perhaps some erudite person out there might be able to decipher the Latin caption bottom right...
A passing professoressa of art history recently pointed out to me that the Chiesa di San Gottardo here in Carmine Superiore has rather more than its fair share of demons. Here's a bunch of them doing their worst against the Saxon Bishop himself and a bunch of rather scared-out-of-wits-looking helpers. I particularly like the demon top left, which reminds me somehow of my 4-year-old daughter, B, in one of her tongue-out "I won't" moods. The snake tail is a nice touch - and even if B. doesn't actually have one of those in her flowery dungarees she sure as hell waggles that sassy 4-year-old butt as if she did!
Click on the pic to see a larger version, and perhaps some erudite person out there might be able to decipher the Latin caption bottom right...
Saturday, 30 October 2010
October sunrise
This morning's sunrise had me leaping out of bed and racing around the village in bare feet, fluffy dressing gown with trusty Nikon in hand, like a mad Hallowe'en apparition come early for the party.
October sunrise with the Chiesa di San Gottardo,
Carmine Superiore.
For more Skywatch images, or to add one of your own, click here.
Carmine Superiore.
For more Skywatch images, or to add one of your own, click here.
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Sunday, 2 May 2010
San Gottardo
I wonder who will come to our patronal festival mass. The sentiero will be damp. The umbrellas and raincoats will be damp. The flowers will be damp. Our souls will be damp.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Monday morning
Sunny but breezy.
All's well in Carmine. Ezio's in his vegetable garden. The cockerel's crowing over the chicks. The cats are lounging outside my front door like a bunch of hoodies waiting to be fed. The dog is on guard on the terrace. There are windsurfers down on the lake and a professor of art history in the church.
And the great wild cherries are in bloom.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
A Last Supper?
Fresco fragment. Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore.
This looks to my untrained eye to be part of a Last Supper, although its position almost immediately to the left of a lady chapel leaves one wondering where the other disciples would have been depicted.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Frescoes, Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore
A tantalising one degree above freezing at 8:30am. Foggy with the occasional snow flake.
Carmine Superiore is home to the tiny Romanesque Chiesa di San Gottardo, which dates back to 1330. Inside and outside, this tiny gem of a church is covered with exquisite frescoes. Originally painted in the 15th century, they have recently been restored. Above is a section of the Life of San Bartolomeo - I love the tiny dancing devil in the background.
If you would like to see more, just hit the 'frescoes' tag at the bottom of this post, or visit The Carmine Superiore Picture Gallery.
For more beautiful images from around the world, visit My World!
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
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Showing posts with label Chiesa di San Gottardo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chiesa di San Gottardo. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Ave Maria
Warm and breezy. Following the heat of July, when the cats flatten themselves against the cool stone, the chickens rest immobile on their shady perches and the rush-about people wonder if they shouldn't be doing the same - following the heat of July, August in Piemonte is perfect.
Carmine's Chiesa di San Gottardo attracts many visitors. Some simply make the walk from Cannobio to Cannero through the woods and happen upon the village and its jewel of a church by chance. Some ignore the church but enjoy the view along with their picnics. Others call ahead to be sure that the church is open and there is someone there to tell them a little of what we know about the frescoes. Some are knowledgeable, some just interested, and many are very tired. Most leave nothing behind them when they leave. A few leave their trash (harrumph!). But a small number leave behind something invisible and altogether indefinable.
The other day I unlocked the church for a group of six French visitors. I left them inside, gazing in rapture up and around, soaking up the colours, getting a feeling for the forms and losing themselves in the patterns. Among them was a man, perhaps in his late sixties, wearing shorts and a singlet. He had white curly hair, a farmer's sunny face and a warm Gallic greeting. When I returned a few minutes later, it was to the sound of this ordinary man's extraordinary lyric tenor singing the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria. We were all of us transfixed, as he caressed these ancient walls with his voice, as he played the church's acoustics like a master cellist, and when the final soaring notes came, it seemed that the church itself shuddered with pleasure.
Carmine's Chiesa di San Gottardo attracts many visitors. Some are moved by its beauty to add something unique and beautiful of their own. Thank-you to the unnamed Frenchman for those unexpected and exquisite five minutes.
Carmine's Chiesa di San Gottardo attracts many visitors. Some simply make the walk from Cannobio to Cannero through the woods and happen upon the village and its jewel of a church by chance. Some ignore the church but enjoy the view along with their picnics. Others call ahead to be sure that the church is open and there is someone there to tell them a little of what we know about the frescoes. Some are knowledgeable, some just interested, and many are very tired. Most leave nothing behind them when they leave. A few leave their trash (harrumph!). But a small number leave behind something invisible and altogether indefinable.
The other day I unlocked the church for a group of six French visitors. I left them inside, gazing in rapture up and around, soaking up the colours, getting a feeling for the forms and losing themselves in the patterns. Among them was a man, perhaps in his late sixties, wearing shorts and a singlet. He had white curly hair, a farmer's sunny face and a warm Gallic greeting. When I returned a few minutes later, it was to the sound of this ordinary man's extraordinary lyric tenor singing the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria. We were all of us transfixed, as he caressed these ancient walls with his voice, as he played the church's acoustics like a master cellist, and when the final soaring notes came, it seemed that the church itself shuddered with pleasure.
Carmine's Chiesa di San Gottardo attracts many visitors. Some are moved by its beauty to add something unique and beautiful of their own. Thank-you to the unnamed Frenchman for those unexpected and exquisite five minutes.
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Of sogginess and saints
Fifteen degrees at 11am and raining, again. Raining hard. The moggies are soggy, the dog is soggy, the children are soggy, the sheep are soggy, the chickens are soggy and I am soggy.
So after all this rain, and with more on the way to disrupt the best laid plans of mice and Mamas to get the kids out of the house and taking part in outdoor activities for weeks at a time, I'm making an executive decision.
After 800 years, I'm firing San Gottardo as the patron of the church here in Carmine. I'm replacing him with St Agricola of Avignon, who, when you want to talk to someone about the weather is a kind of celestial one-stop-shop. You can pray to him for good weather or you can pray to him for rain. Take your pick. He's the dude.
Oh, yes, and he does a pretty good sideline in sorting out plagues of storks, too. If that's any help.
Pic: http://www.diocese-avignon.fr
So after all this rain, and with more on the way to disrupt the best laid plans of mice and Mamas to get the kids out of the house and taking part in outdoor activities for weeks at a time, I'm making an executive decision.
Oh, yes, and he does a pretty good sideline in sorting out plagues of storks, too. If that's any help.
Pic: http://www.diocese-avignon.fr
Monday, 5 September 2011
Monday morning
After yesterday's torrential rain. Hot, sunny with clouds.
I've said it before, and I trust nobody will blame me if I say it again. I love Monday mornings.
In Carmine.
No bathroom sprint, no emergency dash with the smoothing iron, no where's my briefcase, travelcard, keys. No traffic cough. No underground crush. No "Mind the gap". No train cancelled. No mobile ringtones. No bad-tempered queues. No litter streets. No roaring trash trucks. No blaring sirens.
Not late, dirty-fingered, tired already.
Just this...
I've said it before, and I trust nobody will blame me if I say it again. I love Monday mornings.
In Carmine.
No bathroom sprint, no emergency dash with the smoothing iron, no where's my briefcase, travelcard, keys. No traffic cough. No underground crush. No "Mind the gap". No train cancelled. No mobile ringtones. No bad-tempered queues. No litter streets. No roaring trash trucks. No blaring sirens.
Not late, dirty-fingered, tired already.
Just this...
Monday morning in the sacristy.
Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Wedding wishes
Bright skies at 8am, promising a beautiful wedding day.
Today the Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore, welcomes Nora and Michi, and all their guests.
Today the Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore, welcomes Nora and Michi, and all their guests.
"Serenità, felicità e complicità vi siano compagni per tutta la vita."
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Summer in Carmine
To visit the Chiesa di San Gottardo at Carmine Superiore, and to hear the stories behind its unique frescoes, contact Pro Loco Cannobio (Cannobio's tourist information office) for an appointment, or email me louise[at]carminesuperiore[dot]it.
You can reach Carmine Superiore from the lakeside strada nazionale in about 10 minutes. However, parking at lake level in Carmine Inferiore may prove difficult. An alternative is to take a bus from Cannobio or Cannero, or to walk. From Cannobio it's about 90 minutes and from Cannero (the easier route) it's about 60 minutes. Sensible shoes recommended.
Carmine Superiore is a favourite place for a picnic. May I mention, however, that there is no municipal refuse collection, and there are no public toilets. Please be prepared to take all your trash home when you leave - a small sealable freezer bag is useful for used toilet tissue and feminine hygiene items. Please don't leave us to pick up after you.
Happy summer!
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Beautiful visitor
Hot and sultry after teasing us with light rain during our descent first thing this morning. Perhaps tomorrow we'll be treated to a good soaking...
A Little Emerald moth (Jodis lactearia), just out of its cocoon, rests on the door of Carmine Superiore's Chiesa di San Gottardo. A good place to gather strength for tasks ahead.
A Little Emerald moth (Jodis lactearia), just out of its cocoon, rests on the door of Carmine Superiore's Chiesa di San Gottardo. A good place to gather strength for tasks ahead.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
The worst and the best job in the world
To all ye who took on the worst paid job in the world, the job with no fixed hours, no holidays, no pay, no early retirement, and definitely no promotion prospects (unless you happen to be Her).
To all ye who opted for a relationship with no chance of divorce. For cold little hands creeping into yours. For unthinking trust and innocent love and small-body cuddles that never end. For the pleasure of seeing the world through the eyes of a child. For the privilege of watching them grow, learn, strive and succeed.
Happy Festa della Mamma!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
San Gottardo
San Gottardo the feast day of the patron saint of Carmine Superiore, has dawned bright, beautiful and dry.
San Gottardo, I should explain, operates in much the same way as St Swithin. They say hereabouts that if it rains on San Gottardo, it will rain for forty days.
Phew!
San Gottardo, I should explain, operates in much the same way as St Swithin. They say hereabouts that if it rains on San Gottardo, it will rain for forty days.
Phew!
Friday, 25 March 2011
Feast of the Annunciation
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, celebrating old Gabriel's visit to Mary with her new job description.
Annunciation
Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore
Wouldn't life be so much more magical if instead of getting the news of impending motherhood from a little plastic stick covered in pee-pee, all mothers-to-be were visited by an angel conjuring flowers out of the air...?
PS Has anyone spotted Yulia Tymoshenko in this picture? Or is it just my imagination?
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
The church on the rock
Eleven degrees at eleven ayem when I went to pick up a very flushed and cough-y sort of boy from school...
Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore.
February 2011
Friday, 5 November 2010
Demons in Carmine Superiore
A glittering, bright autumn morning.The woods are in mid-moult and a wonder to behold.
A passing professoressa of art history recently pointed out to me that the Chiesa di San Gottardo here in Carmine Superiore has rather more than its fair share of demons. Here's a bunch of them doing their worst against the Saxon Bishop himself and a bunch of rather scared-out-of-wits-looking helpers. I particularly like the demon top left, which reminds me somehow of my 4-year-old daughter, B, in one of her tongue-out "I won't" moods. The snake tail is a nice touch - and even if B. doesn't actually have one of those in her flowery dungarees she sure as hell waggles that sassy 4-year-old butt as if she did!
Click on the pic to see a larger version, and perhaps some erudite person out there might be able to decipher the Latin caption bottom right...
A passing professoressa of art history recently pointed out to me that the Chiesa di San Gottardo here in Carmine Superiore has rather more than its fair share of demons. Here's a bunch of them doing their worst against the Saxon Bishop himself and a bunch of rather scared-out-of-wits-looking helpers. I particularly like the demon top left, which reminds me somehow of my 4-year-old daughter, B, in one of her tongue-out "I won't" moods. The snake tail is a nice touch - and even if B. doesn't actually have one of those in her flowery dungarees she sure as hell waggles that sassy 4-year-old butt as if she did!
Click on the pic to see a larger version, and perhaps some erudite person out there might be able to decipher the Latin caption bottom right...
Saturday, 30 October 2010
October sunrise
This morning's sunrise had me leaping out of bed and racing around the village in bare feet, fluffy dressing gown with trusty Nikon in hand, like a mad Hallowe'en apparition come early for the party.
October sunrise with the Chiesa di San Gottardo,
Carmine Superiore.
For more Skywatch images, or to add one of your own, click here.
Carmine Superiore.
For more Skywatch images, or to add one of your own, click here.
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Sunday, 2 May 2010
San Gottardo
I wonder who will come to our patronal festival mass. The sentiero will be damp. The umbrellas and raincoats will be damp. The flowers will be damp. Our souls will be damp.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Monday morning
Sunny but breezy.
All's well in Carmine. Ezio's in his vegetable garden. The cockerel's crowing over the chicks. The cats are lounging outside my front door like a bunch of hoodies waiting to be fed. The dog is on guard on the terrace. There are windsurfers down on the lake and a professor of art history in the church.
And the great wild cherries are in bloom.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
A Last Supper?
Fresco fragment. Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore.
This looks to my untrained eye to be part of a Last Supper, although its position almost immediately to the left of a lady chapel leaves one wondering where the other disciples would have been depicted.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Frescoes, Chiesa di San Gottardo, Carmine Superiore
A tantalising one degree above freezing at 8:30am. Foggy with the occasional snow flake.
Carmine Superiore is home to the tiny Romanesque Chiesa di San Gottardo, which dates back to 1330. Inside and outside, this tiny gem of a church is covered with exquisite frescoes. Originally painted in the 15th century, they have recently been restored. Above is a section of the Life of San Bartolomeo - I love the tiny dancing devil in the background.
If you would like to see more, just hit the 'frescoes' tag at the bottom of this post, or visit The Carmine Superiore Picture Gallery.
For more beautiful images from around the world, visit My World!
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
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