Okay...everyone needs to have a retreat week in the places I've seen today! We left the villa pretty early and took a 2 hour bus ride across the region of Tuscany to the other side = Casentino! It's not really touristy, or busy so I think that's part of what makes it so appealing. It also just has a simplistic, natural beauty to everything. We went to 2 Guidy castles today - one was a Romanesque castle with 3 towers: one was a prison/torture tower, one was the main tower, and the last was an escape tower in case of enemies overtaking their defenses. It could only be entered from the top and then the family would climb down the rope ladder and the soldiers would cut it after they were safely down and then fight off the enemies and probably die in service. At the bottom, there was a secret passageway to the neighboring monastery. In the courtyard here 4 of the guys in my group decided to joust each other chicken-fight style. So two got on the others' shoulders and they took off running/galloping at each other and the two on top simultaneously punched each other in the chest and the impact caused them all to tumble. It was absolutely hilarious! We got video footage of it... Some of the other guys were trotting around doing the Monty Python horse clop noise...goofy boys.
My absolute favorite part of today was the Romanesque church we went to where they do the rehabilitation for people who need rejuvinating or refocusing of their lives. The church wasn't over the top or super colorful - it actually was very plain and kind of dull if you like all the grandoise type of Catholic church styles. This is by far my favorite church I've ever seen or stepped foot in. It sounds weird, but just being here felt close to God. Singing in the church was such a moving and humbling and uplifting experience. If I could work all the details out and get everyone over here, Tyler and I would def be getting married in this place... The lady that works here and helps out with the rehab program was so kind and helpful. They had a little store with items handmade by the people as a part of their rehab. It was all just so beautiful. I may have bought a little peace dove wall decoration for my new house and told the lady to keep the change...but then again I'm a sucker for good causes and I honestly think that they are doing God's work up there.
The next castle we went to is run by a sweet little old lady named Marta, who is sick - so please keep her in your prayers! A few of us got to stay in the castle instead of the hotel (bc they didn't have enough room for us), but I wasn't one of those, but it's ok bc the hotel is nice and in the middle of old Stia - a town at the bottom of the hill. She told us the story of her parents - her dad was an American soldier in WWII and he fell madly in love with her mom, an Italian and told her he'd come back for her. All her friends told her that they'd heard that and it was a lie, but he came back for her and they married. They later realized that they were related to the Guidy counts and therefore inherited the castle she now runs and lives in. She is so precious! We get to come back here tomorrow for supper!
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