Sermoneta

At the end of the week the school took its orientation trip, a two night visit based out of Terracina, by the sea midway between Rome and Naples. We stayed at a campground right on the water. The tourist season is over and they actually stayed open a few extra days just to host us. The section of beach we were on is a few kilometers from where a mafia boss known as Stumpy was recently gunned down. He was nicknamed stumpy because he blew off both of his hands in a bomb making accident – I swear, you can’t make this stuff up.

On our trip down we stopped off at Sermoneta. The city, originally called Sulmo (by Pliny) and Sulmona (by Vergil), has been inhabited for centuries. As you approach the city you come across a structure built on top of a spire of rock. It was unusual enough, even for Italy, for me to take a picture of as we drove past in the bus.

For defensive reasons, the town is built on a hilltop and surrounded by a wall. It was the first experience with an Italian hilltop town for many of our students and definitely their first experience riding a double-decker tour bus up the winding roads leading to one.

Sermoneta is architecturally similar to Viterbo. Like Viterbo, it was a powerful, important fortified city of the medieval period. The narrow streets and stone buildings date from that period and have a very familiar feel. Unlike Viterbo, Sermoneta was not important enough for the Allies to bomb during WWII so it is much better preserved.

A visit to Sermoneta isn’t complete without a stop at the Cathedral of St. Mary with its Romanesque belfry.

There is also a heavily fortified 12^th century castle that was among the most powerful fortress of the Lazio region in the 16^th century. It was once the home of the Borgia family of the Lucretia fame.

Ironically, both of these important sites were closed during our visit. The castle is only open for guided visits with very restricted hours and the church had closed for lunch 15 minutes before our arrival, denying us the opportunity to go inside to see the paintings and other important artifacts. As Amy pointed out, you can’t have a spiritual crisis in Italy during lunch time. If you do, you have to go directly to the big man himself to sort out your problems, because there aren’t any priests available.