Adventures (Installment I)

I'm realizing that I've already procrastinated so much on posting about the things I've seen and done in the last two months that I'm am hopelessly behind. The task of writing about even a portion of the experiences I've had living and working in Italy so far was daunting enough to even keep from trying for many weeks (in which time I spent a weekend in Padau, and 10 days in Greece, Fall Break, and Northern Italy. oops.)  Anyway the end of the semester is rapidly approaching and I've got to get a move on here hence the idea of which this blog post is hopefully the first part of. Instead of making one humongous post which you would be make-you-tired-of sitting-before-you-got-done-reading long I decided to do it in small bite size morsels.

A long time ago (almost 2 months?) I went to Padua over a weekend. Besides being the resting place of one of the most awesome saints ever (This Guy) -->    its also a really nice little town. Its home to one of the oldest universities in the world and as such is dominated by bicycles and young people. A couple of the main roads are closed to traffic and are just pedestrian. I went there to see St. Anthony and obviously spent a good deal of time at the Basilica. They didn't allow any photography in the church so sorry no pictures of St. Anthony's tongue (yeah its in the reliquary) however it was also nice not to have to worry about trying to take pictures of things and instead just enjoy the moment. There was a special blessing of St. Anthony that I was able to receive, I went to a couple masses in the Church, and spent a lot of time praying and writing in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Sunday mass at the Basilica was especially great. It's a large church but it was filled with faithful there to see St. Anthony (he's such a big deal in Padua they just call him "Il Santo", "The Saint"). Sadly its rare to see any of these old marvelous Italian churches full and alive for the liturgy but when it happens its a special blessing and it seems this happens every weekend in Padua.

Basilica of St. Anthony

Scrovegni Chapel

The town itself was really wonderful though too. There were several concerts going on in different piazzas in the evenings. Saturday there were two huge markets one for fruits and the other for vegetables. Padua also has one of the largest piazzas in Europe the Prato della Valle. There is also an incredible work of art called the Scrovegni Chapel by Giotto. Its a small family chapel that is all that remains of the Scrovegni palace. Giotto was one of the earliest Renaissance fresco masters and this chapel is by far his most impressive surviving work. Its incredible not only for its colors (amazingly vibrant), and its age (its over 800 years old), but also because of the theological framework that its designed around. The intricately detailed figures are organized into three cycles. The topmost is the life of Mary, the middle is the active ministry of Christ, and the lowest is His Passion and Death. The way Giotto parallels the scenes from each three of the cycles is truly remarkable and cause for much longer consideration than the 15 minute time period you are allowed to visit the chapel for.

Recognize this guy? Its there too.

After I visited the Chapel on Saturday
I went and walked through a nearby park to think about the fresco. In one of the most fantastic scenes of Italian life that I've encountered yet, I ran into five members of the "Guardian Angel Safety Patrol" moving a baby grand piano down a gravel path, with steps, to the central fountain of this park. Clad with red berets and beer guts (should it be called a wine gut in Italy? Not sure on that) these balding men finally managed to get the piano moved at which point another Italian sat down and began to play incredible music. It was such a picturesque scene. It was a beautiful, sunny, late-summer day. The perfect day to just sit on a park bench and think (with a soundtrack to boot). Kids were playing in the park, a young woman was making animals out of balloons (apparently for free) and at one point a group of people walked by being led by a man carrying a 10 foot rowing oar (no idea what that was about).  Looking back now a couple months later it really was a very blest weekend: kind people, an awesome saint, fantastic art, beautiful nature; what more could you ask for?

Well that feels good to have finally finished a post, hopefully another will follow shortly but until then, I'll see you in the Eucharist.