Alba Fucens and Working Hard July 21

Wednesday, I finished the early morning picture and after that I felt desperate to figure out some way I would not have to spend the rest of the day painting.  So we called up the Irish Dude and Italian Babe and invited ourselves to go on a road trip. We went to Alba Fucens. We have been there once before and tried to go again last summer and could not find it. I have felt so dumb about that, because I was the one with the map. Well I am now vindicated or again proved to be a dummy. We had GPS and still missed the turn the first two times. Number one there is no street sign to tell you the name that the woman keeps repeating in Italian!! Number two there is absolutely no sign that tells you this is the way to Alba Fucens which is a big deal: giant Roman ruins, incredible church, but really, if you need a sign maybe you don’t deserve to go. Once you are on la strada justa there is no clue that you are on the way to anywhere. With GPS we managed to go the 10 km before the first sign that said anything about Alba Fucens and even then we almost missed another turn. 

Alba Fucens is a huge place and the scene of amazing reconstitution. It was a Roman fortress and garrison that overlooked the plain of Avazzano. At that time most of Avazzano was a huge lake. The fortress has a commanding view of the valley. There is a huge amphitheater. Do amphitheaters come in a standard size like a hockey rink? I do not know but it is about that size. There were photos taken of when the site was discovered in 1955. Everything was a pile of stones. It must have been even harder to put it all back together than it was the first time. A school was established and students worked on the site. It is hard to believe it was built the first time and then hard to believe it was built again. 

Arch way to Amphitheater 

Church above the ruins

There is an incredible church overlooking the ruins. We did not go in it on our first visit, but this time we went up to find the door locked. Italian Babe called the number on the door and a woman walked up from the town to let us in. 

Really creepy stuff around the top of this tower

The church was originally a temple to Apollo and is built on the exact configuration, with additions. The temple dates from 200CE. The church was consecrated in 1200. Extensive renovations were done in the 14 or 15 hundreds. The church is mostly made of recycled items from Alba Fucens. There are Roman columns and other things that were salvaged (did you ever notice how close salvaged is to savaged?) from there. This church was reduced to rubble in the 1915 earthquake and rebuilt by the same guys that excavated Alba Fucens. 

Note Roman columns 

Unidentified cool thing carved out of walnut

We had 50 of these chairs in our house! Who knew they were Roman and I gave 20 away!!

It really gave me hope that the church of San Giovanni in Castelvecchio can be restored. The engineers have been working on the plans these last years since the 2009 earthquake and hopefully the buildings will be much safer than before. 

We had lunch in a little place in the village of Alba Fucens. It was more like, in the best possible way, being in someone’s living room than in a restaurant. It was delicious, but I only took a picture of all the empty glasses and containers. 

No I did not take this picture, but it is better than I could do. Corno Grande!

After that we took the mountain way home which involves lots of hairpin turns and sheer drop offs. Surprisingly, it was beautiful. The day was so clear that Corno Grande looked very close and humongous. There was still snow on some of the mountain tops so there was more than a dusting on Saturday. We could hardly stay awake on the way home and immediately went to bed when we got home. It is now 7p.m. and we are thinking of going back outside. The temperature has rebounded since Saturday and must be in the high 80s. We are thinking of another visit to the piazza this evening. Last night we saw so many friends, the bar keeper insisted, as only an Italian can, on giving us drinks on the house and we got to spend more time with him and his wife than our usual morning coffee allows. So fun. What a place!