Settings Propitious to Thought , Meditation..... and Other Related Human Endeavours !!

Back in my former life in the old country ... Yahoo 360.... I wrote a series of blogs entitled "Cortona Chronicles " in which I described my life as a Catholic seminarian at Colleggio San Alfonso in Cortona ( Toscana ) , Italy in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I had a Vespa scooter at my disposal and would often take off to visit neighbouring towns , villages and cities... Siena , Arezzo , Assisi , Perugia , Spoleto , Foligno.... and one of my very special haunts ... Orvieto , about 60 kms south of Cortona .....a massive mound rising out of nowhere and towering some 800 feet high above the Umbrian Plain..Picture Ayers Rock ( Uluru ) deep into the Australian outback with a medievel Italian city on top and around the ramparts..Whenever I see the one the other automatically pops up in my mind.

With the war and its aftermath still quite fresh in the minds of the Italian people and the onslaught of tourism still a few years off into the future..... life was very easy going so I fit right into the picture and that is why I always chose Orvieto whenever I had some deep thinking to do , a long essay or dissertation to write up ., t might also be  some nugget of philosophical thought  that I wished  to explore or think through , such as... Quidquid recipitur , recipitur secundum modem recipientis.......( Whatever is received is received in accordance with the capacity of the receiver ) or Utrum Deus scit a priori ?  ( Whether God knows causally ? )quidquid movetur , movetur ab alio. Whatever is moved , is moved by another !! Real heavy duty stuff now that I look back upon it. After all , my hero Saint Thomas Aquinas had taught here in the Studium during the 13th century ! I am not certain that I reaped any practical benefits from these queries and studies except maybe better thinking skills , more developed critical judgement and a haunting awareness of  the limits of the human brain in fathoming such profound questions..... a very humbling experience , indeed !                                            

I would sit for hours across the street from the magnificent DUOMO or cathedral sipping Orvieto secco San Anselmo and feel utterly inspired by the exquisite and delicate mosaics , carved or sculptued statuettes and doorframes, rosettas , etc.  I have seen and visited many churches throughout the world and loved them all. However, the Duomo in Orvieto remains my favourite by far..... I have never seen a façade that could rival its beauty.

P. S. For better viewing and detail please enlarge pictures.