An ancient crypt depiction

Today I, my two lovely students Phil and Moyra, plus my friend Hilary  and her two travelling companions Lindsey and James were taken to an amazing archeological site dating back to 900ce. The site of the Abbey of San Vincenzo was found when a farmer fell throught a hole into a crypt, that had lain hidden under farmland. Inside were frescoes of which one was found to be the oldest fresco of the Madonna ascending to heaven in the world. The crypt is only open to less than 10 people a day in order to preserve the frescoes inside as much as possible. To see the frescoes first hand is beyond exhilarating.

After finding the crypt, further excavations were carried out, which led to the discovery of the ruins of an Abbey and a Basilica. There is still so much more to be excavated, but funding was stopped and the site was silent except for us.

It was a wet and windy day today, but I managed to get an amazing photo of a rainbow above the castle of a town called Cerro a Volturno. The man who had the castle built, also had many others built on the road to a large town called Venafro. He spent so much money building them that he bankrupted himself and had to sell his land.

We stopped off at the Lake of Castel San Vincenzo, which is usually a bright turquoise, but was somewhat less so with lashing rain and strong winds. 10 September 2025