Hello friends of this beautiful community, first of all I would like to thank everyone who takes the time to comment on my posts, these comments make me so happy and it is nice to interact with you, I also enjoy reading your posts and always discover new places in the world.
In this post I want to share what I saw this weekend in the company of my cousin, a girl who always knows how to take me to special places that are probably little known but are always rich in cultural and artistic value.
He wanted to take me this time to discover a Benedictine abbey located in the municipality of Teolo in the province of Padua, close to a place that many of you probably know called Abano Terme, and which is a great world-famous spa resort.
below the photo you will find the location of the place
This abbey is still active and several monks still live there, practically living off offerings from the faithful but also selling products they grow in the nearby countryside, we are practically in the Paduan countryside about 15 km from the capital Padua.
The whole complex can be visited freely and free of charge, we only toured the outside parts, but you can also visit on certain days the library inside, which contains more than 1,000 volumes that are thousands of years old.
You have to understand that this abbey was built around the year 1000 and has become an Italian national monument, precisely because of the importance of its history and it is really exciting to walk inside this cloister.
Although more than 1,000 years have passed, in the rear part of the abbey there is still the famous botanical garden, which was created by the monks for the cultivation of various plants, including medicinal plants, in order to cure themselves. Unfortunately, it can only be seen from a distance and cannot be visited, but let us say that it is no longer the original botanical garden, but the cultivation of these herbs has been somewhat lost.
I was not able to visit the church inside because a religious service was in progress, but from what I read on the sign outside the church, unfortunately the church was stripped of all the paintings that were contained inside due to Napoleon's suppressions and thus much of the art material that was inside the church was transferred to the Brera Art Gallery in Milan by Napoleon.
So from my point of view, this abbey is definitely worth a visit, also because the visit is free and it is a beautiful place, in my opinion, also to retreat and meditate.
In the second part of the day, or rather lunchtime, we headed to Polcenigo, a small municipality in the province of Pordenone, because we were invited to lunch by a friend of ours, and this was also an opportunity to visit the festival of baskets, these containers made of wood that have proved to be important in the history of this town.
Of course, below always the first photo you will find the information to locate this place.
These photos that you can see I took in the centre of the village of Polcenigo, where this important festival has been held for about 300 years. As they explained to me at the beginning, this festival was used by the local farmers to go and buy these wooden containers that they could use for the grape harvest, and on this occasion they could practically find these craftsmen who made these containers called baskets out of wood.
Then this fair has evolved a bit over the years, and practically all handicrafts created with wood are displayed, of course for an art lover like me it is something beautiful to visit.
I asked a few artisans present how long it takes to make a basket, and they replied that it takes up to 20 days of work, in fact the final product is sold at a high price but is justified by the fact that it is a completely handmade thing.
I only regret that I had little time to visit the village as well, because it is very pretty. However, I hope I have made you realise the importance of this festival, which is organised every year and which carries on this tradition that has been important for this country and hopefully will continue in the future.
Thank you if you have made it this far, follow me in future posts because I have more important things to share.
Bye and see you!