Montecassino

After an early breakfast in the Sorrento hotel, we walked to our bus to commence the lengthy journey to Siena, our destination for today. The total trip was about 7 hours plus stops. Several stops were made for various nibbles, at morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, each for about 30 minutes.
The really interesting stop was made between Naples and Rome, at the monastery of Montecassino, the first order of monks in the history of Christianity, established in this monastery in 529AD by Benedict, who became a saint and whose order is known as the Benedictine Order. The Abbey was originally built in 550ad but it was destroyed at various times by invading armies, the last of which was the allies in WW2 who bombed the building to smithereens in the battle in this place, believing that the Germans had substantial munitions stored in the monastery. The allies won the battle at greatcoat of lives, and after the war, the whole monastery was rebuilt, including the most ornate cathedral imaginable. The graves of St Benedict and his twin sister are still venerated in the crypt below the altar.
After we had spent a fascinating hour at the abbey, perched as it is at the top of a very high mountain with a view over the whole valley between Naples and Rome, we boarded the bus to continue our journey towards Siena.
It was 7pm we we arrived at Siena. We spent nearly an hour settling into our hotel and then caught a bit up to the old city of Siena, walked to the famous Piazza del Campo, where there is a famous horse race called the Palio held twice a year, and we chose a restaurant and shared a delicious dinner in the famous piazza in the shadow of the huge tower under the light of the moon. I had the tigniatelli with beef Ragu for dinner.
Finally, after marveling again at the famous medieval piazza, we walked the 3.5km back to our hotel by 11pm, ready for bed in our Tuscan hotel.Read more