Pratovecchio Stia

“Ognuno e’ alla ricera
un po’ di pone
un po’ di ajjetta
e di sentirsi a casa
da qualche parte.”

“Everyone is looking for some affection and to feel at home.”
~Sign found at the Parish of San Pietro

After leaving our vacant Italian villa alive, we walked towards the town of Stia Pratevecchio. On our way, we visited the Castello di Romena, where Dante was inspired to write about the 9 circles of hell after he observed the interior of the Prison Tower during his stay at the castle in the mid-1200s.

From there, we took a long road down and stumbled (probably literally, if you know us) upon the Parish Church of San Pietro, home to the Fraternita di Romena. a retreat center. As you can see from the pictures, we were welcomed in by several kind and funny women who showed us around, told us about the history of the church dating back to 1152, showed us the hidden spots in the Romanesque architecture, made us laugh with their halting English and our nearly non-existent Italian and then fed us the best (gluten-free) lunch. We were very much made to feel “at home.”

After another few hours of walking, we arrived safely at the Hotel Falterona, named after the mountain that the Arno River, the one we’ve walked with, flows from.

This seemed to be just about the perfect day… until it wasn’t. Since we took our time visiting and walking, we subsequently missed getting food to eat for the next day (p.s. there are no markets open late and most close early, or aren’t open at all, on Sunday). The crackers, candy, and protein bars would have to do. Once we got settled into the room, the AC and refrigerator decided to quit. In a fit of overheated problem-solving brilliance, one of us pulled a business card out of an electrical-looking thing on the wall (thinking that must be the issue because what would a local restaurant’s business card be doing in a wall socket?!!) annnnnnnd, then the power in the room went out. Our multi-tasking skills were on full display as we were also on the phone with AT&T trying to fix more cellular issues.

Through no FAULT of our own, our day in Stia at the Hotel FALTerona (see what we did there?!) ended up being a pretty good one.

Resilience, grit, growth mindset… whatever you call it - those are the real muscles we used again today.

Ciao for now!Read more