La Pieve: our little chapel

It’s our last full day and I am going to miss it here at our beautiful little chapel at San Cristoforo.I am going to miss the quietness and the unpolluted sky’s, the complete darkness at night and the sun streaming in from the shutters in the morning painting the bedroom walls bright yellow, sitting out on the patio with a morning coffee contemplating the day ahead and on the garden swing seat in the evening with a glass of wine reflecting on our adventures, the beautiful unspoilt countryside currently not greatly affected by tourism, the helpful people who speak very little English but are happy to try to understand our minimal Italian, the beautiful wine and basic uncomplicated food made with local ingredients, the fact the shops shut each day at mid afternoon, Sunday and odd other days- although it has been a challenge coming from an almost 23/7 world. It reminds me so much of country France so much so that occasionally I have found myself dropping the odd French word into a ‘conversation’. I am not going to miss the plague of crickets that make their way indoors and everywhere in the evening, only to disappear in the morning. Love that we have been staying in a place with so much history.

For those interested in the history: the little research done on the area has found flint tools in the surrounding fields thought to date back to the Stone Age and in 1934 the local parish priest Don Biago Paoletti discovered 3 tombs with Etruscan style ceramics dating from the 3rd century BC. The earliest records referring to San Cristoforo are in titles dating back to 1290 and appears to have taken its name from a fortification that earlier stood on the site. The present church was built by priest Don Angelo Amatori in 1727, and in his description refers to ‘ a washbowl in stone cut and decorated by myself’ which can be found in the current bedroom. The last priest to live at San Cristoforo was Don Buagio Paoletti and after his death in 1942 the chapel was served by the priest from the nearby parish if Saint’ Angelo in Mariano. The last mass was celebrated around 1970 and the small church school on the site was also closed in the 1970’s.

The current owners, and our hosts Peter and Richard, bought San Cristoforo in 1988 and began the slow restoration of the whole complex, maintaining lots of the original features. Unfortunately the front of La Pieve and some of the La Casetta was destroyed in the earthquake a couple of years ago and had to be rebuilt.Read more