Today we celebrate the Birthday of The Beautiful One.
My mom, my heroine.
Independent of the fact that I love her because she is my mom. She also showed me that kindness and courage are always the lead, in the face of adversity and also during times of abundance and grace, when there is a tendency to isolate and become insular, rather than share our gifts.
With her innate sense of style, that comes from deep inside her and is unerring she modeled elegance and creativity every single day. I still take notes !
For me, she is the blueprint for a certain kind of woman, a real woman, one of the world but who is grounded with her family, loyal to her friends, generous to her community
Every mother I imagine sits one day at the kitchen table looking through old photographs and new and wonders how Time went by so fast. Lost in thought and emotion.
My wonderful sprite, lovely angel face, innocent young man that came shining and pretty from my womb became, in seemingly no time at all
the master of his own universe, the leader of his pack, the boss of himself.
Angels all around him whether he knows or not. I see it when others look at him.
*Feeling blessed to be on this gorgeous planet, in this skin, gifted exactly this path. With gratitude, pure and simple.
The first time I heard of the Sanctuary on Montenero was from Signor Solari, my then piano teacher, who took mum and me on an afternoon trip there many years ago. He was so proud to show off his little secret, a small jewel overlooking the port of Livorno that houses a literal treasure trove of documented 'Miracles' that people have received after praying to a Saint or Divinity in a time of need.
While we were in Tuscany this summer I revisited Livorno and my good friends Soraya and Alberto took us to dinner at their special place in the minuscule village of Montenero. During dinner I remembered what an impression the Sanctuary a little further up the mountain made on me so many years before.
The next day Ani and I went to the beach in Castiglioncello and on the way back to Soraya's city house we turned off the Aurelia and headed up towards Montenero so I could in my turn share this special and strange place with my daughter. It has remained of my favorite places dedicated to the Patron Saint of Tuscany the Divine Mary
Our drive up was not nearly as harrowing as when Solari was manning the curves at 60 mph - smoking his Gauloise, gesticulating the way Italians do when they are reminiscing or talking about beautiful women (which often happens at the same time). We stopped to take in the view of the bay
The View from Montenero
As noted in tour guides, Montenero was also a big holiday destination for artistic types like Byron and Shelley and even Longfellow in the 19th century and it is no surprise when you look out from the promenade to the bay what attracted them.
As we arrived in the main piazza at the top of the mountain we parked and then walked along the edge of the tidily decaying promenade to the Church. Ani was ogling the silly trinkets at the kiosks the euros burning in her pockets.
No, no, no I say I want to show you these amazing pictures on the walls. We treated ourselves to a bite to eat and a juice at one of the bar/restaurants in the grand piazza watched over by this unusual painting before we headed in.
A Grazie Ricevuta or an ex-voto is a votive offering (a painting or a plaque) to a saint or a divine being as showing thanks for a prayer asking for an intervention or help in time of need. Many churches in Italy have special rooms where they are displayed on the wall like this...
This is one of the beautiful paintings of the Divine Mary.."The first chapel was built to commemorate a miraculous event that happened in 1345. A shepherd found an image of Our Lady at the foot of a hill. He had a vision in which he was told to carry the image on top of the hill. When he arrived to his destination, the man was cured of a grave infirmity".
One of the many scenes on the walls..
This collection is truly fascinating on so many levels! Historically, decoratively and culturally the thousands of items are interesting and charming and speak volumes. Sometimes they are intricate but often drawn in a naif style, the common man describing the miraculous.
Here are other paintings, drawings of daily life tragedies overcome - very touching to see...
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