Florence + the Machine - Spectrum (Official Music Video)
Ceremonials is one of my favorite albums of all time and this video only adds to the mystical quality of the song. Give it a watch! And be infinitely jealous of Florence Welch’s ability to be a shamanness.
Today I went to Monteluco for my creative writing retreat. We were there to spend some time in the quiet - which, to be honest, was secondary to the magnificently stunning scenery. Monteluco, which apparently only has a population of twenty-seven, is a Lord of the Rings-esque landscape of mosses, looming trees and ruins.
St. Francis of Assisi took refuge in the church on the mountain, and our class spent an hour or so writing and poking around the grounds. Apart from my obvious obsession with the flora, I was charmed by this monument: a grotto from antiquity, where a Franciscan brother would have prayed and fasted alone. Current followers and idolizers hoping for guidance leave prayers and photographs at the site. Sometimes I wish I felt God like that - in such a historical way. But that sort of holiness was everywhere today for me; the sunlight, the wind, the unevenness of the leaves under my feet.
A view of the rest of Spoleto, which sits at the bottom of Monteluco. The green is incredible. It certainly explains why Umbria is called “il cuore verde” of Italy (the “green heart” of the country).
“Canto me stesso, e celebro me stesso.”
Although Perugia is a lovely, lovely city, it’s just that - a city - and we girls were hungering for some green. Enter Corso Verde - a stretch of green, green, green where we wiggled our toes in the grass and met the most friendly canino in Italia thus far, Luna.
Of all the cute things we saw in the parco, the elementary-aged calcio team was probably a close second to Luna. The ragazzi kept falling over and yelling hilariously hyperbolic insults (hereditarily assumed from their calcio-fanatic fathers, I’m sure).
Although it was a cloudy day - not atypical of Perugia - the day in the park was a much needed escape to a green space. I’m sure we’ll frequent it again very soon, if only to seek out Luna!
This is Perugia, a laughably pretty city hanging in suspension between modernity and the Middle Ages. It’s also home for four more weeks (and has been for the past two).
Needless to say, I’m in love. Who wouldn’t be?
From my personal travel journal, written this afternoon:
I am, how you say, blissed out. I have migrated from eating my meals at the windowsill, to sitting in the windowsill; I am two floors up and have no fear.
A man practices his guitar a story up, across the street. It’s the Rolling Stones. His clothesline is full of black shirts, five of them, like blackbirds on a telephone wire.
And - look there! I am an uccello too, singing the song of my soul.
I’m seeing the sights through a loving camera’s eye.
