Visit to San Vivaldo and San Gimignano

The sculpture of the Veronica from the Sacro Monte di San Vivaldo


On Sunday, we went with Prof. Medina Lasansky to the Sacro Monte di San Vivaldo, which is about an hour away from Florence. The site was built by Franciscans in the 1500s as a replica of the Holy Land, and wealthy Florentine families paid for the little chapels and the relief sculptures inside them. Instead of undertaking a dangerous and expensive pilgrimage to the Holy Land, pilgrims could come to San Vivaldo and meditate on the realistically painted terracotta images of the Passion. Here is a link for more information: http://www.visitmontaione.com/en/sightseeing/sanvivaldo.htm. And hopefully some of our St. Olaf pilgrims will post images and comments! I am sure everyone has something to say about the art and the delicious lunch.


The group at lunch

After lunch, we made a brief visit to San Gimignano, where Prof. Lasansky talked about the Fascist reconstruction of the medieval city and the promotion of Italian tourism in the 1920s and 30s. Here is one of Alex's images of the reconstructed medieval towers.