Norcia, the Nostalgia Edition

Recently spent some time with the Benedictines at Norcia. They are a wonderful, traditional monastery. Unsurprisingly, they are all old rite, all the way. Just like any successful venture in the Church these days. They sing the office in simple and beautiful gregorian chant which is uploaded to their website daily. Have a listen.

  The place itself is old Italian style, at least on the outside. The Basilica on the right behind the staty of St Benedict.

The inside was redone some ages ago to make it a bit more barocque. And again, later on, to move the altar forward which, happily, is not stopping the monks from offering the sacrifice of the Mass in the right direction.

As any decent monastery there is, of course, a brewery attached to the place. The monks make their own beer which comes in two different versions, one dark, one light.

The darker one is a heavier, malty. It is great for sitting down for a long evening with friends shoting the breeze and fixing all the problems of the world. Or at any rate talk the talk.. The light, more lager like one is a more refreshing drink, easy to pour down on a warm Italian afternoon. The brewery is, so far, a small scale operation, though they are expanding as things go on.

There is a new Italian distributor and bussines is picking up quite well. I had hoped to see a bottle or two in my favourite pub in Rome when I got back down there, but nothing yet.

The region itself is well known for the salami and tartuffo. The delicious local sausage made from wild boar is wonderful.  The town is filled with shops selling the local produce, one of which is right under the men's guest apartment. Their's is one of the betteer displays.

I had some time of from retreating on a sunny afternoon and went out along the local roads for walkies. Just to have a goal I tried to find the place a friend is getting. Her blog seemed to give a fairly good description about how to find the place but no. Women and directions...