Italy - Capena

3Jul-5Jul15, Capena, Lazio  Region, Italy.

Our trip from Mykonos to Rome was awful. It began with a delayed ‘EasyJet’ flight from the tiny non-air conditioned airport in Mykonos, a hot and agitated scene to a confused arrival into Rome.

We couldn’t locate our car transfer, we were to be picked up and driven back to where we had left our car over the last three weeks. We were rescued by the hospitality of another transfer company who phoned, translated and organised another pickup for us.  

The 2hr flight itself was OK, Lachlan commented on the view out of the plane window - 'I can see the end of the world'.

We were pleased to see our car was still awaiting us. Back in the comfort of what had now become our little piece of familiarity, the Land Rover, we drove 1 hr NE to the town of Capena.

Located in the Lazio region (central Italy), Capena has been habituated since the 11^th century AD, when the Palazzo dei Monaci (Palace of Monks) was established on ‘La Rocca’(the rock).

Here we were to spend the next 2 nights, in what was a monastery until the end of the 19^th century, then became a school and was finally subdivided and sold to individuals.

Piazza del Popolo

Our arrival was quite bizarre. A winding trip into the historic centre bought us to the Piazza del Popolo, the largest public square in Capena, where we parked our car.

The main face of the Palazzo fronted this square. We had been given directions on how to navigate in and locate our accommodation.

As we started to unload, the skies opened and an astounding hail storm broke. I have never experienced such large hail stones, the size of ice cubes, yet the temperature was 36C.

We made a panicked dash for the entrance of the Palazzo as the hail pounded down with such force that it dented the car. The skies darkened, thunder and lightning struck and the animals went quite crazy.

As Ollie said 'It is like something out of a horror movie.' Howling animals raced through the long twisted passageway in which we now stood as we tried to get our bearings from within the former Monastery.

Hail on steps of  Casa Galilei

Entering Casa Galilei was yet another experience. The door opened to a stairwell descending into a cave dating back to Etruscan times. From this dramatic and unexpected entrance way a doorway lead through to the two storey apartment.

This character apartment which was formerly the monastery’s guest quarters, faced west over the wooded valley and was backed by cave rock.

It had been renovated with sympathetic hand-fired terracotta tiles and chestnut beams and openings cut into its metre thick walls.

It was most unusual having another two caves within the apartment too, they all showed workings that were probably thousands of years old. We never quite figured out where the one in the laundry lead to, we weren’t keen to explore.

Despite all this antiquity we had some well welcomed modern comforts. We even got to enjoy UK Sky TV and a good selection of English speaking DVDs – we had been deprived of this for some time now.

Caves in Casa Galilei.

Passageways outside Casa Galilei

The following day we explored, on foot, this “off-the-beaten-track” traditional town. We had coincidentally timed our stay to be at the same time as an historical festival. 

People were setting up re-enactment events right outside our door, centering at the Piazza del Popolo. It was wonderful to see, a traditional event but with very few tourists.

The boys purchased locally made swords which quickly got put into use. The evening was quite magical, all sorts of medieval re-enactments were performed, people of all ages were having fun.

Not too much was on our agenda during our stay in Capena, just a couple of nights to lose ourselves in tradition: local gelato and pizza, and the fortunes of a medieval festival.

Sword-fighting outside Casa Galilei