Jane had requested that we drove no more than two and a half hours today and I agreed that a less taxing day would be nice. Fortunately, I had already spotted an agroturism site just off the motorway on our route and the sat nav told be that it would take 2 hours 35 minutes – ideal. We were more confident of the aire (Aia Antica at Padula) this time because, like Ai Cuivin, it is at a restaurant and the Italians (like the British) like to eat out on Sunday lunchtimes.
The weather was worse than yesterday with more rain and it was decidedly chilly. We arrived at 12:15, delayed slightly after having to take a slight diversion after the sat nav attempted to take us up a 1 in 2 hill – at least it looked like that and Henrietta's wheels started to spin! Sure enough, the restaurant was open, yes we could stay overnight and they had a table for us. By 12:30 we were sat down and were presented with vast volumes of food. A Lazy Susan held all sorts of antipasta, my favourite being chopped liver and onions in a lovely rich sauce, which went very well with the savoury doughnuts, well dough balls to be totally correct. After that came cheese lasagne and an unidentified type of pasta (there must be thousands of varieties) with a simple tomato sauce. The meat course came next – pork chops, roast chicken and a small piece of goat (?) on the bone, served with a green salad. A sweet of a very pleasant cake and coffee finished the meal that was, off course, washed down with oodles of red wine and water. All of that for €20 a head and a free night's stop!
I would like to say that we finished every course but, although we very nearly finished the antipasta, the pasta and the meat defeated us even though we made a valiant effort. We were now stuffed and Jane suggested a short stroll.
We wanted to find out why there were a number of coaches parked just up the road, so we walked the short distance to the car park and found an information board that showed that we were very close to one of the most important religious sites in Southern Italy. The Unesco protected Carthusian monastery of St. Lawrence is a very impressive building and is well worth a visit if you are passing. It is massive, has wonderful frescos and superb architecture. The guided tours were in Italian and were totally incomprehensible but they seemed to be happy for us to wander around at our own speed. Only the ground floor is open but that is fascinating with many chapels, cloisters, courtyards and monks cells. Particularly impressive was the monks kitchen and, it must be said that it appears that the monks must have had quite a pleasant life. The airy nature of the rooms and the many outdoor spaces in amongst the building would be ideal for the hot, dry climate of Southern Italy. Having said that, today it was damp and cold.
Within the monastery there is an archaeological museum and entrance to that is included in the €4 charge for the monastery. The museum was excellent, showing finds from ancient cemeteries in and close to Padula. The finds date mainly from 10th to the 6th centuries BC (before the Greeks settled here) but some date to the Greek and Roman periods up to 6th century AD. There are many very informative boards in English and we were given an excellent English museum guide book consisting of over 50 pages of information and superb pictures of the finds.
We spent two and a half hours in the monastery and museum – an excellent afternoon's entertainment and just what we needed to stop us falling asleep after all that food and wine! We returned to Henrietta, made a cup of tea, put the heating on and tried to get warm again. What has happened to the blazing heat of Southern Italy? Having said that, we can't complain. The restaurant had a television on all of the time we were in there, mainly showing the Italian X Factor and other game shows. However at one point there was the news, from which we were able to glean that there had been a minor (3.1) earthquake in Frosinone (we shopped at a supermarket there yesterday), snow was falling just north east of Rome, L'Aquila had suffered more aftershocks from its devastating earthquake and buildings had collapsed, and they were still cleaning up after the mudslides in Messina, Sicily. Rain and cold weather we can cope with, after all we are British and used to it!
Photos: About to start the antipasta in Aia Antica; A bride and groom relax during a gruelling photo session at the monastery of San Lorenzo; The choir stalls with exquisite marquetry; Jane inspects the monks kitchen; The main cloister of San Lorenzo; Aia Antica under lowering skies.
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