Saturday, June 23, 2012 Assisi, Italy
"When I got to Assisi, Milan, Florence and Rome completely disappeared from my memory and all the rest besides, so captivated was I by the gentle landscape, so miraculously evangelical and Franciscan, by the delightful churches, by a wealth of happy memories and by that noble breed of men, the Umbrian peasants who are richly endowed in good looks, physical strength, a joyful disposition and gentleness.
Little had I dreamt that such a marvelous place existed. I would have stayed for the rest of my life -if only women were accepted - at the tiny monastery of the Carceri, an hour and fourteen minutes walk up the mountainside from Assisi. No more heavenly and tranquilizing sight exists than Umbria as seen from up there. St. Francis certainly knew how to choose the most ravishing spots in which to practice poverty: He was far from being an ascetic..." Simone Weil, 1936.
Excellent!
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