Orvieto and the History of the Italian Convents-Tiffany Rose

 Tiffany Rose

Study Away - Italy

January 14th, 2024


ORVIETO-




Whilst in the beautiful town of Orvieto, located on the top of a cliff (and an underground city) in the Italian countryside of the Umbria region, we were able to view some relations to our reading materials. The picture below, is the outside of the convent---turned---hostel that we were able to reside while in Orvieto. This picture also demonstrates the building structures of this type in Orvieto. With this building being located on the top of a cliff, along with the rest of the town, it could have been a cause for some of the isolation of nuns that we see in Convent Theatre In Early Modern Italy, by Elissa B. Weaver, when the Council of Trent severely displaced the convent culture. Weaver stated that "freedom of women to go and come from convents is typical of the years before and during the Council of Trent. If convent doors were not so open after Trent, they were hardly impenetrable, especially to female relatives of convent women and to members of important families" (Pg 30). 




It is also important to note how the roles of nuns compare to that of the past, to that of the present. Within our text it is described that "Most nuns had jobs to perform in the convent. Some held high offices"..."Others oversaw the workroom, the wardrobe, the infirmary", etc. (Pg 24). However, following the Council of Trent, the role of nuns began to shift (Pg 24). In modern times, we can see the lack of up and running traditional nunneries, as many have been shifted to be used as hostels, to further improve the Catholic Italian economic success. Within our specific hostel in Orvieto, there are nuns who were running the building and the needs of the visitors. Although, there was one particular painting within this hostel that represents the caretaking roles that the nuns have held in both the expectations of the Catholic faith and within the service of the community. 

This painting was displayed in the entrance of the residential part of the convent hostel that we stayed in. This painting shows a nun educating the younger generations. In our particular hostel, there was an attached school/daycare for local children, which was open and in service from the same entrance area to the residential part of the hostel/convent. This painting below, accurately shows the additional main role that has remained for the nuns of his region, into modern times---that being the education focused role.




We were also able to visit the local cathedral and we were able to visit some of the underground excavations and caves/cellars of the city below! 





So thankful to be able to spend a few days learning about the history of Orvieto and find hidden relations in our hostel to some of our class reading materials! :)

On to the next amazing place in our journey of Italy...



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Digital Scrapbook of My Time in Italy

Image
It's astonishing to think that our incredible adventure through Italy is over! We started in Venice and worked our way south through Orvieto, Fontecchio, the Amalfi Coast, Rome, and many places in between. Here, I will share some of my favorite pictures and memories from each location. Venice We started out in Venice where we took tours of various sites such as the locations of historical factories and the Venice arsenal. While in Venice we had a free day, and I went to the islands called Murano and Burano. Murano is known for its beautiful glass and also has a really nice glass museum.  the island of Burano ~ known for its colorful buildings a canal in Venice a sunset we saw while on the taxi boat on the way back from Burano a cat crossing a bridge in Burano   a gondola! Venice is full of tiny walkways and beautiful bridges and canals the group I went with to Burano Orvieto After Venice, we continued on to Orvieto. Orvieto is a small town perched high on a hill. This location...
Read more

Environmental Hazards in Italy

Image
      While in Italy, we discussed and visited a few locations that have had notable environmental hazards. The most prominent one, and one which most people who haven't ever even been to Italy, is the eruption at Pompeii. We took a trip to Pompeii and got a tour of the site and it was shocking to me how huge the site was. It seemed like it stretched on and on and would take hours and hours to explore the whole thing. It was so interesting seeing everything that was preserved at this site. So many things were excavated and are still being excavated to this day. It was very interesting in the article about the Pompeiian vineyards reading how they were able to make casts in the holes left by decayed organic material in order to learn about not just the people, but also the plants and animals in this area. For instance, they were able to make casts of the roots of trees to identify them and could even see the mathematical precision the romans used, planting vines exactly fou...
Read more

Looking Back on Italy- Emma Penick

Image
      After spending three weeks in Italy, I learned so much about the History and Present day culture. In terms of what I was expecting, there were some things that certainly were how I thought they'd be. For instance, the views. The beauty of Italy was just as incredible if not even more so than I was expecting, which given that that's what I was most excited for, was definitely a wonderful thing to experience! In my first post I also talked about the food, and while there were many tomato centric dishes, as expected, there were also a plethora of dishes I had never heard of that were absolutely amazing! My favorites of these were the pistachio pasta and the truffle pasta.      One thing that I was not expecting how BIG the portion sizes would be!  Though, by the end I did get used to having bread, then pasta, then a main course, then a dessert, somehow! Also the fact that there would be bread available at basically every meal, I never thought ...
Read more