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Abbey S. Mary Gruptis (Part III)

Beyond the church, we pause a moment to observe the gorge below, for then turn right and continue browsing. Here we find a narrow staircase leading to the upper floor of the monastery (which is practically insists the ground floor of the square tower) plus several small rooms built against the rock wall. A little further on, we come across a thin slab (15-20 cm at the midpoint), supported by a barrel vault, covering those that appear the remains of a staircase leading down, at right angles with respect to the church. Obviously, we are immediately attracted by the prospect of off in some basement, and we are now satisfied by a small opening in the wall on the right, where you can see a completely dark room. The euphoria is the star, and we immediately fall into that dirazione (uttering the now famous "... ppiisc ppiisc ...", to alert any wildlife of our presence! ). I light the torch that had prudently led is lit (poorly, I would say!) The walls: in our eyes is revealed a rectangular room, seemingly carved into the rock, about 3x5 meters, covered by a barrel vault. At the center of the ceiling we see a bat, indifferent, continues to rest. The floor is completely covered with earth and leaves, and it seems to walk on a mattress. Despite the torch, the darkness is impenetrable, so snap a few pictures with flash, with the hope that the camera manages to focus on something, and simultaneously use the flash to try to capture some details. The only thing I can see is that the right wall is closed, while the left has a kind of split at the base, but I can not see anything. Looking at the photos at home, not only to discover that the camera was able to put in sharp focus the environment, but I also see that the left side of the room was inhabited by a host of friendly animals such as giant spiders (who turned out to be rather dolicopode), scorpions and whatnot. In addition, the crack that I had glimpsed through the flash seems to be a step, however, covered the ground caved presumably from (Photo 8).

Photo 8. The interior of the cellar, lit by the flash of the camera (the dolicopode are clearly visible on the left wall).

back to the surface, we continue to walk along the cliff to our right, arrive at what are the real caves (photo 9), namely, some of karst cavities enclosed by walls and transformed it into small rooms. Here too we find a pipistello hanging from the ceiling, but this is livelier than before, and it decides to take off just as the step below. The last room is the largest (visually connected with another environment, higher by about 3 meters), while before that meet two or three small rooms very small: one of them, in fact, its interior is dominated by a huge block of stone obliquely, which creates a triangular space difficult to exploit, perhaps 2 feet wide and deep even less.

Photo 9. The gro tte karst.

After visiting these rooms, we are forced to turn back, as the rock wall that closes this area is too steep to climb or get around. So back near the small staircase that leads upstairs but, despite being formally in (I think the only scale of the monastery to have remained intact for almost the entire height) decides to jump over a wall and go up as the middle floor, where there are many ruins of environments now unrecognizable and completely overgrown by trees and shrubs (photo 10). Here we find a narrow corridor that seems to lead down, but our hope is soon for new underground rooms cut short when, ritch few meters and turned a corner on the left, I discovered that ends in a sort of window looking out over the caves as a guideline, having previously .

Photo 10. The remains completely overgrown.

On completion of the observation area, drive along a stretch of the upper walls, and then getting in some circles of connection, among which a large-scale square (unfortunately completely collapsed) (photo 11), which is accessed by a short corridor, out from which we find ourselves in a small cloister (or so it seemed) that borders on the ground floor of the big tower. As we look out for any openings (one of which gives the main entrance of the abbey), we hear a faint but constant hum in the background. We raise our eyes and see a continuous movement of bees coming and going from a point on the wall that we can not see. I do not mind that much, now that we're almost getting used to their constant presence (And I mean constantly say that did not pass a moment that is not there a buzz around, never seen such a concentration). Going into the tower, we immediately notice the absence of the central part of the ceiling, bringing the center of the room and see that all the floors are missing inside the center, in an almost perfectly circular. This allows us to directly observe the roof of the tower, made of concentric circles of stones bound with mortar (Photo 12). Leaving the side opposite where we entered, we find ourselves at the entrance of the path, that is just before the point where we decided not to go to not leave anything out. Turned the corner, there is a low window that leads to the first floor of the tower. We climb quite easily, and went sliding on the walls (given the large central hole) are in a corner of a small staircase that leads upstairs chiocchiola. It does not remain that the few initial steps (carved in stone and projecting) and the tracks on the cylindrical wall, which is clearly seen that the spiral path, I come up to the roof. On either side of the corner opposite, there are two huge windows that overlook a sull'imbocco of the path and the other at the main. While we are going to get from where we went, we realize that what we thought a window is actually a fire, whose outer wall has collapsed, leaving an opening in the wall is very similar to the others: we see it, above it, a large rectangular chimney that rises, tapering to the roof. The last look before going down is for the upper floor of which you can see some traces of the floor (photo 13).

Photo 11. A staircase collapsed completely.

Photo 12. The roof slab, as seen through the two floors collapsed.

Photo 13. The second floor of the tower.

I went down to ground level, we turn left towards the high walls that enclose the monastery to the north. Just beyond the edge of the tower, we hear again that faint buzz than before. We raise our eyes to the roof, and we finally find the cause of so high that the presence of hornets: clinging to the rocks, there is a really big nest, with a swarm of insects buzzing around him. We head quickly towards the end of the walls, and as we walk along the perimeter are witnessing a very striking visual effect: the light of the setting sun filtering through the dozens of holes in the wall and lights up the woods restrostante creating a sort of chess board perfectly regular (photo 14).

Photo 14. The dramatic lighting effect created by the setting sun.

reached the extreme edge, we can not go any further, since it is close to the precipice (as for the church here has been exploited all the available space), so we decide to head towards the nearby ridge, 10-15 yards high. From there, the view is spectacular: you can see a long stretch of the river and the Heat of the Matese massif, which closes the scenes in the background.

Photo 15. The beautiful landscape visible from the top.

back down the hillside to munch on something before you walk towards the path of return. Reviewing for the last time beside the abbey, and then see then gradually disappear among the trees that the trail goes.

M.