Speaker 1: Welcome. This is Marcia for RADIOI and today I will
Speaker 1: be reading National Geographic Magazine dated January twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for
Speaker 1: people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
Speaker 1: it difficult to read printed material. Please join me now
Speaker 1: for the first article titled Tea by Justin Jin. Into
Speaker 1: the forests of the world's finest hi on China's jing
Speaker 1: Mai Mountain, indigenous tea growers are holding fast to ancient techniques,
Speaker 1: defying modern farming and producing a premium tea that has
Speaker 1: never been more popular. In a high elevation forest on
Speaker 1: jing Mai Mountain, dawn grope over a green peak bathing
Speaker 1: an ancient tea tree in warm light. A four foot
Speaker 1: wide trunk, along with enormous branches stretching up into a
Speaker 1: canopy of leaves, gave it an imposing bearing, nothing like
Speaker 1: the smaller tea shrubs often packed into tight rows on
Speaker 1: commercial farms throughout China. But this tree, deep within the
Speaker 1: southwestern Yunnan province was different, and it served a different
Speaker 1: purpose altogether. A married couple named Irong forty one and
Speaker 1: kat Lafang thirty six had gathered with their elderly parents
Speaker 1: in front of the tree, chanting a prayer in the
Speaker 1: Blong people's language spoken by the indigenous community throughout this
Speaker 1: region where five tea for us, collectively the oldest and
Speaker 1: largest on the planet, are cultivated. To the untrained eye,
Speaker 1: the tree might have been merely part of a forest,
Speaker 1: but for the family, it was the heart of a
Speaker 1: live shrine. They prayed to their tea spirit tree, asking
Speaker 1: an ancestor named ha ay Ling, now considered a deity,
Speaker 1: to deliver a strong harvest as one thousand years old,
Speaker 1: eyes said, proudly, pointing to the tree's large trunk. In
Speaker 1: recent years, however, his faith has seemed to be continually tested.
Speaker 1: At a time when the region's hily specialized tea has
Speaker 1: gained widespread attention, commanding impressive prices, there are ever more
Speaker 1: unpredictable natural forces to contend with. Tea is the world's
Speaker 1: most popular beverage after water. Globally, people drink an estimated
Speaker 1: forty five billion gallons of it each year in a
Speaker 1: wide range of styles, from green to black and ulong.
Speaker 1: While these varieties exist because of different processing techniques, they
Speaker 1: all originate from the same fundamentally ingredient. Amelia senensis, the
Speaker 1: species of flowering evergreen, has traveled the world, most notably
Speaker 1: when the colonial British brought it to India in the
Speaker 1: early nineteenth century, breaking China's monopoly. Today, however, one specific
Speaker 1: style remains imastricably tied to Jimai Mountain for more than
Speaker 1: a millennium. The Blong people, along with other indigenous group
Speaker 1: called the Dye, are believed to have continuously maintained these
Speaker 1: ancient groves of Familio senensis variation assimaca, a subtite that
Speaker 1: produces black tea, including the mountains dark rich huer chee.
Speaker 1: The coveted blend has been referred to as a drinkable
Speaker 1: gold among some tea connoisseurs, in part because many producers
Speaker 1: ferment it for immediate minimum of ten years, which creates
Speaker 1: a deeper flavor and increases its work among China's growing
Speaker 1: affluent class. The nutty, earthy, and slightly bitterer contraction has
Speaker 1: been compared to fine wine. It softens and becomes more
Speaker 1: complex and collectible with age. I and his family own
Speaker 1: a plot of about four thousand trees, but had spent
Speaker 1: years struggling to earn a profit than In twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: they decided to partner with a premium brand that sells
Speaker 1: high end wheer. They now run a farming collective that
Speaker 1: employs workers throughout the area to how processed tea from
Speaker 1: thirty seven different households, yielding about once on the product annually.
Speaker 1: The blair is pressed into circulent cakes in age than
Speaker 1: packaged and sold from three hundred thirty dollars per twelve
Speaker 1: point six ounce cas k. Within GMAI, the average income
Speaker 1: is significant and higher than it was two decades ago.
Speaker 1: For I and K, such gains and their untrempreneurial success
Speaker 1: have led to a combined income of around forty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year, more than the average household in the
Speaker 1: nearby city of Humm. Two years ago, UNESCO formally recognized
Speaker 1: Jimi Mountain as a World Heritage Site and honor reserved
Speaker 1: for places that provide unique cultural value. It is the
Speaker 1: only site related to heap tea cultivation. Perhaps not coincidentally,
Speaker 1: the price of tea from Jai has roughly doubled since
Speaker 1: the idea of a certification was introduced more than a
Speaker 1: decade ago. The region's six thousand residents used natural practices
Speaker 1: to manage thirty nine hundred acres with over a million trees,
Speaker 1: but their model of sustainability is facing new stresses from
Speaker 1: climate chair. In spring of twenty twenty four, the region
Speaker 1: was coping with its most severe drought in sixty years,
Speaker 1: and an unusually warm winter had brought an unexpected worm
Speaker 1: vestination to the peak that IS's family was preying on,
Speaker 1: threatening the precious tea leaves just before harvest. The Blonde
Speaker 1: People's tea spirit is based on a real person. Around
Speaker 1: the tenth century, according to oral history, Pa eye Land
Speaker 1: led his people to settle in Jingmai, where he discovered
Speaker 1: the medicinal purpose properties of wild tea plants and began
Speaker 1: to domestigate them. Near the end of his life, Paw
Speaker 1: imparted wisdom that still recounted by farmers like I and K.
Speaker 1: I can give you cattle, but they might dive diseases.
Speaker 1: Pa is remembered to have said, I can give you gold,
Speaker 1: but you might squander it. So I am giving going
Speaker 1: to give you tea trees, which can provide riches for generations.
Speaker 1: King MAI's closely managed lands may appear untamed in contrast
Speaker 1: to terraced Moto culture tea plantations seen throughout the world.
Speaker 1: If the canopy of trees provides shelter for tea plants
Speaker 1: that grow best in shade, a vibrant thunderstory of ferns
Speaker 1: and her herbs carpets the forest floor, fostering a rich
Speaker 1: cavitat for fawnat while helping the soil retained vital moisture.
Speaker 1: The tea plant sanctuaries are also divided into distinct pockets,
Speaker 1: strategically petitioned by forests that separates one plot from another
Speaker 1: to stop the spread of diseases and pests. The Blonde
Speaker 1: people believe that everything has a soul or reminder to
Speaker 1: leave nature undisturbed, so intending to forests, they avoid pesticized
Speaker 1: and herbicides, as well as aggressive practices such as pruning
Speaker 1: hay cut's grass between the trees only twice a year
Speaker 1: and with a knife. New research shows the ag rill
Speaker 1: forestry techniques baptised in Gimi continue to be effective. A
Speaker 1: recent study by Minzu University of China found that tea
Speaker 1: produced from the Moulin's high altitude trees was less bitter
Speaker 1: than tea cultivated fo trees at lower altitude and the
Speaker 1: sustainable farming methods support the significantly higher biodiversity than commercial
Speaker 1: tea gardens. Jing Mai tea's current price is about six
Speaker 1: point five times higher than the typical plantations. Despite his
Speaker 1: families owning thousands of venerable tea trees, I lived in
Speaker 1: poverty during his childhood because demand for their product was
Speaker 1: non existent during the second half of the twentieth century.
Speaker 1: China's focus on mass production from high yield, large terrace
Speaker 1: plantations left little room for the old trees labor intensive harvests.
Speaker 1: While growers across other Yunan tea mountains raised their ancient
Speaker 1: roads to plant younger, more productive trees, the people of
Speaker 1: Jingai remained steadfast in protecting their arboreal treasure. Their commitment
Speaker 1: was reinforced by practical constraints. Without modern roads, their old
Speaker 1: trees were ill suited for mass production. The indigenous communities
Speaker 1: preserved with persevered with their seemingly unkempt forests. Jingi's fortunes
Speaker 1: chain changed around two thousand, when the Chinese government invested
Speaker 1: in new roads and electricity for rural areas. Slowly, new
Speaker 1: tea buyers began to arrive at the mountain. Even as
Speaker 1: increased access led to more challenges. Some villagers destroyed parts
Speaker 1: of the forest to harvest timber for new construction. Others
Speaker 1: applied harborful chemicals to their trees and prude aggressively to
Speaker 1: boosed profits. By two thousand three, Sioux Huawen, a retired
Speaker 1: primary school teacher who claims to be a descendant of
Speaker 1: Pa Eyelang, felt the need to act. At community meetings,
Speaker 1: he invoked paused purported instruction to protect the forests like
Speaker 1: your own eyes, arguing that the continued preservation of ancient
Speaker 1: practices and traditions would bring rowers long term benefits, even
Speaker 1: if they had to sacrifice short term field Village cheap
Speaker 1: I Send also rallied the dying people to protect their
Speaker 1: crafted biospheres. Both pushed for bands on clear cutting and
Speaker 1: chemical use. Around twenty ten, that movement gained more speed
Speaker 1: when village elders joined forces with the Chinese government to
Speaker 1: petition for World Heritage status. As part of the government's push,
Speaker 1: authorities put a checkpoint on the single road leading off
Speaker 1: Jingli Mountain to stop people from bringing in non native
Speaker 1: plants and animal species, built a road using stones rather
Speaker 1: than asphalt, which might disrupt the aromas of the tea
Speaker 1: and formally restricted construction and deforestation in the area. Zuo Jing,
Speaker 1: a professor at Anhui University, joined the effort to help
Speaker 1: document the area's distinct cultural heritage. His government funded team
Speaker 1: also built echo funding modeled homes to demonstrate how some
Speaker 1: modern technologies vastly improved sanitation, feeding, and power while preserving
Speaker 1: the ancient architecture. Something community could be adopted. Juli loudly
Speaker 1: is like an old tea tree that has both a
Speaker 1: unique history and a powerful contemporary lifeboards that continues to grow,
Speaker 1: he says. Around the time of their family's prayer ceremony,
Speaker 1: I and he joined the spring harvest performed with age
Speaker 1: bloodles to his attention, numbers of the blong dyeing in
Speaker 1: other groups wore lightweight shoes and curing large baskets gently
Speaker 1: swung across their shoulders as they carefully moved through their
Speaker 1: rugged parcels, scanning the asia trees for the most tender
Speaker 1: shoots before carefully stecking over a different branches to hand
Speaker 1: with them. This ensured nothing would be crushed from the
Speaker 1: dried leaves, put unfurrow into a beautiful shape when climbing brood.
Speaker 1: Once their basket brimmed with fresh leaves, I and Kay
Speaker 1: returned home to start the intricate transformation process. They set
Speaker 1: out leaves to wither slightly while they prepared firewood, with
Speaker 1: a crucial steaming or killing green step which would stop decomposition.
Speaker 1: I tossed the leaves in a hot walk, arresting oxidation,
Speaker 1: and the room filled with a pleasant nity of roma.
Speaker 1: As the leaves cooled down, they began the delicate stepth
Speaker 1: of hand rolling, gently twisting each leaf to rupture its
Speaker 1: cells and release more flavor. After the leaves were carefully
Speaker 1: set out to dry, the tea was ready for pressing, packaging,
Speaker 1: and aging. This process yields meaningful air of tea that
Speaker 1: still requires about a decade or more of naturation to
Speaker 1: reach its peak. The twenty twenty four harvest was significantly
Speaker 1: impacted by the drought, even though it had been saved
Speaker 1: by some labor intensive techniques. When the pest infestation broke out,
Speaker 1: I pay and helpless others weren't tirelessly pleating worms from
Speaker 1: the most important trees by hand for weeks. The infestation
Speaker 1: did not spread to other parts of the agent. For
Speaker 1: us lending credence to the effectiveness of the partitions planted
Speaker 1: by the ancestors. In recent years, I may have renovated
Speaker 1: the ground floor of their wooden home to host tea
Speaker 1: ceremonies for potential buyers, or engraceful, unbroken ribbons of ware
Speaker 1: into porcelain cups. But their story is just one example
Speaker 1: of how the market where Juli tea continues to flourish. Today,
Speaker 1: ninety percent of the region's income pumps from tea. The
Speaker 1: Yegger generation even live streams tea tastings to a growing
Speaker 1: audience of digital devotees across China, and residents in the
Speaker 1: villages of when j and Nuanggong, cited by UNESCO as
Speaker 1: architectural gems, have turned their traditional wooden houses into charming shops.
Speaker 1: Some have built temperature and humidity controlled warehouses to store teacakes,
Speaker 1: a nod to their increasing value and a bet that
Speaker 1: in time they might evolve into valuable antiques. As may
Speaker 1: a rare tea cake from the province, estimated to be
Speaker 1: from nineteen seventeen fetched and astonishing four hundred forty eight
Speaker 1: thousand and fifty seven dollars at auction in Hong Kong Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: it seemed as if the dry spell would continue, so
Speaker 1: growers leaned into traditional beliefs to strengthen the resolve. Long
Speaker 1: village elders tried to read chicken bones studded with toothpicks
Speaker 1: and ancient in the Nation ritual for climactic guidness. Members
Speaker 1: of the dying community, which has different religious practices, implored
Speaker 1: a Buddha to intervene. The first downpourt finally began in May,
Speaker 1: saturating the soil beneath machine canopy. The rain swelled into
Speaker 1: a deluge as summer began, Gimi remained resilient, as if
Speaker 1: by some larger design where tea begins. Aside from water,
Speaker 1: tea is far and away the most popular drink in
Speaker 1: the world. Some estimates suggest we consume more than two
Speaker 1: billion puffs of it every day, but not all of
Speaker 1: what's labeled as tea is actually that beverage. True tea
Speaker 1: is derived from a single plant, Amelia senensis, which is
Speaker 1: grown in more than forty five countries and is processed
Speaker 1: to create six foundational varieties, each with its own flavor
Speaker 1: profile and characteristics. Blare green, yellow, white, boolong flap. When
Speaker 1: a tea is not a team around the world. A
Speaker 1: huge number of non traditional teas like cannonmill, mint and
Speaker 1: ribos collectively called to saints, are created by infusing plants
Speaker 1: such as herbs and roots. How tea works for the uninitiated.
Speaker 1: It can be easy to lump all caffeinated beverages together,
Speaker 1: but the differences between tea and coffee are massed. Both
Speaker 1: can increase alertness, but tea can also induce a sense
Speaker 1: of calm. Each of the six foundational styles of tea
Speaker 1: offers a different flavor in chemical characteristics that have been
Speaker 1: associated with potential health benefits. Promotes alertness, relaxation, and increased focus.
Speaker 1: The minimal processing of green tea, including lacha, helps retain hattachins,
Speaker 1: the most abundant compounds in fresh leaves, yielding a light
Speaker 1: colored infusion. The two palest and rarest of teas have
Speaker 1: a subtle flavor. Yellow tea requires intensive processing. White teas
Speaker 1: delicate young buds and beaves are hand pinned, enhancing taste
Speaker 1: and aroma. Powder water brings out caffeine and a stridency
Speaker 1: of ptychins. Longer steeping returns a more savory infusion from
Speaker 1: the higher extraction of lathionine. Kid ingredients. Tea can contain
Speaker 1: traces of iron, chluoride, vitamin C, as well as insect
Speaker 1: genetic material, all often originated from the plants growing environment.
Speaker 1: Moulon's golden to amber color and black teas red come
Speaker 1: from the conversion of compounds during a controlled oxidation process,
Speaker 1: which reduces l pianine levels. Rare is the only tea
Speaker 1: that's fermented. The ancient process helps it retain the thousand
Speaker 1: plus compounds that give it a deep color and mellow,
Speaker 1: berthy flavor. From one leaf six styles, A remarkable diversity
Speaker 1: of flavors and chemical properties can be poaxed from the
Speaker 1: single plant depending on how it is processed. In addition
Speaker 1: to the refining steps shown, flavor can be modified by
Speaker 1: using flowers, spices, or fruit to create variations like chai
Speaker 1: and earl. Gray gering leaves are spread out, losing moisture
Speaker 1: and becoming soft and leathery. Taste and aroma begin to
Speaker 1: change as proteins start breaking down de enzyming. Heating by
Speaker 1: pan roasting or steaming deactivates the enzymes responsible for decomposing
Speaker 1: the leaves. The natural process of oxidation is pulted oxidizing, degrading,
Speaker 1: cells By tumbling and crushing leaves increases surface contact with oxygen.
Speaker 1: The controlled reaction alters the flavor and turns breath into
Speaker 1: darker shades smothering. In this processing step unique to yellow tea,
Speaker 1: the warm and damp leaves are covered lately, causing green
Speaker 1: leaves to turn yellow and taste sweeter. Shaping machines that kneed,
Speaker 1: twist or roll leaves turn them from lenkled strips into twisted, curly, spherical,
Speaker 1: or flat shapes. Shaping is also done by hand drying.
Speaker 1: This step aims to reduce water contact until no more
Speaker 1: than a fraction of the total weight remains hydrated, which
Speaker 1: improves transportation and shelf life. Fermenting controlled fermentation by naturally
Speaker 1: occurring or introduced fungi takes place while leaves piled or
Speaker 1: pressed into bricks are left to age, sometimes for decades.
Speaker 1: A living shrine to tea. For over a thousand years,
Speaker 1: tea pulpivation has been central to life in the nine
Speaker 1: villages surrounding Juni Mountain. Today, the region and its tea
Speaker 1: are more globally renowned than ever, thanks in part to
Speaker 1: the area's designation in twenty twenty three as a World
Speaker 1: heritage site ancient tree forests, Tea trees are allowed to
Speaker 1: grow to their full height, sharing space with shade given
Speaker 1: taller species. The protective forest ecosystem provides natural fertilizer and
Speaker 1: past control partition areas. These divisions, implemented centuries ago, isolate
Speaker 1: the tea forests from each other, so that disease and
Speaker 1: pests that affect one tea area are not easily transferred
Speaker 1: between the cultidated groves. Modern plantations in the nineteen eighties,
Speaker 1: tea plantations on open terraced landscapes to introduced to increase
Speaker 1: the economic output of the region. Some now embrace elements
Speaker 1: of traditional practices. Next, how historic monasteries became modern destinations
Speaker 1: by Julia Buckley. Across the Italian countryside, once sacred religious
Speaker 1: spots are offering tranquility to a new generation of travelers.
Speaker 1: David Archieks first set eyes on the Italian sanctuary of
Speaker 1: Laverna on a school trip in nineteen ninety four. Raised
Speaker 1: in Croatia to an Italian Croatian family, Faracci was just
Speaker 1: fourteen years old at the time that it was there.
Speaker 1: At this friary nestled in the mountains of Tuscany and
Speaker 1: his life changed forever. It filled my heart and says,
Speaker 1: the scent of the wood inside is always stayed with me.
Speaker 1: God spoke to me. Racchi felt a calling inspired by Laverna.
Speaker 1: He took Thousan as a Franciscan friar and spent a
Speaker 1: year in training at the sanctuary. In two thousand one,
Speaker 1: after two decades of postings to friaries around Tuscany and
Speaker 1: a year in Jerusalem, he returned to the mountains Brother David,
Speaker 1: a Franciscan friar and vicar of Laverna, founded by early
Speaker 1: followers of Saint Francis in twelve sixty. The sanctuary is
Speaker 1: one of hundreds of monasteries and friaries in Italy open
Speaker 1: to the public. These monasteries are up in part of
Speaker 1: the Chenobitic tradition, based on the concept of life in common.
Speaker 1: But as these ancient Christian communities work to stay relevant
Speaker 1: in the modern world, their traditions are also evolving. The
Speaker 1: buildings and sights overseen by those like paraccik are now
Speaker 1: destinations themselves, welcoming travelers of all religious backgrounds seeking the
Speaker 1: serenity of Italy's countryside and mountains away from the bustling
Speaker 1: urban tourist hubs promised. Fifteen centuries, monasteries, briaries and sanctuaries
Speaker 1: have welcomed visitors to worship, eats, stay the night, or
Speaker 1: simply enjoy the views. The practice dates back to the
Speaker 1: medieval period, when Italy was the home of countless permits
Speaker 1: and groups of monachi, monks and frati brothers or friars
Speaker 1: who sought God through community. Medieval monasteries regularly hosted overnight guests,
Speaker 1: providing a safe place to stay for all. Saint Benedict
Speaker 1: said to welcome guests as Christ himself, says Don Maurizio Villeria,
Speaker 1: Priory of the Sanctuary of the Sie pro Speco Foley Cave,
Speaker 1: a monastery grafted into the rock face in the central
Speaker 1: mountains of Blazio, where the saint lived as a hermit
Speaker 1: in the early sixth century. Saint Benedict's directive rivera ads
Speaker 1: applies to everyone, including people who come to the monastery
Speaker 1: solely for the beauty. He said that a hello is enough.
Speaker 1: You have to give them everything you can. That became
Speaker 1: the cardinal point of the Benedictine Order. Visitors looking for contemplation, art,
Speaker 1: and food in dry pipe and in the case of Laverna,
Speaker 1: even snowshoe toward an encountering with modern spirituality. Found in
Speaker 1: Tuscanese National Park of the Cascentinasi Forests, Mount Balzorona and Campina,
Speaker 1: Laverna welcomes around six hundred thousand visitors each year. The
Speaker 1: rogic estimates and is indelibly linked to Saint Francis, who
Speaker 1: was gifted this mountain as a place of retreat by
Speaker 1: a noble in twelve thirteen. The saint would come to
Speaker 1: the area to run the mountain, meditating in caves and
Speaker 1: on rocks. It is where in twelve twenty four he
Speaker 1: is said to have received the stigmata, the wounds of
Speaker 1: Christ's crucifixion, marked on his hands, feet, and sighed the
Speaker 1: centuries rolled back on the seven minute stroll from the
Speaker 1: parking area, as rippling mountains furred with a thick canopy
Speaker 1: of silver purrs and huges listened in goal of each fall.
Speaker 1: By the time visitors reached the monastery, which clings to
Speaker 1: the cliff side the abyss falling beneath it, it's as
Speaker 1: if they have arrived in the thirteenth century, when Francis's
Speaker 1: followers started construction after his death. Descending the cliff down
Speaker 1: eighty nine precipitous steps, visitors will reach a liminal space
Speaker 1: of moss slick boulders, among the same that Francis commune
Speaker 1: with in the twelve twenties. He is said to have
Speaker 1: preferred one rock cleaved down the middle and echo of
Speaker 1: the heavens rending when Christ died on the cross, to
Speaker 1: prayon for gratchik Bysiia not the monastery above is Lavere
Speaker 1: knows true sanctuary. Many common in search of something spiritual.
Speaker 1: In a generic sense, there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: looking for something who says at Laverna, says Garaci. Our
Speaker 1: mission is moving from the church to the guest house.
Speaker 1: Once the monastery gates close for the evening, amid the
Speaker 1: boots of owls and the songs of birds beloved by
Speaker 1: Saint Francis. Overnight guests can connect from your own version
Speaker 1: of the divine. The Cassentinaisy forests are often dubbed the
Speaker 1: Sacred Forests because of their centuries long monastic presence. Not
Speaker 1: all Italian monasteries allow overnighting. Not all have monks or
Speaker 1: friars either. The Sapraa. The san Kile floats above the clouds,
Speaker 1: and the piedmont alps, an airing over the Sussa Valley
Speaker 1: thirty one hundred and fifty feet below. Its sinuous battlements
Speaker 1: melt into the mountain as if wrapping their landscape in
Speaker 1: and a grace, an architectural symbol that echoes ancient depictions
Speaker 1: of the Madonna of Mercy sweeping her cloak around the face.
Speaker 1: The monastery was dissolved in sixteen twenty two, but priests
Speaker 1: from the Rasmiu Rasminian order moved back in the nineteenth
Speaker 1: century to relight the spiritual spark, says Elisa Ralberino, a
Speaker 1: guide at the site. Today's pilgrims are joined by travelers
Speaker 1: intrigued by the spectacular location and hikers who slog up
Speaker 1: from the Dalia Medieval for beast, as Don Lorizio says,
Speaker 1: Benedictine monasteries are perhaps the most experienced at welcoming outsiders.
Speaker 1: Each must have a foresteria pest house, but there are
Speaker 1: some modern interpretations. At the abbey of Monte Oliveto Majoaree,
Speaker 1: in the famous dimpled hill south of Siena, guests can
Speaker 1: seep in converted barnings of the organic farm. Our order's
Speaker 1: motto is ora et labora pray and work, says dom
Speaker 1: Andrea Sanchos. We've produced wine, oil and everything else uninterrupted
Speaker 1: for seven hundred years. The monastery is also famous for
Speaker 1: its art, a cloister as frescoed with scenes from the
Speaker 1: life of Saint Benedict by Renaissance masters Luca Singorani and Ilsidoma,
Speaker 1: as well as the Gregorian chant sung throughout the day
Speaker 1: the for summer. I came here. I was astonished by
Speaker 1: the beauty, the richness of the art in the presence
Speaker 1: of these men who lived in this very particular style,
Speaker 1: says father Andrea. There are more than a thousand years
Speaker 1: of history in their rituals. That sense of spectacle and
Speaker 1: serenity initially overwhelmed MICHAELI Usillo, a tour guide who arrived
Speaker 1: at Monte Alivetto Lajade as an art history student. A
Speaker 1: lapsed Catholic, Ussilo nonetheless found a special energy on the grounds.
Speaker 1: For the first time. Sodoma's paintings worked a futurana page.
Speaker 1: I saw every things surrounded by the landscape in which
Speaker 1: he painted them, he says. He passed through a wood cypresses,
Speaker 1: and when you emerge your soul's spirit, whatever you believe
Speaker 1: in becomes more than last. You can have a kind
Speaker 1: of reconciliation with your soul. While monasteries across Europe faced
Speaker 1: a diminishing number of recruits, together in the sanctuaries form
Speaker 1: an Italy wide network of places of reflection and portals
Speaker 1: to the past. And whether it's the art of Monte
Speaker 1: Olivetto Majorree or the unspoiled forests of Saint Francis, they
Speaker 1: offer a quieter, more spiritual experience than most visitors will
Speaker 1: find in Italy's great city churches and cathedrals. For thous
Speaker 1: seeking a religious experience, head to the abbey of Monte
Speaker 1: Olivetto Majorree, an hour and a half drive south of Florence.
Speaker 1: At morning Mass held at seven thirty a m. And
Speaker 1: at evening vespers at six thirty pm, President monks partake
Speaker 1: in an enrapturing nebroi chant. If an evening of meditative
Speaker 1: reflection is needed, book and overnight study of laver and
Speaker 1: the sanctuary and under the grounds set within the Pasantinesi forests.
Speaker 1: It is in an sam woods in Saint Francis, commune
Speaker 1: with nature and found in the small church of Santa
Speaker 1: Maria dan On Daily eight centuries ago. Should you need
Speaker 1: your spirituality with a sight of stunning views and a
Speaker 1: Joseph literary and cinematic history, look no further than the
Speaker 1: Sacra designatae powering over the Susa Valley. The abbey was
Speaker 1: the inspiration for Umberto Eco's nineteen eighty classic novel The
Speaker 1: Name of the Rose and the ensuing film adaptation starring
Speaker 1: Sean Connery. At the hermitage of San To Maria Infra Sasa,
Speaker 1: a nearly one hundred ninety seven year old octagonal chapel,
Speaker 1: the Temple of Valadier was built into a clip side
Speaker 1: paved in the Marsh region. This concludes readings from National
Speaker 1: Geographic Magazine for today. Your reader has been Marsha. If
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed hearing this content, please give us a call
Speaker 1: at eight five nine forty two six three nine zero.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, and have a great day.