|
|
Alle porte di Vico, gli si pararono davanti le grandi abbazie che la circondano: l’Abbazia di Santo Stefano di Cintoia, quella delle monache di Sant’Andrea e di San Jacopo, sono solo alcune delle tante che si trovano, insieme ai numerosi eremi, sul Monte che tutti conoscevano in Europa come “Mons Eremiticus”.
|
|
|
In 1211, travelling from Pescia and having arrived close to Sesto lake, Saint Francis came across Castello di Vico, an extraordinarily beautiful village known as the “the Pisan jewel”. Trade passed through the town from the most distant countries of the Mediterranean and the richest cities in Italy. Arriving by boat on the Serezza, surrounding by vessels from Lucca piled high with goods and filled with crew, the Saint was able to see groups of pilgrims who, having stopped in Lucca to venerate the Holy Face, continued to Vico on their way to Rome, Jerusalem or Santiago. Just outside Vico, the great monasteries appeared before him: the monastery of Santo Stefano di Cintoia, the abbeys of Sant’Andrea and San Jacopo, just some of the many abbeys and retreats on the mountain that everyone in Europe referred to as “Mons Eremiticus”. For Saint Francis, this mountain was a perfect image of a new Thebaid: a huge spiritual community visited by pilgrim saints since ancient times, who trekked the Longobard road now called with his name … St. Francis’ Way.
|