The Converted Monastery

In the morning, we went to the airport. The bus from La Lomita was there to pick everyone up -  those who were arriving that morning and those who had been in Rome already - and to take us to the school in Terni.

We headed north, leaving Rome. I silently wished that one day I would come back and to really get to know Rome.

We left the city and drove through the country.
There was music in the air.
The fields looked like patchwork quilts.
Olive trees aplenty.

La Romita School of Art sits high on top of a hill. The winding lane going up to the school was lined with olive trees. I learned later that they make their own olive oil. It was very good, because we had the chance of sampling it, almost everyday.
There were sheep grazing along the way. 
There were flowers blooming.

Then we were there, at the converted monastery.
Enza was there to welcome us.

I had one of the ten rooms in the main building. My Friend from Arizona was my roommate. My other friend, Bev, had a room upstairs.
Our room was just big enough for two narrow single beds, black wrought iron, with plain but very crisp and clean white linens. No frills. I strongly believed it was a former monk's cell. 
The bedding was definitely an improvement from years ago.
The room was very simply decorated (if you can say it was decorated at all).  I would not be surprised, if our narrow single beds were used by some of the monks at one time. There was a small night stand, a simple black chest of drawers and a little black desk with a small straight-backed chair. 
Thank goodness, they provided us with two little reading lamps.
A cross was hanging on the wall. No pictures. There was a small mirror, for our benefits, I was sure. 
No curtains, but shutters outside the windows. We kept the shutters closed at night so the bats would not come into the room.
There were two bathrooms on each of the two floors, they had been modernized around mid century.
Apart from the main building, there was a two story stone building, much like some garage apartment, Some of the students stayed there. That building was probably a new addition.
There was a separate charming one story building for dining, with a kitchen attached. A lady came to La Romita every day and cooked for us. She was an excellent cook. During the two weeks I was there, she never repeated any of her dishes, a new one everyday. And delicious every time!
For breakfast, we helped ourselves. There was the usually simple continental fares, tea, coffee, bread, butter, jam, cereal and fruits. 
It was the cook's time off. 

The chapel had been turned into a studio, but the original altar was still there. There was a beautiful fresco on the wall of Jesus, Mary, and saints. Some of the colors were still fairly bright. 
One small area next to the chapel had been turned into a kind of "common room" where we could sit and read; or make a cup of coffee or tea; or have some soft drinks from the little refrigerator. It was very charming and cozy. There was a small library of art books. There were a few things that we could purchase: La Romita cookbooks with menus of the food we were served everyday, local olive oils, a few handmade artworks . . .
Many of us spent a lot of our spare time in the "studio." Some of us would paint into the wee hours of night.

On one side of the studio, there was a large courtyard, paved with stone. On the other side, there was a formal garden. From there, you could see for miles into the valleys and the hills around. The view was awesome.

For the next two weeks, I was surrounded by good food, good company, and good learning opportunities. 

I even enjoyed the wine. There were carafes of them at lunch time as well as at dinners, white ones and red ones, locally made.
The wine was good.