Good Friday: Castiglion Fiorentino - 2.4.2010

Walking up the main corso was an unexpected workout. This town has many more hills than Orvieto. The buildings lining the hefty sized stone paving are made of plaster. The majority of the streets we passed through on were narrow and in general pedestrian. Laura and Alli live with Heidi in a small room with a bunk bed and an RV bathroom. St. Chiara is definitely an older building with signs of various adaptations made for the different uses of this building over time. Originally it was a Convent with a church attached. After WWII it became a orphanage. Then after sitting vacant for years it became what it is today a study center for Kansas State, TX A&M, UTSA, Colorado State, Arizona, U of H and few a other universities. On the lower floor is where the studios, lounge, bar and dinning hall are located. Ou dinner was served family style. Three courses; spaghetti, veggies, meat skewers, and for dessert we had ice cream sandwiches for one guys birthday. At about 21:30a procession for Good Friday began at the church next door to the study center called Collegiata. The small church next to it, Il Jesu, was open to the public which only happens once a year. The inside was elaborate and colorfully decorated. The procession consisted of three brotherhoods each wearing outfits similar to the KKK in their color; black, blue or white. A unique element of these brotherhoods was they are made up of men, women and children. Each group carried a cross and a statue of the crucified Jesus. Behind those groups were two ladies holding a cloth with Jesus’s face on it, symbolizing the cloth used to wipe the sweat from his face. They were followed by a group of women carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary with a band in red uniforms marching and playing in between the prayers spoken out loud and speakers as a group. At the end were the local people and visitors participating in the procession. We stood off to the side taking pictures and absorbing as much of this experience as possible. The procession lasted for a couple of hours. One thing about it that seemed to impress the people I was around, mostly non Catholics was that one of the brotherhoods had the men carrying the cross barefoot. It ended in the large church where it started. Then it was time to socialize. Regiro’s was a bar St Chiara students enjoyed going to because it is more like a restaurant that serves food the whole night. Then they stay open until 2a.m. but don’t kick people out until about 3 a.m. There I got a Ballini, which tasted like Summer Brew, while playing Seven Up & Seven Down and Mau. The place was full of people; local Italians and students. Each bay/room had different themes. The one we stayed in the most had an Indian theme. The bar owner loves salsa music so towards the end of the night one of the guys from A&M plugged in his iPod and played some. I started dancing at the table then could not help myself I got up and started dancing with my friends who wanted to learn. The dance floor was less than perfect, uneven brick floor in the middle of the room taking up the entire circulation path. I was a blast, probably the best evening I have had since arriving in Italy. We stayed until after 3 in the morning dancing to Salsa and merengue. Grazie mille or should I say muchas gracias.