Ancona, Italy

 Ancona, Italy                                                                                          Friday. April 22, 2022

               Happy Earth Day!

               Yesterday, we were in Croatia.  During the evening and overnight, we sailed NW across the Adriatic Sea to Ancona (ahn COH nah), Italy, mooring at about 8:00 am.  Our small tour bus was pulling out of the port ay 8:26 with about 15 fellow guests who, I’m pretty sure, had never been here before.  But we weren’t in the bus to see the port city in Italy; instead, we were driving about 10 km up into the hills and past bright green fields (wheat?) and small vineyards to reach an historical city named Osimo (Oh SEE moh).  This city looked like many others we’ve seen in the Mediterranean region:  white concrete homes snuggled into valleys and rising up in horizontal levels up the hillsides and sitting stately upon.   What surprised us was finding another entirely walled 15^th Century city in the middle of Osimo.  Picture a very large left footprint going east-to-west for 1 km. This is where we started, but there was another surprise:  there is an underground city.  Yup.  Underneath this city are about 5-6 levels of cave-like structures that are much more refined than calling them caves.  Intersected to each other, this underground city dates back to more than a hundred years Before Christ as does the ancient city above.  It’s helpful to know that the highest point above ground is about 265 m which leaves lots of space for the city layers underneath.

The way they used to get in and out. They use steps now.

               We had two different guides today—one for the bus and the tour above ground and one for the city underneath.  Both had difficult Italian accents so notetaking was a bit challenging, so I’ll be using some outside sources to fill in some blanks.

Cross image carved in wall

               Walking underground was a blast although the paths were rough. It was designed for protection of the city above and of the underground city, and the tight spaces with limited ventilation kept the candles and torches to a minimum back then.  People who used the area developed their own system for walking in the really, really dark spaces.  If you run your hand along the ceiling (not a large reach) you will find indentations at certain key intersections.  These indentations were about an inch deep, about 3 inches or so wide, and would have inner rectangles that were elongated on the end that would point you in the direction you should be going.  Even during WWII, there were regiments stationed there along with piles upon piles of munitions, and the safeguards worked splendidly then, also.

               Also on some of the walls, in order to signal that the church was directly above, your fingertips could scan an entire wall and find reliefs of a cross with lots of symbols, an almost life-size depiction of St. Francis, and a carved heart within a heart, symbolic of Mary’s heart and Jesus’.  Because it was a museum-type of tour, it was painstakingly slow.  Also the navigation was difficult, so by the time we reached the surface, we were ready for more movement.

Seems that headless statues were all the rage.

Luckily, the predicted thunderstorms hadn’t produced and we were greeted with sun shining through the partly cloudy skies.  Wooohooooo! Now our bus guide took over and began showing us the above-ground old city and the sights that had been indicated below.  We walked to a Romanesque Cathedral with evidences from the 11-15^th Centuries, saw the catacombs on the lower level, found a ginormous bronze baptismal font seated upon 4 bulls that looked more like a brazier than something used for water.  Heard lots of stories of traditional religious thought and symbology…and half of our group took off on their own to explore cuz their brains were full.  Jerry and I stayed with the other half who were turned loose for 40 minutes to roam and perhaps to wander into some of the shops that were open until the bus came to pick us up.   Jerry and I walked along the overlook for a while, coming upon an escalator that took folk down to the next level.  The levels underground certainly echoed the levels above.

Human bones displayed where they were found by putting glass covers over them on the sidewalks. 

Relief outside Romanesque cathedral from the 10th century

               The rain started when the bus came and continued through the afternoon, but we were triumphant that we toured in the dry times.  It wasn’t quite as cold as predicted, so our layers upon layers of clothes were tied around waists or looped over arms.          

               Back to the pier by about 1:10, but new development:  port security made our bus wait for 15 minutes before a security guard finally came aboard, asked to see our ship room cards, and then passed us through.  Hmmm. A power play or just an example of job security?

               Back in time for a nap and a chance to send these blogs and photos to you.