the museums - l'immacolata

The chapel of L'Immacolata in Agosto was a great find. I'd look down on the chapel from the heights of Corte and San Leonardo and always wanted to figure out how to get to it. I may have been born there, but that was 50 year ago and even though I can navigate the medieval streets, I don't have a sense of where Agosto sits on the mountain. I headed down with the goal of finding the key to the chapel and then winding my way there. (The keys to the chapels-in-the-woods are entrusted to someone in the neighborhood.) I'm not shy about asking strangers for information as to who has the key. And when I get to the guardian's house, she (and it's always a she) gives me a look of distrust, but in small bursts I speak Italian like a native and I can be charming, so I always get the key.

The chapel is beautiful and has the largest number of frescos. I found out that before the statues were brought in, many of the churches and chapels had only frescos. This explains the disparities between the modern statuary and the weathered frescos. My mother talks about when the statues were brought in and how that was a great event for the parish. It was generational - the statues belonged to my mother's age group, the frescos to my grand-mother's and great-grand-mothers generation. The first and last image - the metal steps and the red sign - are there as memories. (The thumbnail points to the large image.)