Images from our trip to Farfa October 2005

We made our first trip to Italy in October 2005 to study yoga with Diane Long in the Abbazia di Farfa. We flew from our local airport to Pisa and took a day at the beginning of our trip to do some sightseeing. Unfortunately it poured with rain!

From Pisa we drove south to Farfa which is about 1 hour north of Rome. At the Abbazia we stayed in the guesthouse run by the Sisters of St. Brigida and, along with 6 or 7 others, did yoga with Diane in the Sisters’ library every morning.

The major part of the Abbazia is a Benedictine Monastery. It featured in Jamie Oliver’s Great Escape TV series.

The picturesque village of Farfa nestles alongside the Abbazia. It gets busy at the weekend with visitors from Rome. Nearby is the hilltop town of Toffia.

One day Diane took us to see the ancient San Donato near Castelnuovo di Farfa. The ruined church of San Donato had been the subject of a major archaeological investigation. After the excavation some of the walls were rebuilt and a glass roof  and walls erected to make a weatherproof structure.

Our visit to Farfa coincided with the start of the olive harvest and one day we spotted the Sisters collecting olives in their garden.

Before our flight home there was just time to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the sun!

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