The villages of Umbria are so beautiful, and as you travel from one to another you will see uniqueness in style and form of each village. Cita di la Pieve is red brick, Todi is grey stone and my beloved Piegaro is a casino, not the kind you gamble in, but in Italian casino is mess. The village is a most beautiful mess of stucco, various bricks of various colors and even a mish-mash of modern thrown into the old part of town. This is not as evident in other villages I have seen, but make this town very cozy to me.
On any given day you will see a stone mason working on a building, fixing steps, correcting drainage, or even putting in a new roof. Yes, masons on the roof, not only do you have tile roofing, but most attic floors are cement, and the supporting structure must be strong, so also masonry. I was surprised the first time I walked into our attic here and noticed the cement floor and ours is a newer apartment.
The buildings here in Piegaro are built to last, but more than that, when there are problems, or simply adjustments to be made in architecture, rather than tearing out a wall, it is simply modified with suitable material, whether it matches or not. Then of course you have the reality that world war II hit this town hard, with the city hall being blown up and other damage being incurred. But here it is, all put back together with stone here, red brick there, stucco and grey brick over yonder.
It is mindful to me of the mess of life, it is never what we think it is going to be, never uniform, neat and tidy at all time. Now, I must compliment the masons in this town, because all these materials come together with amazing form as well as function. Which is when I see we live our lives best as well, when things must be changed or adjusted, when we go through trauma (good or bad), to keep putting the walls back up with the materials at hand and going on with life is beautiful. Just as Piegaro, in its amazing mess of materials is simply beautiful. There are times I like to sit and just notice how the round rocks and square bricks of assorted sizes have been put together so well as all the bricks are squared and tidy, this is work that has been done with care.
Life is going to throw us surprises, changes that need to happen, one of the most important things we do is to take care to rebuild well. To know that even messes can be beautiful, and be a comforting place to call home. This is especially welcoming to me, as it has been spoken of multiple times by friends in Piegaro that I am a bit of a mess, una casino…the first few weeks messing about with my Italian paperwork, my two injuries while playing with Alberto, and my various misadventures with communications, unwanted attention, and learning the culture. I am a big mess and totally loving my choice of homes here in Italy, Piegaro, a molta bella casino!!! A very beautiful mess!!! May we all continue to rebuild with care!
How do you rebuild with care and love the mess that is life, for the beauty it has been created to be?
"The moment you come to trust chaos, you see God clearly. Chaos is divine order, versus human order. Change is divine order, versus human order. When the chaos becomes safety to you, then you know you're seeing God clearly." - Caroline Myss, "Spiritual Madness: The Necessity of Meeting God in Darkness"
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