[//]:# (!worldmappin 41.43217 lat 14.61704 long Altilia d3scr)
this link took me around one hour and a glass of red wine to achieve - ooofah!
Dear Travel Hive Friends, and Lovers Of Beautiful Magical Places,
This is one of my favourite zones, and where I'd be happy to move to: near Sepino at the border between Campania and Molise in south Italy, one of a series of beloved spots that I am able to visit and be immersed in - and which yesterday morning I unexpectedly landed in and had a very special moment around...
I was with some extremely special folks (
I certainly wanted to go foraging, and thought that I might even be within walking distance of Altilia, the archaeological site that I know well. I set off, observing hedgerows and hay bales, a weird sky and sun looking like the moon all pale and lipid....
Not a hundred metres from where we had parked and feasted the night before, there was the back entrance to the site! I was greeted by some very barky, over-excited dogs that raced towards me in a somewhat menacing way - but I did some dog-body-language things and they soon were licking my hands and toes, and dancing around more happily.
I took this as permission to enter the park - actually, I've only ever entered from this rear way, as a 'local, and so did not actually recognise that there was 'supposed to' be an entry fee.
Comunque, I had the most immersive experience ever of visiting and exploring the site. Usually even off-season there are at least a few folks in the taverna at one end or the bar at the other,, then folks with cameras, children, a flock of sheep or two, dotted about the place. This time it was (apart from the barking dogs near and far) only me and the birds. I loved this moment so much, and spent a good hour walking the main cross of the old town, west to east and then north and south.
Every time I visit Altilia Saepinum, it transmits something sincere and rich to me: whispers of old living vibes, of the peoples and animals, culture and habits that transpired here. The information boards give a dry, academic take on it all, but this is quite boring and unnecessary; the download from walking around - especially alone and at this sacred hour of the day after dawn - was more than sufficient to gift a vision, a richness and a powerful sentience of the place.
I so enjoyed photographing it for you all too: intuitively, spontaneously, barely putting my phone down, snapping all the delights that presented themselves. It was gorgeous to do this, and to know that it will bring insight and pleasure to others....
I wonder about past lives, and the feeling of connectedness with places like this. Or of collective memory, cellular remembering of how our ancestors lived. I do not have Italian heritage that I know of, as my family have clear info about mostly only recent times. But when I came to the Sannio region of Italy, I had a clear-as-a-bell feeling of rootedness and belonging - partly through the cultural vibration. The first time that I visited the Altilia museum (inside the archaeological park) in fact, it was astonishing to me to see how the artifacts looked so very Celtic. Knowing what I knew in my cells then, and what I've confirmed in my research about how misled the mainstream has been about 'history' and how peoples moved in the past; I am certain that there is a deep connectedness through a multitude of ways, of my soul to this place.
So I 'retrace' steps that I might have made centuries or even a couple of millennia ago: I feel into the stones and the grasses below my feet. I think of how the plants might have occupied the place then, over time, and even recently... and I sense this symbiosis - though the place is being 'conserved' rather than kept as a used, living sit - of nature and man-made natural things.
This is very, very inspiring to me: how we can work with the elements and the landscape, the plants and the possibilities, to make truly harmonious villages, towns, living places.
By observing the stones and how they were put together in such beauty, by seeing how they have aged and matured through being lovingly worn, I can feel into my own skills and potential in building, working with water, woodworking. It is a serious education, walking about and taking everything in without distraction. I get the pure experience of the full atmosphere of this place, and this is a precious present.
