By: Lia Contesso
Submitted: 2010-04-16 02:34:10 | Word Count: 516
The renowned Abbey of Montecassino was founded in 529 by Saint Benedict of Nursia, and here the Order of Saint Benedict will find its origins; the monks part of this order base their lifestyle on the rule “ora et labora”, that is pray and work. The Benedictines’ life, following this rule, has been characterized since the very beginning by a very intense activity, from both the working and the cultural point of view. The order, in fact, though not dictating a number of hours to dedicate to the study, pointed out its importance, and the monks started to produce manuscripts and to copy ancient scientific and literary texts; moreover, they spread in an active way their belief, talking to the population and building more and more monasteries in new places.
The Abbey of Montecassino was erected outside the city centre, on a hill, and the city enjoyed its presence from both the spiritual and human point of view; thus, it’s always been a source of wealth for Cassino: thanks to its magnificent presence, in fact, the town has always had a great affluence of people, thanks to the pilgrims that came to see the places where Saint Benedict started his work, and then, from the touristic point of view, thanks to the artistic importance of the abbey.
Apart from its religious interest, anyway, in Cassino you can admire other kinds of beauties, architectural and natural: the Terme Varroniane, for example, a natural park that dates back to the years after the Second World War that you will find in Marco Terenzio Varrone’s Villa. The thermal baths have origin from the same springs as the river Gari, and this spring area is considered to be the largest in Italy; the water continuously flows out of the fountains at temperature of 13° C, and is classified among the “cold medium-mineral bicarbonate”. Moreover, you can visit the military cemetery, where the soldiers fallen during the Second World War Montecassino battle rest: the bombardment was actually aimed to the abbey, that was laid waste by the allied forces because they wrongly suspected it to host some German units, causing victims and tragedies. Then it was rebuilt between 1948 and 1956, with the consequent debates on the style to follow: in spite of the opinions that were contrary to the fact of rebuilding it respecting its previous forms, considered to be a “false antique”, it was reconstructed as it was.
Anothe
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r good point for Cassino is its geographical position, that puts it in the centre between two of the most beautiful Italian cities: Naples and Rome. Both of them are at hand, less than 100 km far: this makes a week-end out possible, or even a daytrip; hence, staying in Cassino allows you to visit very interesting places from a historical, religious, touristic and natural point of view, not only in the city but in the surroundings as well.
