I chose this picture because Elizabeth Barrett Browning once tried to bust into this place. She wrote to her sister in May of 1847:
"We are thinking, Arabel, of a wild, delightful way of spending the summer .. at least of spending some of the summer months .. or weeks even .. for we need not bind our inclinations: we are thinking of going to Vallombrosa."
Vallombrosa was and is a Benedictine Abbey in the Appenines, a place that was rumored to be a refuge from the unbearable heat of summer in Florence.
"You go in a kind of basket-sledge drawn by oxen, if you cant ride on mules, and in order to make any sort of residence, you must have a 'permission' from the Archbishop of Florence. The monks wd admit you, upon this, to their interior; but Wilson & I being women, we shd be the ruin of the confraternity of course, & so we must stay outside in the house assigned to meet fair perditions, .. being supplied with food from the monastery– Now what do you think, Arabel? The plan is to me the most exquisite of the hundred we have made. "
Everything about this passage is pure Elizabeth--the rapturous excitement, the impracticality bordering on insanity, her infectious hyperbole. The Brownings intended to stay a month or two in the cool of the mountains, but the Abbot would not tolerate feminine proximity for that long. Women were simply too profane. They could stay three days--no more! said the Abbot.
"Out of spite," Elizabeth wrote, "when nobody was looking, I put my foot through the gateway & stamped on the gravel of their courtyard . . . There, was profanation for them, poor men!"
I here commemorate that glorious stamping.
"We are thinking, Arabel, of a wild, delightful way of spending the summer .. at least of spending some of the summer months .. or weeks even .. for we need not bind our inclinations: we are thinking of going to Vallombrosa."
Vallombrosa was and is a Benedictine Abbey in the Appenines, a place that was rumored to be a refuge from the unbearable heat of summer in Florence.
"You go in a kind of basket-sledge drawn by oxen, if you cant ride on mules, and in order to make any sort of residence, you must have a 'permission' from the Archbishop of Florence. The monks wd admit you, upon this, to their interior; but Wilson & I being women, we shd be the ruin of the confraternity of course, & so we must stay outside in the house assigned to meet fair perditions, .. being supplied with food from the monastery– Now what do you think, Arabel? The plan is to me the most exquisite of the hundred we have made. "
Everything about this passage is pure Elizabeth--the rapturous excitement, the impracticality bordering on insanity, her infectious hyperbole. The Brownings intended to stay a month or two in the cool of the mountains, but the Abbot would not tolerate feminine proximity for that long. Women were simply too profane. They could stay three days--no more! said the Abbot.
"Out of spite," Elizabeth wrote, "when nobody was looking, I put my foot through the gateway & stamped on the gravel of their courtyard . . . There, was profanation for them, poor men!"
I here commemorate that glorious stamping.
Q & A
What invention would you remove from the world?
Photography
What else would you do that everyone would hate?
Make bicycles and baskets drawn by oxen the main forms of transportation.
What's the most fun thing you've ever done?
A tour called the Thomas Hardy Walking Tour in Dorset, England, with my family and a large set of confusing paper maps.
Was it also the most fun thing they've ever done?
No, but they pretended to enjoy it at the time, which says a lot about them.
What's your favorite Dickens novel?
Little Dorritt
What 19th-century writer would you put on the cover of People's Sexiest Man Alive issue?
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Which fictional Victorian would you marry?
Edward Fairfax Rochester
Which actual Victorian would you marry?
Robert Browning
What music do you love that Tom hates?
The immortal songs of John Denver.
What invention would you remove from the world?
Photography
What else would you do that everyone would hate?
Make bicycles and baskets drawn by oxen the main forms of transportation.
What's the most fun thing you've ever done?
A tour called the Thomas Hardy Walking Tour in Dorset, England, with my family and a large set of confusing paper maps.
Was it also the most fun thing they've ever done?
No, but they pretended to enjoy it at the time, which says a lot about them.
What's your favorite Dickens novel?
Little Dorritt
What 19th-century writer would you put on the cover of People's Sexiest Man Alive issue?
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Which fictional Victorian would you marry?
Edward Fairfax Rochester
Which actual Victorian would you marry?
Robert Browning
What music do you love that Tom hates?
The immortal songs of John Denver.