April 13

Today we will go on the Upper Italian Lake trip. this year's itinerary has changed slightly. We will be visiting Saint Caterina, where Dominicans built the chapels of Santa Maria Nova (1270) and of St. Nicola (1305-1310?). In 1970, the Provincial administration of Varese promoted the restauration and given it into the care of the monastery of the Dominican brothers.

Santa Caterina del Sasso or Hermitage of Santa Caterina Click here for more information

"Suspended between sky and water, the monastery of Santa Caterina involves the pilgrim in a vortex of emotions, into a variety  of feelings whose memories remain for a long time in the heart as a dessert nostalgia."

	We are descending to the Hermitage of St. Catherine on Lake Maggiore
Taking in the beautiful scenery along Lake Maggiore
	Inside the courtyard of the Hermitage
Late Gothic fresco of  1439 in the Chapterhouse. St. Eligius heals a horse's broken knee. St. Anthony Abbot stands next to him giving a blessing.
	Antonella gives explanations about the site.
Fragment of the large 14th century cruxifiction of the Chapterhouse. The detailed armor and some of the facesshow this to be an important moment in the artistic history of the Hermitage.
	The Hermitage, the Small Convent, constructed about 1315-1320.
The Hermitage as seen from the other side.
	The aristocratic figures of St. Lucy, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine of ALexandria.
Inside the Roman style church
	The pictoresque ceilings
Alberto Besozzi of Arolo HE founded the Hermitage about 1170. He was returning from Vergante one evening when the Mergozzo wind overturned his boat. He invoked St. Catherine of Alexandria and was saved; so he retired to a solitary life in a cave in fulfilment of his vow.
	Modern glass stained windows blend in with the ancient surroundings.
The organ and altar.