Discover the unique experience of staying in a convent in Florence, Italy, through the lens of an unexpected guest. This personal account explores the blend of tranquility and mystery encountered in a religious setting.
Convents and monasteries have been offering shelter to pilgrims, travelers, and people seeking a retreat from the world for centuries, a tradition that continues today. In Italy and throughout Europe, religious communities provide a bed and simple hospitality to weary souls. For someone like me, staying in a convent might seem an unusual choice. Despite 13 years of education at a Catholic girls' school, I've never believed in God nor experienced any religious feelings.
The possibility of staying in a convent wouldn't have even crossed my mind, if not for a last-minute need to find affordable accommodation for a weekend trip with an old friend in Florence. Since 2006, the Monastery Stays website has made finding and booking a stay in a monastery, convent, or church-owned guest house in Italy, Austria, and Slovenia as easy as booking a hotel. Initially, I dreamed of staying in a place like the abbey in a movie, but when searching for accommodation in Florence, the most beautiful and atmospheric convents listed on the website were either fully booked or beyond our budget. The Casa per Ferie Madonna del Rosario, a modern guest house located in a quiet residential neighborhood a short walk from the Arno river, had availability. I booked a room.By the time my friend Anita and I arrived a week later, I had second thoughts. The guest house looked bland and institutional, the last place I wanted to be reminded of school. But the two young Filipina nuns who checked us in were reassuringly calm and efficient. They smiled, checked our passports, handed us our keys, and escorted us to the elevator. Although the nuns didn't seem curious about us, I was very curious about them. The casa was run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, an order founded in the Philippines in 1982. Inspired by the life of the 12th-century ascetic Francis of Assisi, the sisters (and their fellow friars) follow his life and teachings, tending to the sick and poor and taking vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty. The casa was well-maintained, spacious, and comfortable, but without any obvious luxuries.On the top floor of the 1970s three-story building, our spotless room had the same white walls, tiled floors, and timber finishes as the rest of the building. Simply furnished with a wardrobe, desk, and bedside tables, the bright-green single bed frames and floral bed covers were the only note of color. Large windows overlooked the house's walled garden, and as we opened them, the sound of church bells filled the room. Down the hallway was a large, shared terrace with tables and chairs and, in one corner, rows of solar panels. From the terrace, we could see a nun in full habit standing on her balcony, talking on a mobile phone, but as soon as she saw us, she moved inside. We hardly encountered anyone else for the rest of our stay. After dinner in the historic center, we returned just before our 11.30 pm curfew. It was blissfully quiet. I didn't hear a thing until the next morning when, lying in bed, there was a sound I couldn't immediately identify. I got up and opened the door to the hallway and listened. The nuns were singing, and their beautiful voices drifted through the building like a siren song. On our last morning, half asleep and listening to the morning choir, I started thinking about the religious women I had known. I realized I knew almost nothing about the lives of the nuns who taught me, nor the experience of my parents' siblings who had also joined religious orders. Likewise, the lives of the nuns at the casa were a mystery to me. The whole experience was a little unsettling. Although we had two restful nights in comfort, I felt a strange sense of dislocation. The church bells, the singing... the disappearing nun! The real life of this convent felt just out of sight, something guests might catch a brief glimpse of but never really know. We found a brief respite, but, like centuries of travelers before us, we were only ever just passing through
CONVENT ITALY FLORENCE TRAVEL MONASTERYSTAYS FRANCISCAN SISTERS
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