Stone upon stone: an Italian sojourn: Gregorian chants from the hilltop

Just a stone's throw from where we are living a young wealthy boy, Giovanni Tolomei, grew up in Sienna, in the 1300s. There he was educated by his uncle, a Dominican, and so influenced, that when he was just a young man he told his parents he wanted to become a religious. They were not supportive and encouraged him in a different direction.

So, to honour them he went on to study philosophy and mathematics then civil and canon law and became a noted theologian.

The pull for a religious life never faded though, so when Giovanni was 41, he and two of his wealthy friends of like mind, left Sienna and went east, a few miles from where we now live, and settled themselves on a hill in what is called the Accona Desert, or the Crete Senesi, where the clay soil defines the landscape. In winter it is covered in green. In summer, the clay sandy colour defines the terrain. Rain today has the landscape in rivulets eroding, eroding.

Here, Giovanni changed his name to Bernardo and his acts of selflessness, prayer and love of God attracted a small band of followers, who lived, like him, as hermits here in the hills. In one of his visions he saw a ladder bearing folk dressed in white ascending into heaven with the help of the Virgin Mary. He set about founding the congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Oliveto. He and his followers all wore white and do to this day. During the Plague, Bernado left his hillside hermitage and went to Sienna where he served the sick and the dying until he, too, fell ill from the plague, and died.

His followers soon built a monastery on the site of his hermitage. Today we visited it. It is one of the most beautiful active abbeys we have ever seen. It sits on a thin, seemingly fragile spine, of the Crete Senesi, that looks as if one slight shudder from deep in the bowels of the earth would have all the red bricks tumbling down the eroding hillside. I do hope that never happens as it is the most beautiful and peaceful place, filled with impressive art works and sculptures, and some twenty or so monks: Olivetan they came to be called, now a branch of the Benedictines, who conduct mass at different times accompanied by Gregorian Chants.

So, this Sunday, today, we went to mass. We listened to the choir of monks responding in different parts of the service in the ancient chants. It reminded me of my childhood, when mass was still in Latin and we, as the choir, would sing Gregorian chants to accompany the service. Even the smell of the smoking incense was the same tangy scent. All very haunting.

We had arrived early on a cold wet morning so we were able to visit parts of the abbey that were not usually opened. We could have spent days here. It would be, I think, one of those marvelous places, where you could retreat, spend time in solitude and thought, and come away filled with that intense feeling of peace, joy and complete relaxation.

We walked across the large wooden drawbridge hanging on chains over a moat below a defensive tower leading to a walkway lined with cyprus trees which protects a botanical garden to one side - this garden supplies the monks with herbal plants for remedy and sale -- and on the other side, a fish pond, which supplies their Friday night portion of fish.

The ceilings upstairs leading to the Biblioteque were exquisitely arched and painted. The downstairs Refectory was a large room encircled by tables being set for lunch to be served after mass by one of the monks.

The church choir stalls were exquisite woodcraft: every second choir stall had its shutters open exposing some ornamental feature on a shelf. On one, a skull peeps out so detailed it is hard to believe it has been carved from wood.

Side chapels and sanctuaries are filled with treasures and relics. The priests robes, ready for service, were laid out in one of them. The vast body of the church, once the mass was underway, reverberated to the rich organ sound and the massed choir. Simply beautiful.

But the standout feature for me was the cloisters. On all walls, on all four sides, the work of two 14th century artists have an amazing tale all their own. They are quite simply treasures. This Abbey is one of those truly memorable sights that you might be lucky to see once in a lifetime.