This month I am pleased to welcome Sarah Trevathan of the Montanaro Circle as Guest Author. Sarah is a psychotherapist with a PhD in Holistic Theology and lives in Le Marche with her husband and three children. The Montanaro Circle offers specialised courses in art, nature and spirituality.
This is Sarah’s “The cultural revolution comes to Le Marche”
“From the moment I met my husband on a retreat in Spain we dreamt about ways to combine his love of traditional art with my passion for exploring what gives life meaning. We hit upon creating a workshop centre to share ideas, inspiration and good company but at the time we were both committed to our responsibilities, myself as a psychotherapist and him as a museum conservator. Almost as soon as we started our life together we took the decision to accept an offer for my husband at a museum in Kuala Lumpur, rather than the British Museum in London because it was an opportunity to immerse ourselves in everything that interested us.
We lived for several years in Kuala Lumpur and relished the vibrant cultures on display during endless national holidays which honoured Malay, Muslim, Chinese, Indian, Buddhist and Hindu festivals. Every month there was a riot of colour, music, food and incense. However, despite the diverse cultural heritage life often felt a little sterile, perhaps because Kuala Lumpur is a rapidly developing city with an almost evangelical celebration of modern development coupled with a hasty eagerness to shun the ‘old’ ways in order to embrace the new. Many of the age-old festivals were efficiently channeled straight into the wombs of the ever visible ‘malls’ which were ubiquitous, sparkling and sterile, as uniform and bland as the next.
When we had our first baby I had a unexpected craving to be closer to the earth and a return to more personal way of life. Whilst everyone we encountered in was charming and polite, we felt that a life at a slower pace, with more allowance for mud and less air con might benefit our fledgling family. Our condo apartment was as white and glistening as a mall, with as many unnecessarily suited security guards on every corner, but something was missing. Every time I sat breastfeeding my baby I would imagine that I was looking out the the rolling hills of Italy rather than a corporate business golf course, and my shortsighted vision enabled me to interpret the corporate hospitality building as an Italian church. When I found I was still doing this with the 3rd baby, we knew it was time to move on.
We spent a year in London (I finished my PhD in Holistic Theology whilst my husband started his in Sacred Art) brainstorming how to create a place for people to take time out, reflect, refresh, renew, learn new skills and reconnect with a sense of meaning to life. Effectively, we wanted to create a centre which offered what we felt was missing from our busy urban lives. I went on a recce trip to Italy, and almost immediately stumbled upon San Ginesio, a medieval hilltop town amongst the dramatic Sibillini mountain range of le Marche . As I spoke to locals and learnt of the mythical folklore that steeped the region and the spiritual traditions that were palpable in the air I felt certain this was our spot. It is said that clairvoyant Sibyl delivered prophecies from a cave in pre-Roman times whilst the ancient churches scattered across the mountaintops are said to represent the arrangement of the stars in the constellation Venus. The area has historically drawn artists and spiritual seekers to gain inspiration and insight from its wild natural beauty, and the air of inquiry is palpable. For centuries pilgrims on their way to nearby Assisi have crossed the Marche mountains bringing a steady stream of soul searchers to the region, many of whom chose never to leave.Its beauty lies in its simplicity, one that is guided by nature and contemplation. However, I was reassured to discover that the locals are not a puritanical bunch and during the summer there are an endless stream of lively festivals devoted to fine food, music, and crafts from medieval archery to chestnuts. It seems that in Le Marche every aspect of life is appreciated and celebrated. We made the immediate decision to relocate (it often seems to me that the big decisions in life come easily) and San Ginesio became the natural birthplace for our venture, Montanaro Circle.
Montanaro refers to the mountain setting. Circle refers to the interlink between art, nature and spirit which became guiding principles of our vision. We spent months researching the most comfortable and beautiful spots to stay, teaming up with handpicked guesthouses to provide a haven for participants to relax and refresh whilst attending their creative course on site. Having collaborated with a wide variety of masters of their crafts from tutors in transcendental meditation to a world famous icon painter we crafted a calender of events designed to provide an enriching experience which leaves guests feeling life does after all have a great deal of meaning, with or without the malls.
6 months on, despite encountering endless challenges and stumbling blocks (most pivoting around predictable beuorcatic delays) we have not looked back once. Every now and then I feel the urge to head to the nearest city for a fix of sparkly things, but most of the time I feel blissfully content trying my hand at establishing a vegetable garden and learning to care for chickens whilst attempting to keep the wild boar and curious toddlers out of their hutch. Setting up a business whilst changing gear from city-dwellers to country-folk, learning a new language and caring for 3 toddlers feels like a great adventure, rather than the exhausting slog our less demanding urban life too often felt like. When I look out our window I recognise the hills as those I dreamt of from the other side of the world, and I know we have come home.
SNOW UPDATE:
Like many throughout Italy we have just endured two weeks of relentless snowfall. This resulted in being housebound with our 3 toddlers, desperate to keep warm as we ran out of gas for heating and logs for the fire. In the last few days our pipes froze so we had no running water, and resorted to drinking melted snow. Our friends and family all assumed this experience would lead us to admit we regretted making the move to the depths of the Italian countryside. Not a bit of it, we felt deeply touched that many of the community, some of whom we had hardly met, would call frequently to see if we needed any support. We had to overcome our English reserve in asking for help, and as a result a group ventured down the fields in a snowplough during a thick blizzard with food to keep us going, whilst a neighbour spent the day digging out a trench between our houses (the snow was chest high) in order to give us the key to his house so we could get access to his water supply. Having never even so much as shared a cup of tea with our neighbours in London or Kuala Lumpur, call us smug, but we are more delighted than ever to call LeMarche our home. ”
Thank you Sarah!
Sarah Trevathan
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