Niches

 Back home now. Sigh. Upside? We live in a beautiful area, and we love it. Downside? We also love Panicale, and it's hard waiting to be back there again. I have lots of wonderful photos to cull through, lots to write about. It will certainly help ground me again. I look forward to sharing more posts  on food, gnomes, flora and fauna, art, day to day life, etc.. 

  There are so many sights and sounds that I find just too delicious to leave behind.....

  I fell in love with the little chapels and "niches" scattered along the roadsides and imbedded in the walls of all the hill towns around Panicale. They are everywhere. Sometimes just a tiny plaque, sometimes an entire freestanding small building. Most have candles in colored glass containers and flowers, either fresh or artificial.

  They are made out of all types of things... ceramic tile, terra cotta, wood, plastic, mosaic. Some are elaborate, some are the simplest expression of Mary and Child.

  

A real beauty.

A hard one to see, but the posture is so bittersweet.

  I like coming across them on the roadsides in the middle of nowhere. Maybe someone died on this spot? I don't know, but I like to stop and check them out.

This one had fresh orchids and a spotlight.

Close up of the one above.

This is so simple, and the color combo is gorgeous.

  We drive by lots of these every day while in Panicale. I've seen women sweeping and changing out the flowers. I must ask about them next year. Are they put there by the community? Are they just for the family? I don't know...yet.

We saw this one all the time. Below is a shot of the inside.

Often they have these battery operated fake candles.

  The odd ones are the biggest surprise. 

Alien Mary and Child?

Going all modern with the housing on this one. Pipes welded together.

Not really odd,  just lots of little guys flitting about. Sweet, really.

  We came across the one below on a really long walk that ended in a torrential rainstorm. Lightning, thunder and everything. I'm thinking that the only reason we made it home alive (but absolutely soaking wet), was because we straightened out the flower pot here before the storm hit. A very frightful event for both of us.

Johnny getting ready to put the flower pot right. Looks sunny, right?

Thank You, Mary... you got us home safe and sound.... a real beauty.

  There are cool brick structures many times. I like all the thoughtfulness that goes into these. They are built to last, I assume. Also, they age in a lovely way, getting more beautiful as the years go by.

I remember hopping a big ditch to get this shot. So pretty in the field.

Way up, just outside of Panicale.

  The tile pieces are most always so vibrant and painterly. I really enjoy them.

The iron work is nice on this one.

This one, close up below, we came across on another walk....

Artificial flowers don't take anything away from this loveliness.

We both loved the gold leaf here.

  On one of our last days in Panicale, we took a drive over to an area we really like. To our amazement,   we found this road we'd never driven down. What a treat. And here was yet another sweet niche, just letting us know that there are so many surprises yet to come for us on the next visit.

Such a simple line here.

What a sweet surprise.