Monteluco and the noumenal

We passed through Monteluco (lucus, Latin, a dark forest or grove) on our recent hiking trip in Umbria, and for me, in this place, the noumenal was tangible.

This first image is taken on approach to the Convento San Francesco. (St Francis founded a convent here in 1218.) You can see part of the sacred wood, in which monks lived in caves.
And here is the courtyard of the convent - which has been swept and re-swept with loving attention for centuries.

Finally, a view of a cell (some have been restored). St Francis is said to have stayed in one of these.

This place has an ancient past. In the year 514, 300 Syrians, fleeing the persecutions of the Emperor Anastasius (491 - 518), arrived here and formed anchorite communities in caves. And after St Francis, Benedict founded 12 small monastic communities here (in 1218).

The effect of a place on a person is an individual thing. This place left me with a strong sense of what I've called the noumenal field.