I came to Lake Como hoping to get away from the world. My first day, the weather is dreadful: rain, a dark sky and an impending storm. But…
From my modest little room on the topmost floor of the topmost hotel in Varenna, I am looking at God’s version of perfection in beauty. Rows of uneven mountain peaks line up into the horizon, reflecting their imposing shadows on the surface of the lake. From my left to my right and all around, there is nothing but shades of blue and green the eye can feast on, and not a man-made sound can be heard.
The view is truly spectacular and humbling at the same time. It reminds me of this one scene in the film “the Agony and the Ecstasy”, when the fictitious Michelangelo goes into the mountains to draw inspiration for his painting of the Sistine Chapel and finds his outline of God and the banished Adam in the shapes of random clouds.
In this hotel that used to be a monastery, with the mountainous scenery lavishing its beauty all around me, I can finally understand why religious piety can be heightened by peace and solitude in nature: I came here to temporarily get away from the world, but, strangely enough, I feel more connected to the world around me here. And organized religion has nothing to do with it.