We left Rome early this morning and our first stop was the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino - up on the top of the hill from the village of Cassino, and home to St. Benedict.  We celebrated Mass in the Crypt Chapel and alter in the grotto housing the tombs of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica.  The monastery itself is remarkable in that it has been totally reconstructed since the allied bombing of WWII.  The entire basilica was destroyed and the Monks hid in a basement with all of their historical manuscripts and documents.  The bombing collapsed the basilica around them and they were trapped until a single lone allied bomb was dropped and blew a hole in the wall of the basement allowing the monks to escape.  The monastery was undergoing extensive refurbishment because the Pope is due to visit in May.
We then proceeded to Pompeii - the snapshot of time of a Roman city of the year 76AD, buried by an eruption of Vesuvius.  It is truly remarkable as archaeologists have been able to determine in exquisite detail, the life of a Roman patriarchal city of that time with all its lust, energy and paganism.  As you walk around it is easy to imagine life of the 12,000 Romans living there at the edge of the sea at that time.