The Micio

My last several posts have been about Monte Oliveto Maggiore, a beautiful monastery that I recently visited in Tuscany (Italy).

After touring the monastery, my friend Jenna and I walked into the small gift shop. A children's book caught my eye, for two reasons. One was that there was tabby cat on the cover, which reminded me that one of my granddaughters had a tabby cat, and secondly the fact that the book was written in English. I am usually not a souvenir shopper, but I did buy the book which was written by an American author, Sharon Wooding.

Leafing through the book while eating our picnic lunch, I discovered that it was a fictional story Ms. Wooding had written to try and explain why (supposedly) there was a tabby cat (referred to as Micio) inlaid at the base of the monastery's lectern (book stand). So naturally I scrolled back through my pictures to see if I had taken a picture of the lectern. Surely this part of the book was also fiction

sorry about the poor quality

but to my amazement, there it was! In reality, no one knows why in the fifteen century this cat was so painstaking applied to the lectern using hundreds of pieces of wood from various types of trees. Hopefully my granddaughter will not only enjoy the book, but my story of discovering that a tabby really is at the base of the lectern!!

Micio (mee'-cho) is an Italian word loosely translated meaning kitty or pussycat in English.