The peace and goodness represented by the medieval life and works of St Francis of Assisi is recalled in a Latin inscription dated 1216 - during his lifetime - over a doorway of the Ristorante da Remo in Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy, a frontier fortress during frequent wars between Siena and Florence.
Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy: a Latin inscription above the ancient doorway of a hotel and restaurant in this fortified medieval town is dated AD MCCXVI (1216) and includes a phrase related to Saint Francis of Assisi, medieval founder of the Franciscan monastic order. The inscription is cut into a stone slab above an arched entrance to the Ristorante da Remo, part of the Hotel Il Piccolo Castello (The Little Castle Hotel) in Via 1 Maggio. It reads: "In Hoc Signo Pax et Bonum AD MCCXVI". "In Hoc Signo" translates either as In This Sign or Upon This Sign, while "Pax et Bonum" (literally Peace and Good) has been variously translated, colloquially, as Peace and Goodness, Peace and Goodwill or Peace and All Good. Saint Francis (1181 or 1182 - 1226) is said to have used "Pax et Bonum" as a greeting as he travelled around Italy, and it soon became the customary greeting or farewell phrase used by Franciscan grey friars. The date 1216 falls well within St Francis' lifetime and is just three years after Monteriggioni was founded by the city of Siena as a bulwark against attacks by Florence, its bitter rival for supremacy in Tuscany. Monteriggioni is still encircled by the defensive wall and watchtowers built by Siena between 1213 and 1219. It was besieged several times and also served as a staging post along the Via Francigena, the ancient Christian pilgrimage route from Canterbury Cathedral, England, to Rome, via France and Switzerland.
Size: 2724px × 4093px
Location: Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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