I am continually surprised at how old everything is in Italy, and I don’t just mean the buildings of Rome and Florence.  In almost every town around here there are tons of old buildings and churches, some are well-kept and still fully used, and some are literally disintegrating.  The beautiful thing about the buildings that are falling in on themselves is that the locals just let them be.  People are not in a rush to tear down every building to make room for newer, bigger, or better things, they build their lives in and around buildings that are centuries old.

This is a church in one of my neighboring towns.  It was built in 1797, which makes it a relatively young church for the area.  Every Sunday the families of the town still gather inside the church to worship and linger on its steps afterwards to catch up on local news.  It is one of my favorite churches that I pass when I am out for a jog (or more recently, a very slow walk).

Along the same jog/walk route is this building.

I have no idea how old this building is, but it looks like it was part of a large villa at one point.  Now it is crumbling in the most charming way imaginable and used to store farm equipment.  I feel like in America this dilapidated building would have been torn down years ago, but in this little town it is repurposed and allowed to stay.

And I love the Italian flag sprucing up the joint!