The Bike, the Work and the Road Ahead
Many thanks - and Magna Graecia next week!
This post is for everyone. I’m sorry to have missed this week’s scheduled paid subscriber piece. Between the heat, some ongoing health challenges and a few major behind-the-scenes developments, I wasn’t able to get our post on southern Italy’s ‘Greek Colony,’ Magna Graecia, finished in time.
Magna Graecia
I’ll have much more on Magna Graecia early next week, but as a little teaser: did you know that one of the most important surviving ancient Byzantine manuscripts, the Codex Purpureus Rossanensis, isn’t from Constantinople or Mount Athos, but from southern Italy?
This 6th-century Gospel book, written in silver ink on purple-dyed parchment, was likely produced in Calabria during a time when the region was still very much part of the Eastern Christian world.
And that’s just one aspect of a much bigger story: why so much of Sicily and southern Italy looks and feels so deeply Byzantine, even centuries after the Empire had lost political control, and continuing after Romanesque and even Gothic styles had become a thing.
More on that soon.
But I didn’t want to leave the week empty, so I’m sharing a personal update, a bit of news about the work and what’s ahead, and a thank-you.
What the bike means
Welp. There it is.
It arrived yesterday in a huge box, and I managed to figure out how to put it all together (with some internet help.) It’s ready; all kitted out with panniers and a basket, chain and lock (not yet the new un-cuttable kind, but that’s next on the list), helmet, lights, a full battery charge, every bolt tightened, saddle height adjusted just right (and the workroom a higgeldy-piggeldy chaos), and Sacred Heart sticker.
Battery’s full and we’re ready to go.
Since I was nine, cycling has been my main form of exercise, but more than that, it’s meant freedom. Something about being on a bike makes anxiety, worry and hesitation just dissolve. During lockdowns, I’d take the good old bike down a back path through the countryside of the Upper Tiber Valley, slipping out of the “zone” I was technically not supposed to leave. I wasn’t the only one. The path was filled with silent nods of solidarity. A bike = freedom.
But when I moved to Narni in 2021, this extraordinarily beautiful medieval Umbrian hill town, where most of the “streets” are actually stone staircases, my dear old bike was rendered almost useless. I tried for a while, but even the easiest road up to the top of town has a 20-degree incline. Eventually, it just sat there in the front hall gathering dust - poor old thing. And poor old me too; I started to feel the lack of the usual exercise in my energy levels and general well-being.
So after a lot of thought (ebikes aren’t cheap), I made the leap. I found this one through an Italian company that actually knows what Apennine roads and Umbrian hill towns are like. A full charge gets you 80 km on the flat, and with 70 Nm of torque, it can handle the climb home. It wasn’t on the high end of the price scale either. Just right.
And it’s thanks to you
And I wanted to thank you, my readers and supporters, for this. I’m aware that I was only able to buy this bike because of your support.
Eighteen months ago, I was still struggling, sometimes borrowing, to get the rent paid. And now I can make this long-term investment in my health, a tool that will (I hope) help me get my strength and energy back.
I was putting it together and realising why it’s so important. It’s not just the bike. It’s what the bike represents. This work, which started out as my own private passion that I assumed was too obscure for anyone else to care about, has become something that actually supports me, abundantly enough for an investment like this. I just realised today, while tightening bolts and attaching panniers, that this is the first time in my life I’ve bought a brand-new bike, straight out of the box.
It’s going to be 38°C (100°F) this afternoon, and the bike manual says not to take it out in anything over 40°C. So we’re waiting for sunset.
I wanted to say sorry about the short posting this week, missing a paid post. Some of you know, and probably more have guessed, that I struggle with my health. Since chemotherapy and surgery thirteen years ago, my energy levels have never really bounced back. And since coming here I’ve learned how connected to exercise they are, in other words, how much lower I get when I don’t get outside to run around.
I’m like an old laptop battery: a long time to charge, and a very short discharge time. The trip last February to see the great mosaic at Torcello pressed upon me that I had to do something to improve my health or expanding this work and doing all I plan to do, just wasn’t going to be possible. I was in bed for almost a week after that trip.
That’s part of why the new bike is such a big deal for me. I’m also consulting with an expert in diet and hormone balancing and all that - much too complicated for me to figure out on my own. I’m hoping that regular movement plus changes in diet, will help restore at least a little more stamina and perk.
The real surprise has been the scope.
But despite these limitations, the growth of this work has been extraordinary,not just in terms of numbers (though the numbers are honestly a bit staggering)
What began as a passion project is now something that’s expanding rapidly, and in ways I never could have anticipated. The Big Editorial Plan for 2025, my attempt to structure this work like a multi-season epic drama starting from 300 AD, is about half way through, and was just the beginning of a major shift.
This year, I’ve been able to bring in a freelance book editor who’s compiling the first e-book, based on the first quarter of 2025, so everything we’ve covered so far since January. It’s already over 250 pages (though we’ll be trimming that down, of course!)
If you’ve been following along and value this project, I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber. As I say below, it’s only reader support that makes all of this possible, research, writing, travel, even things like the new bike that helps me keep going. And there’s so much more coming.
At The Sacred Images Project, we explore Christian life, thought, history, and culture through the lens of the first 1200 years of sacred art. This work is entirely reader-supported. No ads, no algorithms, just careful research and thoughtful analysis, made possible by your subscriptions.
Free subscribers receive a weekly article uncovering the treasures of Christian tradition. Paid subscribers ($9/month) receive a second weekly piece, plus bonus posts with high-resolution images, video explorations and more.
And that’s just one part of the bigger transformation. The paperwork is underway to register this entire project as a legal non-profit cultural association under Italian law. That might not sound thrilling on its own, but what it means in terms of what we’ll be able to do is enormous. Once complete, it opens up access to cultural funding from the Italian government and possibly even the EU. This includes opportunities to hire help, host events and workshops, organise art and history tours, and expand our reach and impact in all sorts of meaningful ways. In short: we’re levelling up.
When I started, I had no idea all this was coming. I just took a gamble, just an act of hope, that anyone else would care as much about these topics as I did. But your support has proven that this project resonates far beyond me.
I’d like to share some notes I’ve had from subscribers recently; this is the kind of thing that really keeps me going.
It’s un-English to sound too gushy, but it’s simply a fact that I wouldn’t be doing this if all of you weren’t reading, participating and subscribing. It took you guys to convince me that my odd idea was worth continuing. This strange, beautiful project, which I once assumed was just for me, has turned into something shared around the world. (Seriously, I got a note the other day thanking me, from Papua New Guinea!)
Thank you for making it possible; thanks for the bike, for the work and for what’s ahead. (Magna Graecia on Monday!)
More soon…
HJMW
That’s fantastic, Hilary! I’m so glad you are taking care of yourself with the help of our monetary support. Keep it up so you can wow us with more of your wonderful posts.
I'm over-the-moon-happy for you. Your projects are incredible, and I'm so excited for it all!