Old doors of Southern Italy—Go ahead. Open one. I dare you.
- CarolKinnee
- Jul 22
- 3 min read
Five hundred years from now, will someone gaze at your front door and whisper, "Look at the workmanship! The craftmanship! How old do you think that door is?"
If it’s like our door . . . probably not. In the years we've lived in our house, the entry has received a few colour updates, had the weather-worn plastic around its windows repainted, and celebrated a new latch. All necessary fixes, but none that will put it on an Oh wow! list for remarkable doors. No. While our entry point isn't on its last legs, it isn't in it for the long haul either.
These doors though. If these old doors in Southern Italy could speak, what secrets would they share?”
Yes. I know they're doors, but I have a confession. My phone's photo library has a whole section of door pictures. It’s located between my cat photos and the grandkid videos.
I’m not a secret interior designer, and I don’t have a burning desire to become an architect. I just love the richness and design of doors created hundreds, even a thousand years ago. These sometimes elegant, occasionally shabby entrances were built without the help of 3-D modeling or power tools. No AI designs here. These portals to the past were eyeballed and crafted with planks of wood fastened by iron studs. The patina covering the aged wood is a result of time, not carefully applied layers.
Do you remember the riddle?
When is a door not a door?
When it is ajar.
Well, I want that door ajar. I want it thrown open so I can look inside. Since that won't happen, I have to imagine what's hidden behind the aged planks of wood. I have to borrow from my endless list of what ifs and whys to create an alternate world. But if the doors could tell their secrets? What stories would they tell—intrigue, passion, laughter, mayhem? What history would they reveal?
The magic of old doors
I searched for books (fiction) with the word door in their titles and found a Goodreads' Listopia showing 108 books. Another search for book covers (fiction) featuring a door, found the list, Just Doors - Covers That Focus On Doors—listing 69 books. I'm betting the true number of books with doors on their covers is much higher.
Do you doubt the intrigue of doors? Check out Pinterest and do a search. But beware of falling down the rabbit hole to a world of door art and ideas.
Am I hooked on the old doors of Southern Italy?
I am. I admit it. I love wandering the cobbled streets of ancient towns, snapping photos of doors. My writer's brain never stops wondering about the back stories, the possibilities hidden behind the closed entrances, while my creative side is in love with the beauty of the old wood. Yes, even the super ratty looking ones!
So what does a door represent to me?
A time portal to who knows when?
An escape into who knows where?
An easy entry with a sticky exit?
A beginning?
An end—permanent or maybe not?
A shift or a change in direction?
I don't think about symbolism when I write. I'm a story teller more than a crafter of deep literature, but the list above made me smile when I realized the protagonists in my fantasy series, The Prophecy of Helligon, faced more than their share of doors, figuratively and literally. Writing fiction makes it fun to throw up roadblocks and locked doors! Think of the possibilities. Even a simple door can be a powerful symbol.
We're lucky the builders of old designed their doors to stand the test of time!
“Be an opener of doors”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ciao,
Carol
The Prophecy of Helligon Books 1 & 2
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