Once again, and I know it is getting old for us too, the alarm went off early at 6:15 AM. Today we are leaving our nice relaxing accommodations at Agriturismo Montaperti and travelling by car to the town of Assisi. We knew that our time in Tuscany would be full of early mornings since we had to drive to the various towns, and getting there early beats the crowds and makes parking easier. Today, the early alarm was required so that we could get on the road, and arrive at Assisi early enough to have some time to visit the city since we are only there for one night.
Assisi was sort of a last minute addition to our trip plan, we had originally scheduled four nights in Tuscany so we could relax a bit during the middle of the trip. Stephanie decided she wanted to go to Assisi to visit the home of St. Francis, so we rearranged our schedule to add this destination. Assisi is sort of on the way south to Rome, so it was not that hard to do, but staying only one night in a destination is a little rough when living out of suitcases. It also limits the time we have to tour the city
We did our usual morning routine, I got up first, showered and dressed, and then it was Stephanie’s turn. We had our breakfast before we left, you guessed it, yogurt and a banana, and were ready to leave right on time at 7:30 AM. It was a little easier to pack, we had extra room in the luggage since I had my backpack out for day tripping in Assisi.
We got everything loaded into the car, it is nice that it has a covered baggage area in the back so if we had to park somewhere before our room was ready, everything in the back is hidden from view, and potential theft.
It was about a one hour and fifteen minute drive to Assisi, and the initial part of the drive was on the same road we had taken to get to Montepulciano yesterday. The traffic was really light for most of the drive until we got close to Assisi, and ran into some morning commuters in the nearby city of Perugia, and the traffic got a little heavy. Most people seemed to drive reasonably, but there was the occasional person who though he was an Italian race car driver, going way too fast for the heavy traffic.
Our first destination near Assisi was the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels outside the town of Assisi. It is a large Basilica constructed in the 1500’s. It is actually is built over the small church that St. Francis built early on after he first became a priest, the Porziuncola Chapel.
We parked in a very large free parking lot, surprised there was no cost. Next to the parking lot was a pay toilette, which we took advantage of. It was a little spooky, it was down some stairs because it was all underground.
It was a short walk to the Basilica from the parking lot. There was a large square in front of the church, probably that large to hold all of the pilgrims who come here for various celebrations. October 3 is the date of the death of St. Francis, and there were celebrations scheduled for both here and in Assisi on the anniversary of his death in 1226.
When we walked inside of the Basilica, there were signs that indicated you could not take pictures, so I was initially disappointed. While we were wandering around inside, we were approached by a man in the traditional Franciscan robe, a brown tunic, and he asked us where we were from. He introduced himself as Philipe, and he told us some of the history of the Basilica. Stephanie asked him about the photos, and he told us it was OK to take pictures from certain areas, just not right next to or inside of the Porziuncola Chapel. so it was nice to know we could get some photos from inside the Basilica
The small Porziuncola Chapel is totally inside the Basilica. The newer Basilica was built over that original chapel. There was also another small building inside the Basilica, near the chapel, that was built to commemorate the spot where St. Francis died. There was a set of rope ties from one of St. Francis’ Robes, they were inside a glass case that was inside the special building commemorating the spot of his death.
It was actually a moving experience to visit here, we went into the small chapel built by St. Francis and said some prayers. We looked around inside the Basilica at all of the side altars and the main altar. It was a fairly plain church inside, with the focus being on the original chapel in the middle of the church, The Basilica, like most churches of this period, is shaped like a cross as seen from above. The ceilings had been left plain, there were no decorative panels or fresco paintings.
Next, we visited the rose garden where St. Francis, in trying to free himself from some temptation, had flung himself into the thorny roses, and the thorns disappeared, through a miracle. The roses still grow in the garden today, and they still have no thorns whatsoever.
There was quite a large gift store on the way out of the Basilica, and it was, of course, full of St. Francis items. Stephanie found a small cloth St. Francis figure, and purchased that. There were A to Z options in St. Francis figurines, different shapes, sizes, materials, and colorations. It was pretty amazing.
We left the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, and walked back to the car, first stopping at a paid Toilette outside the church that we had passed on the way in. This one was nicer than the one we visited earlier nearer to the parking lot, and above ground, so it just felt safer.
We drove about 15 minutes from the Basilica to our hotel, The B&B Antica Mattonata. We were early for check in, but thought we would see if the room was ready, or if there was a place to store our luggage if it was not ready. At first, we did not find anyone inside the small check-in area that also served as the breakfast room, downstairs in the main building.. We finally went back outside and found two ladies who were cleaning rooms. They could not speak any English, but they used a voice translator app to communicate with us. One of the ladies, who was checking us in would speak into her phone, which would then play back a recording of her Italian conversation in English.
She showed us to our room, which was not yet ready, and then showed us to the breakfast area for tomorrow morning’s breakfast. We officially checked in there with our passport information. She was explaining about the breakfast, and we told her that unfortunately, we were going to be leaving before the breakfast opened at 8:00 AM. She said that was not a problem, and then proceeded to show us some packaged food items, some fruit, and some yogurt in the refrigerator, as well as juices and a coffee machine for coffee, all of which we could have access to before we left tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM.
We asked when our room would be ready, and her response was baffling, the recording of her Italian response said “it could be around 5:00 PM, but only God knows for sure”, and she gave a big shrug. She then asked us to follow her back to our room. It was being mopped, but was just about ready for us to occupy. We sort of figured out what may have caused the baffling response when we asked when it would be ready. It was forecast to rain later this evening, and, at times, was already getting cloudy outside. We believe she may have thought we asked when it was going to rain, not about the room. That made her response much more appropriate, especially since the room was ready now. Translation does not always go smoothly, even with modern technology
We unloaded our suitcases from the car and unpacked a few items to prepare for our trip to the hill town of Assisi, which we could see from our room window. We actually made some lunch with the leftover croissants, meats and cheese we had brought from Montaperti this morning, so that it did not go to waste. We used some ice packs from the B&B’s freezer to keep the remaining items cold, as well as an ice pack we had purchased earlier in the trip after Stephanie fell in Vernazza. We wrapped the food and ice packs in a towel for insulation. Unfortunately, this room did not have a refrigerator like all of the other’s to date.
After lunch, we headed to the nearby bus stop for the local bus to the top of Assisi. It was Euro 2.00 per person, and dropped you off at a stop at the highest point of the town, which was where we wanted to start our sightseeing from. It was just a short 10 minute walk to the bus stop, but the first place we thought was the bus stop was not, it was just a sign about bicycling stops, but looked a little like a bus stop sign. I saw another sign about 100 meters farther down the road, and walked to it and confirmed it was the bus stop we needed, there was even a schedule on the sign post.
We waited about 20 minutes for the bus, and purchased our tickets from the driver. It was fairly full, so we had to stand for the four stops the bus made as it headed to the top of Assisi. Once at the top, which was the end of the route, we exited, and then tried to orientate ourselves to exactly where we were.
We planned to follow a Rick Steves walking route through the town which started here at the top and ended at the bottom of town where the large Basilica of St. Francis is located. It took us a bit of backtracking, but we finally figured out where the walk was supposed to begin, it was the old amphitheater that was now part of a residential area, but still had the oval outer wall to indicate where it had originally been located.
The guided walk took us downhill into the town, and we stopped at several churches along the way. The route was a little difficult to follow, the map was on several pages of the book, so it was not as clear as it could have been had it been all together on a single page.
Following the guide, we were directed to stop at several churches along the way down to the Basilica of St. Francis, all of which had some importance to St. Francis, or to the history of the town of Assisi. The first church was the Cathedral of San Rufino, which is the church that has the baptismal font where both St. Francis and St. Claire were baptized, as well as Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor at that time. They were all baptized in this church in the late 1100’s and early 1200’s, at this Baptismal Font.
We continued our walk to the Basilica of Santa Chiara, or St. Claire. We had to wait about 25 minutes for it to reopen at 3:00 PM, so we walked around the side of the church to see some of the original city gates that were the location of the outer wall in the time of St. Francis. This Basilica is very frequented by pilgrims, it is dedicated to St. Claire, who, like St, Francis, came from a wealthy family, but after hearing St, Francis speak, she turned away from a life of riches, and started her own order of nuns dedicated to the poor. She formed the Daughters of St. Claire order.
Once we entered the Basilica, we first went into a side chapel that holds the Byzantine Cross from the Church of San Damiano. From the Rick Steves guidebook, we read that this cross spoke to St, Francis when he was young and still living at home with his wealthy family. This happened while the cross was in the crumbling Church of San Damiano, and it spoke the words, ‘Francis, you see My house falling down, go and repair it”. Francis responded “Willingly Lord”. At first, Francis thought it meant to rebuild that particular church, but in the end, St. Francis was credited with really saving the Catholic Church from ruin from the corruption going during the time he lived.
St. Claire was about as dedicated as St. Francis in her own right for helping the poor, and was inspired after listening to Francis preach after he formed the Franciscans. There is a crypt underneath the Basilica that holds the remains of St. Claire. There was also a large glass case that had relics from both St. Claire and St. Francis. Many of these were clothes that they had worn during their life of religious service.
The next church visited was the Temple of Minerva, which was originally built as a Roman Temple that is now the Santa Maria sopra Minerva Church. It was interesting for two reasons, there were still drains in the marble floor up by what is now the church’s altar where blood from human sacrifices drained through the floor when it was a Roman Temple, and for some precise dimension stones on the outside that were the official measuring lengths for construction for the entire town in its early history.
After we left the Santa Maria sopra Minerva, we headed downward toward the Basilica of St. Francis, and stopped first to see a small church called the Church of Santo Stefano. It was very plain both inside and out, but was included in the list of churches to visit because it represented a typical church for ordinary common folk of the time of St. Francis.
From there, we walked to the main church in Assisi, the Basilica of St. Francis. It is quite a large structure, and is the main sight that you see when looking at the hill town from below.
There is an Upper Basilica and a Lower Basilica. There was a crew setting up some type of camera equipment inside the upper Basilica, apparently part of the upcoming celebrations on October 3, the date of the death of St. Francis. We were not allowed take any photos on the inside of either Basilica. The upper Basilica was not that ornate inside, but had high ceilings. There was a stairway at the end on the right side that led down to the lower Basilica. It was much more ornate inside, and had a beautiful mosaic above the altar. There were also several side chapels. This is apparently the main church of the two.
There was a set of steps that led down to the crypt of St. Francis located underneath the lower Basilica. This led to an area where the remains of St. Francis are kept.
Upper Basilica of St. Francis
The remains are in a sealed stone coffin with metal bands and locks on it that was behind a glass case. There were areas to sit and pray on the front and on the sides of the area where the stone coffin was displayed. There was a Franciscan Priest there to guide traffic in a clockwise directions around the crypt, and of course to keep people silent and to enforce the photo ban. Also in the crypt area were the burial spots for some close friends of St. Francis, a few of his earliest fellow Franciscans.
We headed back up the stairs to the lower Basilica and exited the rear to a small cloister area. There was a gift shop that we looked through, and also a free museum. The museum held many historical artifacts from the Basilica’s history, but all of the descriptions were in Italian, so we could not really tell much about them. We had to go back inside the lower Basilica and exit from the front of the church to the large square outside that is made from marble. The entire visit to the Basilica of St. Francis was inspiring.
We left the Basilica grounds and walked along the street that was lined with stores selling mostly religious items and various St. Francis items. It almost seemed ironic that there was so much being sold in Assisi related to St. Francis since he was such a humble person, and not interested in any wealth. But that is what tourism does, and the people here probably have nothing else available to them for revenue other than the tourism.
Our hotel staff had said we could just walk back down from the lower end of the city, and we found a brick sidewalk that we had seen while waiting for the bus to take us up into Assisi earlier. It was a little longer of a walk than we thought, we had to cross one main road and then take an additional section of the sidewalk down.
The sidewalk was interesting, there were names on each orange clay brick making up the center section of the sidewalk and these continued the entire length of the sidewalk. There must of been thousands of names of people who had apparently donated money to build this sidewalk. The sidewalk passed by a seminary before it led us to the bottom of the hill and past the bus stop. Even on this lower section of the brick sidewalk there were bricks with names on them.
We continued the walk back toward the B&B when we realized that we had passed a field where there was a great opportunity to take photos of us using the tripod, which we had lugged around all afternoon, but had not yet used for any photos.
We backtracked about two blocks and set everything up in the field, and got some nice photos of us with the Basilica of St. Francis and the town of Assisi in the background. We loaded the photo equipment back up into our backpacks and walked the remaining distance back to our room so we could relax a bit before heading out to dinner.
There were several cats at the B&B Antica Mattonata, and Stephanie sat outside playing with them while I worked just a few minutes in the room using the WiFi to load some photos to the blog ‘s Photo Albums.
Stephanie And Her New Friend
We knew we wanted to have some wine while we were relaxing before dinner, and also have some with our dinner, so we looked on Google to see if there were any restaurants we could walk to from our room. We did not want to be driving even a short distance due to the strict DUI laws here.
There were at least three restaurants with great reviews within about a 10-12 minute walk for our room, but none of them opened before 7:00 PM. It was only about 5:45 PM, so we got in the car before we had any of our wine to ride by them to see what they looked like, and see if there were any menus posted outside before they were open.
We did not see one of the restaurants from the road, but found the other two. Unfortunately, we did not see any menus outside while we drove through the parking lots for each.
We decided on one of the two, Ristorante Pizzeria Bellavista, it looked a little more casual. With that decision made, we drove back to the room to enjoy our wine and snacks, and to rest a little from all of the walking.
We sat outside and had our wine and snacks, consisting of crackers along with some of the cheese from our “refrigerated” stash, still wrapped up in the towel with the freezer packs.
At about 7:00 PM, we left the room to walk to the restaurant, wanting to be there early since we were not sure if it would be crowded, or if we needed reservations.
The walk was nice, it was not quite dark, and we were still on another section of the brick sidewalk with the names, which was lighted.
We arrived at the Ristorante Pizzeria Bellavista and got a table in their outside area, it was covered and mostly enclosed with glass windows, one of which was open. It was nice at first, but got a little warm as people started to arrive and sit around us. We ordered a bottle of wine, and we both got pasta dishes, which were both really good.
The prices were very reasonable, and we were glad we had not tried to go back into Assisi to eat where prices seemed high at the few places where we looked at menus earlier today. By the time we were finishing up, the outside area was almost full. They had finally opened another window section, so it cooled off a little, but it was still pretty warm, it had been a sunny warm today in Assisi, we never got any of the forecasted rainy weather.
It was quite dark by the time we walked back to our room so it was nice that there were lights along the curb of the sidewalk. Once we were back at the room, we sat outside and enjoyed the view of the well lighted St. Francis Basilica up on the hill. We took a few photos, and then headed in for the evening.
We will be getting up fairly early tomorrow, we have a 6:00 AM alarm set. We will be driving to Rome tomorrow morning to turn in our rental car there, and then taking a train from Rome to Naples. It is about a 2.5 hour drive to Rome, depending on traffic. and our train leaves at noon, so we want to make sure we leave enough time to absorb any delays.
We both turned in about 10:30 PM.