Stop #2 on our road trip: Assisi
We drove to Assisi this morning. The day looked lovely until it started to rain, and then snow. It was quite chilly up in the little town, but we braved the weather anyway. I'm glad we did as it cleared up and became a lovely day.
We opted to do the Rick Steves audio tour of Assisi and by that I mean I read the transcript out loud as there is no easy way for three people to share one pair of headphones.
We started at the top of Assisi with the Roman Amphitheater and worked our way down.
The Roman Amphitheater dates from the 1st century. These are the 1st century laundry facilities.
This is a view of what remains of part of the amphitheater.
The buildings around it were built in the 13th and 14th centuries.
A view down an alley looking out to one of the two castles.
I think this one is Rocca Maggiore.
This is the snow descending the Umbrian mountains and trying to attack us.
I really liked all the plants that and hanging and growing on the wall.
Mom is bundled up against the snow and wind.
A quaint alley we passed through on our way to our next stop on the walking tour.
This is the Cathedral of San Ruffino (Cattedrale San Rufino). Ruffino is the actual official patron saint of Assisi. It was built in the 11th century and is considered to have one of the best examples of the Romanesque style.
I liked the stonework details around the rose window.
The main door to the church has two lion statues on either side.
One seems to be hanging out, but the other one.....
...is eating a Christian martyr.
Nom nom nom. Tasty Christian martyr!
Nom nom nom. Tasty Christian martyr!
Other view of nom noms and the other lion who is just chilling out.
More views of Umbria. Umbria is also known as il cuoro verde d'Italia or the green heart of Italy.
This was taken from the piazza outside of the Basilica of St. Clare (Santa Chiara), but we toured the church later.
This is one of the three arches of an old gateway that line this street.
One is from 1265, one is from, 1316, and this one marks the Roman gate.
We made a pitstop for gelato and snacks.
Sooooooo many meringues!
Sooooooo many meringues!
Look at the size of this meringue! It's as big as my head!
This is on the wall...ceiling? of the old market.
It's important because it depicts turkeys so it has to have been painted after 1492.
Turkeys were not known in Europe until after Columbus returned from his voyages.
This is the church of Santo Stefano. It is typical of a rural Italian Romanesque church. Supposedly Santo Stefano's bells miraculously rang out on October 3rd, 1226, the day St. Francis died.
After so many Baroque style churches, this simple stone church was refreshing and beautiful.
More plants on the walls. I like the bright flowers of the cyclamens.
Alright, I know this is what you were all waiting for.
This is the Basilica of St. Francis (San Francesco). The church was built on the site where St. Francis was buried. This area had been known as the "Hill of Hell" because it was where criminals were executed, but now it is known as the "Hill of Paradise."
The church is split into two parts, the Lower Church and the Upper Church. The Lower Church was completed in 1230. The remains of St. Francis were moved from their temporary location in what would become St. Claire's and interred in the Lower Church. The burial place was concealed and kept secret for fear that the saint's remains would be stolen. The Upper Church was completed in 1253.
So the people who buried St. Francis in the Lower Basilica forgot to tell anyone that the remains were there. St. Fracis was "lost" until 1818 when the remains were rediscovered.
We toured the Lower and Upper Churches, but unfortunately photos were not permitted.
This is a statue of St. Francis by Norberto
(We did not know any of this at the time).
(We did not know any of this at the time).
It is showing him as a young man coming back after being captured during wars with Perugia in the early 1200s. It's a different image of St. Francis than you normally see.
Mom wanted to get a little statue or postcard or something of it, but we couldn't find it anywhere.
The Umbrian view from the Basilica of St. Francis.
The original 15th century and still used cloisters.
It could house up to about 200 monks, but today it only has about 40 at any given time.
There was a little free museum off to one side of the cloisters.
Most of it had church related items from ye olden days donated by pilgrims to the church.
It also had several pieces from the Perkins collection.
Santi Nicola di Bari e Giovanni Gualberto
by Lorenzo di Niccolò (1392-1420)
by Lorenzo di Niccolò (1392-1420)
I don't actually care for a lot of Renaissance and Pre-Renaissance art, but the 14th century stuff can be entertaining because everyone is super suspicious of everyone else. I imagine this painting goes like this:
Nicola: I bet Giovanni is thinking about stealing my rolls!
Giovanni: Man...I really want some of Nicola's rolls. Maybe I can steal them later.
Angel: I see you Giovanni! Stop thinking of ways to get Nicola's rolls!
Or possibly
or possibly:
Giovanni: Ugh, this book is so heavy, why couldn't I carry rolls instead?
Nicola: Why does he get a book? I'm more important. Look at my red robes! Aren't they deserving of a book instead of these stupid rolls?
Angel: I have to fart. Do you think they will notice?
San Francesco riceve le Stimmate (St. Frances receives the Stigmata)
by Antonio Aquillo (1441-1510)
I would call this painting "St. Francis flying his Jesus kite."
This is a fancy tapestry which also should be called "St. Francis flying his Jesus kite."
Looking down the green to the church. The Norberto statue is hiding behind the olive tree.
Dad taking a good photo, mom being silly.
This is where mom goes shopping and dad and I go wandering off to look for a geocache. I thought it was 30m away, turns out it was more like 300m and we may have gone up a hill side for no reason and gotten lost a bit. The view was nice though.
The view.
That is the Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi to the left.
This was a sign on a snack stand we passed in our misguided wanderings. I took a photo of it because they have stolen the characters of Phineas and Ferb, from the show Phineas and Ferb, to sell their tacos. The show is great by the way.
This is an alleyway in the German area of Assisi.
Bet you didn't know Assisi had a German area.
Earlier, dad purchased some watercolors of the town. In our wanderings to find the geocache, I accidentally found the alley that was depicted in one of the paintings. Imagine this in water color with some flowers along the wall and that's what one of the paintings looks like.
We did, eventually, find the geocache.
It took a lot of sticking hands into holes in a wall, but again, the view was worth it.
That is snow on those mountains in the back.
We met back up with mom, who had been waiting a bit for us. This is her story of Finding Norberto:
As you know, we saw the large statue of the exhausted knight on the exhausted horse in front of the basilica with no sign explaining anything about it. We looked in stores for post cards, we looked in the basilica gift shop, but there were no pictures or information regarding the statue. We were perplexed and gave up.
Later in the afternoon, while in a gift shop buying stuff to take back, I thought I would see if the sales clerk could tell me anything about the statue. So I asked in the typical tourist way, slow and loud. “In front of the cathedral”…. . After several slow versions she finally responded “Si, Si in front of church” I then asked “Who is the man on the horse”? She responded with a blank stare until I bent over at the waist and hung my head and arms and looked exhausted. Her response was immediate “NORBERTO!” “You know Norberto?” No, was my response and she said, “Famous Umbrian artist.” She grabbed my arm took me outside and pointed me down the street and gestured to the left.
Down the street and on the left we found an art dealer who carries Norberto’s art. It was there that we learned that the statue is a depiction of Francis when he returned from a crusade exhausted from the wars and excesses of his world. He then gave it all up and dedicated his life to God and simplicity.
It was inside the art dealer's gallery also that we discovered that a smallish (~12" or ~30cm) statute was a little out of our price ranges. Instead of slumped over Frances statues Dad got me a print of the Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi, which I find very calming and relaxing to look at. He and mom purchased a painting of Norberto's that depicts the monks going through the town.
They are both fun pieces.
We toured the church that has the cross that changed St. Francis's life and we able to see many pieces of his, and St. Claire's clothing. I was amazed it was still around and in as good of condition as it was. Material doesn't usually hold up well through the centuries and these garments are about 800 years old.
This concludes our adventures in Assisi.
We piled into my car, which was now packed with wine, art, and our suitcases, and we headed off to Spoleto for the evening.
This concludes our adventures for today.
