Day 7: Assisi

 Day 7: Saturday 25th May 

Spiritual and temporal home of the sandal-wearing, tofu-eating, peace-loving and definitely green, patron saint of the Christian wokerati, Assisi is a beautiful medieval hill-top town. Busier and more tourist orientated than Perugia, a shuttle from the train station 3km away took us up to the old town in 10 minutes. We had initially planned to visit the old town first and finish with the basilica, but on seeing the crowds, which we thought would only grow later in the day, we decided to do the basilica first.


The no-photo policy in the church was being loosely observed and seeing as I considered St Francis a bit of a rebel I chanced a few shots.



Besides the tomb of the saint, the frescos by Giotto are the standout features of this twofer church - there’s a lower and upper basilica giving you two churches in one.


And I thought Stranger Things was dark

The story of St Francis is really fascinating and much too long to tell here, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of my 17 year old great-nephew Rohan telling a group of us 60 and 70 year olds about Diogenes a couple of months ago as we descended from the hills in Ardudwy. It seems Diogenes and Francis had a lot in common.


Although he came from a rich background and had been a soldier, Francis renounced his wealth and lived as a beggar, preaching peace and love.

Francis apparently stripped all his clothes off in public and in front of his wealthy father, renouncing all he had.

Like Diogenes and Corbyn, in spite of renouncing all wealth, Francis soon developed a cult following.

Francis was very green and doves loved him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he made jam

St Clare (Santa Chiara) had a bit of a thing for him. She got her own cult following too.

 Santa Chiara





Soon there were Franciscans everywhere and it’s no wonder that they got to St Francisco in the 1960s and wore flowers in their hair.

Although he mostly begged and preached outdoors, and was never ordained, St Francis was recognised by the Catholic Church and became a saint within two years of his death. 

Ironically, as ever, this cult has been commercialised. There are shops selling St Francis merchandise everywhere and these days you can’t be sure who is a real pilgrim beggar and who is a fake on the make.


A real pilgrim


The scenery around Assisi is very beautiful as is the town itself and it’s definitely worth a visit, but we both prefer Perugia.






Two fake pilgrims







Comments

  1. GarethMay 25, 2024 at 9:09 PM

    Beautiful historic buildings!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 26, 2024 at 9:19 AM

    Apologies to those who have been posting comments. I only just realised I had to approve them before they are visible.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1: Ducklington to Cologne

Image
  Sunday 19 May - Day 1 And we’re off!  Our taxi driver picked us up promptly at 8.55 … and doubled as a very efficient station porter. First train Oxford Parkway to London Marylebone.  But what happened to First Class? We have First Class tickets! … A couple of families of noisy but very friendly Crewe Alexandra supporters sat by us from High Wycombe on their way to Wembley for the League Two play-offs. Hope they have a great day.  Eurostar terminal at St Pancras was busy - like an airport departures lounge. Eurostar quick and comfortable but took a while to get off the platform in Brussels and caught the ICE train to Köln with 3 minutes to spare.   We arrived in Cologne on schedule at 6.15pm (5.15 UK time). Hotel Santo is a 10 minute walk from the station. Jill and I were rather surprised by the hotel art … so we needed some kölsch  and German fayre. With our spirits revived we wandered around Cologne getting our bearings and a feel for the plac...
Read more

Day 37: Gryon to Dijon

Image
We awoke to another beautiful day in the mountains. This has been another lovely home exchange experience; for me the best of the trip, although Jill ranks the Perugia one as the best. We all have our own preferences and I love mountains, which probably affects my view. They’ve all been really good though.  We did the final cleaning and said goodbye to Gryon and its goats. After the lovely journey down the mountain… … our route took us along the shore of Lake Geneva… … and on to Lausanne, where we caught the TGV to Dijon. Dijon is a very pretty small city, about the size of Oxford, I would estimate, but a lot quieter and nicer because virtually the whole centre is pedestrianised. It’s full of beautiful old buildings. We couldn’t check in until 3.30 so …. time for a beer at Cafe Delirium. Not sure what to buy we ordered the Blonde. The €13 charge suggests we had the Delerium Tremens (great name for a beer)… … which lived up to its name and I was soon taking pictures of urinals....
Read more

Day 17: Aci Castello to Taormina

Image
Our original plan had been to go to Taormina for the day and return to Aci Castello before departing for Siracusa tomorrow. However, after having looked at the travel logistics we decided to stay the night in Taormina. So, farewell Aci Castello. Cannizzaro station was deserted. Literally. There were no staff. Mick Lynch would do his nut.  Still, we managed to get on the train and in 45 minutes were in Taormina. Taormina station was not deserted. Neither was the area outside where people were waiting for the shuttle bus up to the town. The throng surrounded the young woman selling tickets like a crowd around someone offering spare tickets on match day. She refused to sell any more until the bus arrived. The bus arrived and then there were two intermingled throngs: the one to get the bus and the one to buy tickets to get on the bus. We were the last ones on the bus. Taormina is Sicily chic. It’s where we needed to be seen.  It’s gorgeous. It was crowded. We needed canolli. ...
Read more