Day 21 Italy 2008

Today we went to Assisi, where the magnificent Basilica of San Francesco holds the remains of St. Francis.


The day was beautiful as we made our way up the mountain. We first noticed the modern conveniences of a parking garage and elevators (not free, by the way). We found the streets were lined with little shops and several churches and basilicas adorned the town.



The Basilica of San Francesco looks almost new. One could hardly tell that it had been damaged by the earthquake of September 26th, 1997. The Vault with the Doctors of the Church by Giotto had been repaired nicely.

The Basilica is dedicated to the life of St. Francis. He was born to a wealthy family of merchants of Assisi in 1182. He had a normal carefree youth, but a lengthy illness which confined him to bed began a life of meditation. After his conversion, he divested himself of his fine clothes in front of his parents, the Bishop and the townspeople and began a life of absolute poverty and penance. He died in 1226 and his body was temporarily interred in the church of San Giorgio. It was transferred to the Basilica of San Francesco in 1230.

The upper church holds one of the most important cycles of painting in Italian art. The famous artist Giotto painted 28 scenes that depict the episodes of the life of St. Francis. Giotto was one of the first artists that broke away from the stiff medieval style to give humanism to painting, including a sense of depth with carved drapery and perspective. This is exemplified in this series of paintings.

After leaving the Basilica, we browsed the little shops before stopping for lunch. We heard a giant clap of thunder, and the rain came down in sheets. We were sitting under large umbrellas, but needed our small umbrellas to protect mainly our camera equipment. We had lunch at a little bar/restaurant and decided to have a gelato to top it off. Well…we learned our lesson that if you get a gelato…don’t eat it at the table…they more than double the price. The price said 1.80 euro and when we got the bill, it was 2.90 euro (that’s $4.50), plus the rest of our meal. We said…”but the sign says 1.80 euro”..and she said, “but you went back and ate it at the table, so, that’s more!” Eating here is not cheap!

The day remained rainy, so we headed home. We were tired, because we were awakened by a big bird pecking at our kitchen window around 5 a.m. this morning.