I’ve determined that when it comes to transportation I can be a very unlucky person.
My friend Joe and I left Firenze on Saturday (September 24– I know I’m really behind with these posts) at 8 am for Assisi, hoping to get there before lunch so we’d have the whole day to sightsee before heading back “home” around 6. Unfortunately, we missed our connecting train in Arezzo by 2 minutes (literally!) and had 2 hours to wait before the next train to Assisi would come. Fun! Instead of just sitting in the train station, we decided to go out and explore Arezzo for a bit before we came back for the train. Why not take the opportunity to see a different town? The main town of Arezzo is situated on a hill with the train station on the bottom so we walked up to the park at the top before heading back down for the train. It was a nice walk and we got a beautiful view of Tuscany from the park. Not a complete waste of time!
Joe walking through the streets of Arezzo
from inside the park
Toscana
Joe taking in the beautiful scenery
an everyday Italian scene… a man leaning on a statue to talk on the cell phone
We finally arrived at Assisi six hours later, including our brief excursion in Arezzo, 3.5 hours more than it should’ve taken. I can’t complain… I’m happy we were there at all!
view of Assisi from the train station
The first thing we did when we arrived was head straight for the Basilica of St. Francis. By this point in our art history class we already knew the story of St. Francis and the different types of churches so we went through this fairly quickly. It was different from what I would’ve expected though. There were two different stories of altars, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. I wish I could’ve taken pictures for you to see what I mean. Then in the very bottom of the basilica (the lower sanctuary) was the body of St. Francis. It was a beautiful sanctuary and I wish I could’ve actually spent a few minutes in there, but because of our delay in Arezzo we had only 3 hours to see the entire city of Assisi before our train home.
walking up to the Basilica of St. Francis
convent attached to the back of the Basilica
“PAX” (peace) and a cross… seen outside the entrance of the Basilica’s second floor
the entrance to the second floor of the Basilica
the view from above (aka the second floor)
After the Basilica of St. Francis, Joe and I walked up the hill to the Assisi gates and then “hiked” down the road to San Damiano, the church that St. Francis repaired with his own two hands when he heard his call from God and where he spent a good portion of his saintly days. The church was extremely small but beautiful, with a convent of similar manner attached where St. Francis lived.
random side street view
walking up Assisi
cute little chapel on the side of the street down to San Damiano
SAN DAMIANO, the major site to see in Assisi…
from the outside– unfortunately, photographs weren’t allowed inside
the San Damiano convent courtyard
along the path down to San Damiano
From San Damiano we walked back up into the town and stopped in the church where Saint Clare of Assisi (a contemporary and follower of St. Francis) is buried. Two saints in one day… holiest day trip ever!! In the same sanctuary, we were able to see what is believed to be some of the possessions of St. Francis including his robe, Bible, and a stocking for his foot from when he had the stygmata, among a few other items. Whether or not these were actually his are up for debate, but it was interesting to see anyway.
a random Assisi street
As we walked through the town one last time on the way to the bus I joked that there were a million churches in this town, practically one around every corner. As soon as I said those words, I caught the glimpse of a sign for “Chiesa Nuova” or New Church and dragged Joe in that direction… what was one more church after a day of churches and saints? Although he initially doubted my instincts, he was happy I forced him to see it… Chiesa Nuova (ironically built in 1615) stands on the ground where St. Francis’ house once was. We walked in and were able to see his front door, the place where his father imprisoned him, and his father’s shop. It was pretty cool and the church was pretty too; unlike the other churches we saw, the ground plan of this was a Greek cross (a cross with arms all of equal length) so you could stand in the middle and see the entire thing at once. It was also small and intimate compared to the grand, over-the-top churches that we’ve been seeing everywhere else.
Chiesa Nuova… small, unassuming church on the outside, packed with St. Francis history on the inside
the entrance to Chiesa Nuova from the historical St. Francis street
Oh, and don’t worry, Joe ate his words like a man and said I was right, he was wrong… I was happy. 😉
Adventures with Alyssa 