Tuesday October 25, 2011

After breakfast today we headed to Assisi, which is in another district, Umbria. We met a local guide, Marco, who was a wonderful guide for the Basilica di San Francesco (Basilica of St. Francis). He was passionate about his subject and very theatrical! We went through the lower church first, which was covered in frescoes. He explained that these were early frescoes and pointed out that the people were not painted life-like, but were rather stilted. We then went down to the crypt where we could see the tomb of St. Francis. The upper church was much brighter of course and filled with frescoes which were much more life-like. There were many panels depicting the life of St. Francis. Many of these wall decorations were attributed to famous artists such as Giotto, Lorenzetti, and Martini. We saw a large number of Franciscan monks and nuns as well as other people of the church from other orders. There was much going on in the churchyard as the Pope is coming here on Thursday. In fact we were quite lucky, as the church will be closed tomorrow at 3 PM so that a security check of the church can be made before the arrival of the Pope. According to Marco, there are only 2000 people who live in the old town of Assisi and 1400 of them are religious figures. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos in the church so I can only say that the frescoes were quite beautiful, but cannot show you any of them. The upper church was damaged in the earthquake of 1997, but most of the damage has been repaired. The photo above is of the huge basilica. Note that the arches are the lower church and the main building is on top. We then had our free time and walked around the medieval streets, poking our heads into a number of shops. We ended up at the base of the hill on which the Basilica sits at the Hotel Windsor Savoie. The photo of the wall sconce is from the dining room. It is made of Venetian glass – quite beautiful. The dining rooms here were huge and it was obvious that they catered to tour groups. By the time we were eating our lunch, two of the enormous rooms were full with various groups from many countries. I could distinguish French, Italian, German, and English being spoken – a modern-day Babel. Lunch was wonderful – a choice of minestrone soup or lasagna, chicken with salad and profiterole for dessert (sort of like a cream puff with chocolate sauce). We then drove down the hill and visited St. Mary of the Angels church (see the golden statue of St. Mary), which has a beautiful 11th century chapel inside of it – quite unusual. St. Mary’s was built over the chapel and is located in the nave. Just outside the chapel is where St. Francis died. The Pope will also visit this site. On our way back to Chianciano Terme, we passed by Perugia (of Amanda Knox fame). Our guide said she was in Perugia with a different group when the ruling of her release was announced. She said the square in front of the Hall of Justice was packed and a bit rowdy. Apparently, many Italians thought that she was released under pressure from the United States and are not convinced of her innocence. We also made a stop to see Lake Trasimeno (see photo), the fourth largest lake in Italy. Ducks along the shore serenaded us as we admired the view. We came back to town and Lana, Kelly, and I meandered around the plaza area and did a bit of window shopping. Some of the items for sale were lovely, but the prices were also quite lovely so we returned to the hotel empty handed. We went across the street to a small café and had sandwiches or salads. The movie tonight was “Tea with Mussolini”. It had some wonderful actresses – Lily Tomlin, Maggie Smith, Cher, and Judy Dench. I ended up watching the whole thing – it was quite good and took place in Florence for the most part so it was fun to recognize many of the places we had been.