We left Monteferrante a day early. Jim and I had been talking about our drive to Florence. There are several ways to get there – all about the same time. One takes you up to Bologna and back down, another takes you down and over to Rome and then back up to Florence, and another was a route that goes through Assisi and I’ve always wanted to visit Assisi and especially the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. You know how sometimes the Good Lord listens to you and kind of gives you a bop on the head? Well that happened last Friday, day before we planned to leave! The hot water heater in our apartment decided to stop working which meant there was no heat in the apartment! Yup, we packed up, bid farewell to the family with more than a few tears and drove to Assisi! What a great idea this was – it is absolutely beautiful. The drive was easy with such a gorgeous countryside.
When we arrived in Assisi, finding our hotel was a bit of a challenge. The road was extremely narrow and wound around the old hilltop town with tons of tourists walking about so we had to drive around or through them; we figured around was better, heaven forbid they move out of the way! On the positive side, the Church of St. Francis of Assisi is 100 yards from the hotel door and we could see it from our 2nd floor room.
The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in early evening.
Once settled into our room, we headed out for our evening passeggiata, beginning at the church. This church is just amazing, but then it seems I say that about all the churches. I guess it’s that each one is different – all just amazing. San Francesco is huge, beautiful and had so many different little side chapels. That evening we could visit only the lower basilica which includes the crypt of Saint Francis. Unfortunately there was the NO PHOTOS sign. Darn I would love to have been able to show you all how beautiful the interior was and the crypt where the remains of San Francesco lay. After visiting the church, we continued our passeggiata around the town for about 30 minutes but it had begun to rain so back we went to the hotel. By the way, should you go to Assisi, the name of the hotel is San Francesco Hotel, nice rooms, modern bathroom, and a quaint, lovable bar and dining area with a nice restaurant facing San Francesco right next door. By the way, $99 including breakfast.
After breakfast we headed out on a morning walk before heading off to Florence. It was overcast, damp and a little dark but we still saw a lot of the town, especially adding in the walk down to the parking garage. By the way, many of the travel books, including Rick Steves, will tell you that the tourist crowds in Assisi are gone at night, making an overnight stay the best way to experience Assisi. So true!
Me, at the home of my patron Saint, Saint Francis of Assisi. Yes, I am very happy.
One of several archways over a street in town – all streets are one way!
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, like the church of the same name in Rome, is a church dedicated to Mary built over a Roman temple to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. Parts of the Roman temple, which dates from the time of Augustus (63 BC-AD 14), still remain.
Basilica and altar of the Church of Saint Mary over Minerva (Santa Maria soppra Minerva)
One of many stairways up to the upper levels of the city.
Another archway, this one with an apartment over the street.
And one with a little more height and a tree growing on top. It was likely a watchtower in the olden days.
View from the Piazza di Commune, town center. The dome in the background is over the Church of Santa Clara, sister saint to Saint Francis, who also from a wealthy family like Francis, gave up everything to vows of poverty and who followed Saint Francis.
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in the morning sun. We were able to go into the upper basilica which had been closed last night. Again, a marvel of design, craftsmanship and art.
The church from a lower level down by the parking garage. The long structure is where the monks used to live and study.
Umbria, with Tuscany off in the distance. Beautiful country for our drive to Florence.
Arrived Florence early afternoon, turned in the car and took the taxi to our apartment. Had to wait a few before our landlady arrived so we took turns walking up and down the street while one of us watched our bags.
via Guelfa in Florence; our apartment on the right. I’m guarding the bags at this moment!
The apartment is cute and a little different than what it appeared to be on the internet but it is working out just great. We have plenty of room with the exception of the bathroom. On line it looks absolutely fabulous but when I saw it, all I could think of was how on earth are we supposed to move around in here. It’s a long, narrow, and I do mean narrow, bathroom. It is about 10 ft. long including the shower and 3 ft. wide! I kid you not. No photo, just use your imagination, toilets are just that and no need to be seen on my blog!
After putting everything in the apartment, we wandered around some and once again, there are many tourists here. The lines into the Duomo were exceedingly long so we opted to revisit the Basilica after attending Mass tomorrow, Sunday. We then stopped at a restaurant for dinner and talked about what we want to do in Florence. Turns out there is a whole lot more than we figured.
The Duomo, Saint Mary of the Flowers, in Florence. Florence is our final stop of this marvelous trip to Italy.
We returned to the apartment, continued our discussions about adventures in Florence and then hit the hay for an early night. We’ll catch you up on Florence in my next blog.