So, we left Rome after lunch and drove a few hours north to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis and St. Clare. Assisi is located on the side of a mountain. It is a beautifully picturesque site as we were driving up towards it.
Assisi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to meeting a variety of criteria including being the birthplace of the Franciscan Order, containing the Basilica of San Francesco (for its art and architechture), and representing a medieval city-sanctuary. Much of the city seems to still be back in medieval times. It has a look of an old place in the modern age.
Assisi has a long history dating back to 1000 BC. We started our tour of this town with our town guide Giuseppe, a resident of Assisi. Giuseppe was a humourous and informative guide. He led us over cobbled and winding and hilly streets, through three separate gates of the walled town and told us we would be taking a walk through history. Each time we walked through a gate, we were walking back in time. We walked through the 13Th, 12Th, and 11Th century.
We walked past St. Chiara, a church named after Clare, who was so moved by Francis's message that she founded the Order of Poor Ladies. Nuns live and pray still in this nunnery. As we continued along, we were treated to a rare inside look into a small chapel. Giuseppe told us that the chapel was rarely open but that since it was we could respectfully peak our heads in as long as we did not disturb the nuns at prayer.
Many buildings along the street have flower baskets hanging from the windows. We saw potted cyclamens hanging all the way up one wall. The effect is very striking. There were a number of little stores, shops, and cafes that we past as we continued on our journey. A few bake shops caught our attention. In the bake shop windows we saw the largest meringues in a variety of different colours. We also saw some very delicious baked goods. A bakery was not on the list of stops with our guide. Sage and I left the beaten path for a quick purchase of The Most Delicious Piece of Food Ever Baked and Eaten. We are pretty sure that what we enjoyed was a cannoli - tubular pastry filled with cream and topped with chocolate. It was devine. As soon as we had purchased it we flew out the store and joined our group once again further along the tour. I have been dreaming about that cannoli since we ate it.
The major stop along this tour was to The Basilica of San Francesco. This church, which is actually two churches, was built and decorated in the 1200s and named after St. Francis (1181-1226). We learned that Francis had had a fortunate childhood, was well educated, and live a fairly enjoyable life. He had a spiritual awakening which resulted in him giving up all his possessions. There is an upper and a lower church. The lower church houses the tomb of St. Francis. We were able to walk through both the upper church and the lower church. Giuseppe told us that we could not judge the art work and paintings on the walls of The Basilica with the eyes of those who had just seen The Sistine Chapel. The art was less percise but still beautiful. Especially noteworthy was the variety of geometric patterns painted on the arches and columns running up the walls and across the ceiling.
There were two major things that I especially loved about our visit to Assisi. The first was the story that Giuseppe told us about the space between the upper and lower church. There is space between there that is not tall enough for a person to stand in but definitely large enough for people to use as a hiding place when needed. That time was during World War II. The residence of Assisi hid the entire Jewish population of 300 during WWII in the space between these two churches. A gentleman in the town who happened to be a print maker suggested that the Jews burn their identification and created new papers for them. He advised them that, if asked, they should show these false papers. Nazis, hunting for Jews, searched Assisi and even searched the Basilica but did not discover those in hiding. Apparently, one Nazi was praying the Basilica and discovered the hiding place but did not report it. As a result of these acts, not one Jewish person from Assisi was found, rounded up, or perished during WWII. Recently, the stone work outside of the Basilica has been changes. Stone from Isreal was given to the town as a recognition of the protection provided for those 300 Jews during the war. The courtyard of the Basilica is now patterned in a striped fashion, some darker rectangular stones, alternated by some lighter rectangular stones, those are the ones gifted from Isreal. It is a moving and fitting tribute.
The second thing that I will take away from my visit to Assisi is the words that Giuseppe said to our group that actually, for me, embody the heart of the previous story. Those words were: "Peace and respect, not tolerance." Now Giuseppe stated those words in relation to the fact that he felt that, as human beings, we should not be simply be tolerating one another. He noted that we can tolerate a stone in our shoe. Instead, we should be offering peace and respect to all people, no matter their religion, belief, culture, or way of life. Giuseppe told us that Pope John Paul II had invited leaders of all religions to Assisi to pray together in the Basilica for peace. Many people came and a tradition began that now brings religious leaders to Assisi to pray together.
These are the truly great lessons learned while travelling.
After our visit to the Basilica it was time to hop back on the bus and make our way to the hotel for the evening. We stayed in Assisi for just the one night. Our evening consisted of a Celebration which included drinks and some appetizers and then a buffet dinner in the dining area.
Sage and I were tired after a long day of travel.
We headed to bed as we know that we had an early start the next morning as we would be making the long drive to Venice.
So beautiful! Special memories!
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