15. Ottobre 2011: Beautiful City

My visit to Assisi was short and sweet. It started with a nearly three hour train ride through Perugia, which is currently hosting the Euro Chocolate Festival, so you can imagine the hordes of tour groups (mostly American, mostly college students and mostly obnoxious) who accompanied us (my roommate Kari and I) for most of our journey. Upon arriving in Assisi, though, we were only joined by one tour group and a smattering of amusing tourists. The train station is two and half miles away from the actual town of Assisi and at the bottom of the hill so we piled into a bus with the other tourists and rode to the top of the hill. We realized quickly that autumn had finally arrived in Italy—it was frigid! So our walk was brisk through town. We stopped first at a tiny but elaborately decorated church that gave off a very baroque vibe. After we had thawed in the sanctuary, we moved along to an art gallery featuring vibrant painted glass, most of which were depicting Saint Francis in one way or another. Finally, we made it to the Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi—for whom I was named.

 The church and convent are breathtaking. It is built into the side of the hill and is incredibly grand (a bit ironic because St. Francis preached anti-materialism, but whatever). The ceiling of the cathedral is a bit like a tie-dyed sky with golden stars sprinkled in—all painted by Giotto. It was the most colorful church I have ever been in. Below the church is another church, just as elaborately frescoed with the life of Jesus. Underneath this church is the tomb of San Francesco. I’m still not entirely sure how to describe how I felt walking into this tomb. There were so many tourists that it was difficult not to feel like I was walking down to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, but when I laid eyes on the tomb I was struck by the perfection of the tomb. Surely, it was more grand the San Francesco would have designed for himself but compared to the rest of the complex I had seen, it was the perfect balance between simplicity and still giving grand honor to the Saint. It was a long brick hall with a high ceiling. The tomb was at the end of the hall—a large stone pillar rose from floor to ceiling with iron grates around ¾ of it. The front side of this was opened to show the place where Saint Francis is entombed and underneath this is a small alter with candles, some flowers and a crucifix. The entire hallway is lit by medieval-looking iron-wrought lanterns hanging from chains from the ceiling. I don’t know why, I just felt like it was the perfect tomb (and I never that I would say that sentence, but there you go).

After visiting Saint Francis, we wandered around the town and took in the view from the top of the hill. The town is quite small so after walking from one end to the other, we decided that it was too cold to stay any longer and boarded the train to head back to Florence. It was not the most eventful trip that I’ve ever taken, but the Chiesa di San Francesco was definitely worth visiting. It was a relaxing day and a wonderful beginning to our fall break.

On Monday, Kari and I will board a plane to visit a place where we speak the language—London, England! A la prossimo settimana, ciao! Or should I say…La’ers!


Oh--afterthought: Here is my finished caste drawing of Dante. I am quite proud of it.