1 post from March 2007

Long story short, in case it gets lost later on, Assisi is an awesome place to visit.  Now on to the details...

Thursday's journey up to Assisi began with the realization that Assisi itself is at a fairly decent elevation in the highlands of Perugia.  The train station, of course, is in the valley, which initially presented the daunting task of hiking the distance and height up to Assisi proper.  Fortunately, they have a bus network to get people up there, so one climb among many was saved here.

The dinner at the hotel, like all of the 6 meals they served while I was there, was long, generous, and quite satisfying.  After dinner, a little expedition was made up to the Rocco Maggiore, where the ruins of an ancient medieval fortress are located.  They were explored later; the really neat part of this trip was the contrast between the two different sides of the hill on which the fortress is located.  To the one side, all the lights of the towns in the valley gleaming bright and inviting, while on the other, darkness and desolation in the many hills, particularly eerie with the moonlight and the wind whipping about.  The immediate impression was that of sitting on the boundary between good and evil, particularly as the darkened hills gave the chills looking at them, with only the lonely outpost of light here and there.

Friday was a day of heavy footwork.  Following Mass at the Cathedral - San Rufino - there was a little tour of some of Assisi's churches, the Basilicas of Santa Chiara (St. Clare) and San Damiano being the two main stops.  The quakes of ten years ago did a lot of damage at the former, as is obvious upon visiting.  Many frescoes have huge chunks missing, some are completely obliterated, hardly any are undamaged.  About the only place that didn't seem too bad was the Blessed Sacrament's chapel.  As a note, the famous San Damiano cross that spoke to St. Francis is actually kept in one of Santa Chiara's side chapels.  San Damiano was neat to see some of the original items of St. Francis, plus it provided a very rigorous walk uphill on the way back...though it was to be minor compared with what came later.

After lunch, the plan was to walk to a hermitage of St. Francis, called Le Carceri, which unknown to me at the time was a very long walk, and also a very high climb.  From the point of departure in the upper end of Assisi, which was already some walk uphill, it took me approximately an hour of walking a slow and mostly steady pace uphill to reach the hermitage.  The place was nice and quiet, but I didn't have a lot of time to linger, having taken so long to get there to begin with.  I followed the path, somewhat amused to find that the first branch was entitled "No Way Out Path" and led down into the forest below.  There's a nice horror movie choice...now it's easy to see why the place closes before dark.  The second branch was simply titled "Closed Path" and was really closed.  I only had enough time to visit St. Francis's altar and a couple other small sanctuaries here - St. Francis lived here a while - but it was enjoyable, followed by another hour-long walk back down.  A check of the elevation at the bottom revealed that the climb to the hermitage involved a 361 meter trip uphill - or just under 1200 feet.  That's not a pleasant trip to make on standard pavement...and I don't even want to think of the horizontal distance involved.

Saturday was a bit more relaxed, with Mass at the tomb of St. Francis in the crypt of the lower basilica of St. Francis.  This was a bit humorous to watch, seeing the liturgically loose Franciscan way meet an altar that happened to be attached to the tomb with no alternative present, thus requiring an ad altare consecration.  This basilica has also taken some heavy damage from the quakes, though not as obviously as Santa Chiara.  The frescoes were on the whole in better shape, but honestly, the lesser damaged lower-church was far more impressive than the upper-church, even had there not been the question of fresco damage.  Following the visit here, a quick tour was taken of Assisi again, after which I had the opportunity to shop for a few souvenirs.  I found what I think will make a perfect gift for one of my sisters...

After lunch, I decided to drop by Rocca Maggiore to actually explore it.  The castle has two explorable branches, the wall and towers to one side, and the keep to the other.  The wall and towers are the more fun, but also more perilous side to take.  I went there first, going first up a tower near the complex, then took a long hallway through to the next part.  The hallway was arguably the most fun part, as it was nearly pitch black even in daylight, and gave something of the experience of a defender tramping down the thing.  On an odd note, the defenders must have been small, since the height was only just enough to permit me to walk upright, and it was fairly narrow.  At the end was a something called the pentagonal tower, basically an octagon stuck on top of a dodecahedron, and with arguably the most perilous set of spiral stairs I have ever seen (concrete, damp, uneven, no handrails, and narrow).  At the top, one has an excellent view of all of surrounding Perugia, but the winds were furious, which is not the greatest feeling when cliffs of several hundred feet are to 2 sides.  The keep was less interesting, being basically an unadorned stone complex, but it was still the most fun I've had exploring ruins in a while.

The day was capped by a visit to the Portiuncula - which is not in Assisi proper but in the town below by the rail station - and then the train ride home.  A rather fun and enjoyable trip, and one that didn't break the bank either.