Blogs from Assisi, Umbria, Italy, Europe
January 15th 2012
We took a train at around 10 to go to Assisi. It only took about 15 minutes to get there, and after that it was all walking. The first thing we did was go to San Damiano, which is the church that St. Francis built. After that, we had to walk all the way back up the mountain in order to get to the main city. Then we went to St. Clare's church and saw her body. After that, we went to grab lunch at a local pizzeria. They had my favorite kind of pizza! I was so happy. It's called carbonara pizza, and it has an egg right in the middle. It sounds weird, but it's delicious. After that, we went to the Basilica of St. Francis. It was beautiful. I'll definitely upload pictures :) ... read more
June 24th 2011
After a pleasant Italian breakfast at the hotel, made more so by our delightful host, we managed a reasonably early start on our visit to Assisi. During the 10 years since we were in Italy we have often wished we had been able to spend more time in Assisi. Today we will take time to really explore the town. Getting into an underground carpark close to the town meant that the car stayed cool and so did we, for the time being. We went into the Lower Basilica first, where we quickly realised we were in a very special place. A young woman could be seen restoring one of the screened off frescoes high above the floor. What an experience to be able to put paint onto pictures that were painted centuries ago, and what a ... read more
June 12th 2011
A small Italian child spit on Tyler. It was freaking adorable. The child got sprayed in the face at a water fountain and we all laughed at him so he enacted his vengeance. We sang at 12 o’clock mass at San Francesco. We walked over to rehearse singing Sicut Cervus, Ubi Caritas, I Can Tell the World, Lux Arumque, and Veni Sancte Spiritus. When we sang Lux just before the service I teared up. We sounded so good and I just felt amazing in the 4-second acoustics. The church was gorgeous and it was magical to hear our voices reverberating in the Cathedral. The mass was boring but I followed some of it and got some of the homily, not that I remember what I heard. We sang well though and it gave me time to ... read more
June 11th 2011
Today we headed toward Assisi, via bus. We played mafia the whole way. In essence people are secretly assigned a character one or two people act as "mafia" and kill off the villagers. The villagers then vote out who they think is mafia. In the end if more mafia remain then villagers the mafia wins. Kind of ironic that we consistantly played Mafia in Italy. I love that game, we can yell and fight and it is funny; which, is all I have ever wanted. Assisi is a town on a hill and it is gorgeous, but something feels strange. We walked to a couple of churches, the house of Saint Francis, and a citadel way above the town with a gorgeous panoramic view. It reminds me of Toledo, Spain but artificial. It is so picturesque ... read more
April 24th 2011
Leaving our lovely campsite on the shores of the lake it was off to Perugia another old city dating back to around 1200ad. Arriving there we found camping car stop some 4km uphill from the historic, N 43° 09789 E 012° 38449 Deciding against the walk we found a bus, after some time and various hand gestures with a couple from a neighbouring camper van it was off to explore Perugia. We were vary glad about the bus decision as the walk would have been an absolute killer, arriving at our stop at the top of the hill we wandered the streets of Perugia for a while, not overly impressed they did have a bizarre complex of escalators for getting around from the top part of the old city to the lower levels of the ... read more
December 9th 2010
Witam po miesięcznej przerwie:) Czasem niektóre miejsca wydają się tak wyjątkowe, że aby cokolwiek napisać trzeba się przygotować. Asyż zawsze kojarzył mi się ze Św. Franciszkiem, który był ideałem ascezy oraz kochał wszystko co utworzyła natura. Umbria jako region Włoch wsławiła się wydaniem wielu świętych w tym właśnie Franciszka czy Św. Klary, patronki radia i telewizji. Mistycyzm, cisza, skupienie to cecha tego miasta. W Asyżu jest wiele kościołów. My trafiliśmy do jednego z nich. Takich kościołów w Polsce nie ma. Wokół świątyni cudowne ogrody i księża pociesznie biegający z kosiarkami czy muzyka wprowadzająca w kościelny nastrój. Następnym celem była bazylika Św. Franciszka. Podobno wchodząc do niej należy pomyśleć życzenie, które na pewno się spełni. Nigdy nie zapomnę jak trafiliśmy akurat na Polską mszę. Następnie wszysc... read more
November 4th 2010
Day 9 Spoleto-Assisi-Spoleto We took a morning train to Assisi (about 40 minutes), and then a bus up into the city. I really wanted to see the cave where St. Francis had meditated, which is about 4 kilometers outside of town, in woods that are still much the way they were in Francis’s time. We discovered that no public transportation goes out there, only taxis, of which we saw none. So….we started walking. It was a gorgeous blue sky day. The trees were brilliant colors and the olives were ready for harvest all along the road. The road however, started to climb, and I started to hitch-hike…we were both well dressed, and I thought someone might stop, even just out of curiosity, since no one hitch-hikes in Italy. And car full of twentysomethings did stop! They ... read more
May 20th 2010
HE SAID... We woke at 6am in preparation for our 7.30am bus trip to Assisi. A powerful espresso at the hotel jump-started us for the windy bus trip through the Umbrian hills to Perugia. After a quick stopover at the Perugia bus depot we continued on to Assisi, arriving in Santa Maria degli Angeli (a small town about 4km from the old Assisi township) at 10am. Seriously short of underwear, we scouted Santa Maria degli Angeli for a self-service laundry before catching a bus to St Francis’ hometown. We wandered the streets of Assisi with busloads of bored (yet playful) students on enforced school trips, lunched on pizza and red wine and were awestruck by the panoramic views and claustrophobic corridors of the Rocca Maggiore. One of the many things I’ve inherited from my father is ... read more
May 11th 2010
***This blog was written a week ago, but we haven't had internet until now. There is a lot to be caught up on, including some changes to our travel plans, which we will hopefully update you on soon... Two days ago, Tim and I met Tim's parents, Steve and Marilyn, at the Florence airport. We had been looking forward to their visit for quite some time - it is Steve's first time overseas ever, and Marilyn's first time in Europe since she was in her twenties (so 10 years ago), when she went on a biking trip with her friend in the UK. This was their first time to a country speaking a different language, living a different life, in a very different part of the world. They are with us as we discover Italy - ... read more
ASIS - Bella ciudad inclusive después de un terremoto
Published: March 19th 2010Europe » Italy » Umbria » Assisi
March 18th 2010
En el centro del país se encuentra esta ciudad que se caracteriza por ser una ciudad marcadamente religiosa. Lamentablemente Assisi, en italiano, fue azotada por un terremoto un tiempo antes de visitarla, por lo que muchos de lus lugares estaban en reconstrucción o no estaban habilidatados para los turistas. Sus angostras calles, típicamente italianas, sus muchas iglesias y sus construcciones clásicas llamaban poderosamente la atención de quienes visitabamos esta pequeña ciudad. Cada una de sus iglesias estaban llenas de pequeños detalles en oro o algun material precioso o simplemente en concreto y debo decir que me impresiono la perfección que todos estos detalles que por muy mínimos que fueses se buscaba la perfección en ellos para así buscar la redención. Interesante manera de querer ganarse el cielo a través de lo material. Hermoso resultado en todo ... read more
