Stairway to Heaven

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Today, we headed further south toward Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi the founder of the Franciscans. We visited the Basilica of St. Francis where the crypt of St. Francis lies. The cathedral has 1,200 square feet of BEAUTIFUL frescos including it's famous paintings by Giotto, dating back to the 1300's. Unfortunately, we were not able to capture these great frescos on film as it was not allowed.

Like many cathedrals in Italy, the floor of this Basilica is covered with metre upon metre of tessellated marble tiles and the result is spectacular! One can only imagine how difficult and time consuming it would have been to lay.

We then made a 520 metre climb on a very windy road, up a mountain to the Benedictine Abbey in Montecassino. Externally, the Abbey looked modest. But upon entering, one is OVERCOME by the beauty of the interior and the feeling of serenity and peacefulness is overwhelming.

The floor of this Abbey, is like no other we have seen before ... marble intricately cut with interlocking curves like a jigsaw puzzle. Upon leaving, we were fortunate to hear monks chanting, the church bells ring and the heavens even opened up with a rain shower.

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