Post: Down Mt Subasio to Assisi

Today we were completely immersed in St. Francis. Thousands and thousands of people from all over the world make the trip to Assisi to visit the Basilica of St. Francis each year. We came less from a spiritual point of view and more from an historical and cultural point of view.

Assisi is divided from Spello by Mt Subasio. We’d previously walked down the Spello side of the mountain, so today decided that walking all the way down again wasn’t that important to us. With some of our group, we were taken by taxi to the St. Francis hermitage in the morning.

The hermitage has not changed very much since St. Francis’s days. It is inside and built around caves. The “newer” parts were built after his death to accommodate visitors and services.

We walked through the built parts and ducked to move through the small cave passages to see the stone bed that Francis slept on and the little niche chapel that he prayed in. It was all rather hurried because there were many people in a tiny space. No photos allowed, I’m afraid.

We walked down hill on trail and gravel road to Assisi. The path is a pilgrimage way of St. Francis, although we only encountered three pilgrims. The path is entirely forested as the mountain is protected, and the views of the valley were pretty, if a little bit hazy today.

We entered Assisi through the Cappuccin Gate, past the Rocca Maggiore, a big fortress that now holds a museum. Assisi has a darker feel, and our guide said this is because the architecture leans Gothic. The stones are pink, but the buildings have a heavier aspect than those in Spello or Perugia.

For the past several years, when I hike, I try to weigh the ups and downs of going uphill and downhill. Downhill doesn’t make you out of breath, usually. Uphill doesn’t pinch your toes or make your legs feel like they have to put on the brakes. I feel very lucky that my knees don’t feel the strain of going downhill, but I was really tired at the end of the walk, anyway.

We had salad and pizza at cute restaurant called La Lanterna, a little ways out of the main plaza. For me, our first pizza. Mark had something called “Umbria on a Plate,” which looked great but wasn’t his favorite dish of the week.

Our tour at the basilica was at 2pm, and the group walked to the gathering spot near the entrance to the lower level of the basilica just as a bit of rain began. Making the atmosphere more mournful, a hearse pulled up, greeted by monks and nuns (one of them photographing the proceedings) to unload a coffin. Our tour of the lower basilica was accompanied by the music and prayers of this funeral mass. While I hate to say it was nice, it did add something to the experience of being in a major church.

Our tour guide was an American Franciscan friar, originally from Montana, who spent a lot of time serving in the soup kitchens of Syracuse, NY. He’s been at the basilica for eighteen months, and gave us a two hour tour. Once again, no photos, but of course, they can be found online. Lots of other visitors were taking photos, but they didn’t have their own friar with them.

The basilica has two parts. The lower part is older and serves as the crypt for Francis and his closest friends. It was built rather quickly, apparently because of the high regard the citizens in all the towns had of Francis. Volunteers came from all over to help erect the building. I hope this is actually true; it’s a nice story.

Later, the upper church was built. The building has survived earthquakes, floods, and the ravages of soot, dirt, and changes in taste.

The frescos in the lower basilica, especially around the choir and altar, are resorted and glow. They are attributed to Giotti and his students. What is priceless art now, was actually considered inexpensive and poor man’s painting then. Frescos need to be done quickly— a good reason to have lots of students with you. The frescos are all instructional— stories of Jesus and the life of Francis, and the three tenants of the Franciscan order: poverty, chastity and obedience.

Giotti’s work is known, and continues to be interesting, because he had an animated style, and added everyday people and scenery into the frescos. It’s wonderful to see them cleaned; it gives a much better sense of how they would have looked to pilgrims or young novitiates.

The art in the upper church is far more damaged and not cleaned. The panels depict the life of Francis, as recounted by his friends after he died. The most famous is St. Francis preaching to the birds.

St. Francis is the patron saint of all of Europe, and there is something sweet about his life story., at least up to the point of when he asks for the stigmata. At that time in history he might have been responsible for turning things around for the Catholic Church since their message was that only work was important. Francis thought that people could find spiritual strength through nature as well as work.

We left Assisi with a brisk walk, an espresso, and of course, a gelato before getting back on the bus for the hotel.

Dinner tonight was ended with ice cream and an offering of homemade limoncello. Less sweet and more tart than syrupy commercial liquor.

Plants of the day: We saw our first little fern, growing out of the rocks near the hermitage. We also saw our first “live”oak, an evergreen species that does not lose its leaves all at once.