Assisi..... Home of St. Francis of Assisi

For PDay, Monday, we went up to see Assisi, which we had been told was one of the favorite places other senior couples had visited.  It is a quaint medievil mountain top town in Umbria, which is north east of Rome.  Saint Francis, who is the patron saint for Italy, was from this town.  So he is known as Saint Francis of Assisi.  He lived in the late 1100's- early 1200's .  He started the Francescan order which is a life style of poverty and service.  We have read many things about him, now that we visited Assisi, and we have discovered he was a very good person, who helped many many people during his life time.  First we visited the church that was built over the place he died.  It is in a little city called Santa Maria degli Angeli. (Which we were told is the city that Los Angles, California was named after)

Then we drove to Assisi, which was just a few miles away.  It is set up on the mountain.

                 We drove to the castle on the top.  It is called the Rocca Maggiore.

We walked all around inside, up the stairs to the tower, down the stairs and through many rooms.  

There were stairs everywhere.

I especially enjoy the many cool doors in the Castle .

We went down a steep stone staircase and through a very long tunnel, 

and then up five or six levels of stairs to the west tower, where we had an incredible view of the whole valley below.

The next picture is a view from the west castle tower down on The Basillica of Saint Francis

And these pictures are from the castle to the other buildings around and within the castle walls.

After touring the castle, we went down to the town of Assisi and walked from one end to the other, beginning with the Basilica of Saint Clare.  

Clare was a contemporary of Francis. She started the Second order of the Francescans which was for the ladies.  Throughout medieval Europe in the early 1200's, thousands of women were joining convents and religious orders.  This allowed for women who were often poor and widows, a safe haven where they could be looked after.  This time period experienced a fast following for the second order.  The women lived a life of poverty and service.

The town was lovely, and we enjoyed a leisurely walk through it to the opposite end where the Basilica of Saint Francis is.

After about a 45 minute walk we made it to the end of the town where we could see the famous Basilica of Saint Francis.  It had a long lawn leading down to it, which had the word PAX  (pax means peace in Latin.  And Assisi is said to be the city of peace.)  made out of large shrubs in the middle of the lawn with a symbol above it, which is the Francescan Symbol.

No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the church.   I found this one picture of the inside murals, on a wall up in the big castle we visited first.  So I took a picture of a picture!

I am sorry this blog is so long, but it was a very long day with so much to see.  I spared you about 100 other pictures I took!  My legs are so sore from taking so many stairs and walking so much today, but it was all very worth it.