Assisi

October 28-29

We elected to visit Assisi for our first adventure in this new area. We are staying at an apartment in Foligno, a town centrally located so that we can visit several towns in Umbria, and Assisi is close. As a tribute to the local boy-done-well, most of everything within the old town has to do with St. Francis of Assisi, and the city remains a major pilgrimage site. Located high on the hill, Assisi is impressive and at first glance, you can easily see the large Basilica di San Francesco and its associated quarters for Monks in the 15th century. On the hill-top above the city is an old castle.

Assisi on the hill

The large St Francis Basilica from the valley view

Castle above Assisi

We actually started our exploration of Assisi at the end of town opposite the huge Basilica. We parked, never an easy feat in these places, walked around a bit, and then decided to leave the city for a hike. We walked 4 Km above the city, up Mt. Subasio, to the Eremo delle Carceri, which means hermitage of the isolated places or prisons. This is the location where St. Francis sought solitude to pray. The views along the hike were fabulous, and the mountain setting remains peaceful.

Excited to hike!

Appreciating the view along the way. 

A convent has been built in this area, with Monks in residence, but the cave where St. Francis sought solitude has been preserved. This idyllic location is also an outdoor sanctuary.

Eremo delle Carceri

Outdoor sanctuary

After whiling away a few hours on our hike and appreciation of the Eremo, we returned to town famished. We were happy to find this roadside "bar", a complete oasis for the weary hiker!

Idyllic location for refreshment

The town of Assisi has received some bad press from tour-book authors, due to the crowds and abundance of trinket shops-and we never did find that Francis bobble-head...but, since we are in the somewhat off season, we were very fortunate. Although by no means deserted, it wasn't crowded and it seemed that the number of Monks we saw walking around town, wearing the traditional brown tunic/sandal garb, might have outweighed the number of tourists. We were quite taken in with the picturesque side streets and many alley-ways and buildings adorned with flowers.

Picturesque streets with flowers on doors and windows...

...on buildings...

...on steps and walls.

Assisi is a town of many significant churches, and our first was the Cathedral of San Rufino, the baptismal church of both St. Francis and St. Clare. The lion eating the Christian statue at the entrance is to symbolize the previous struggle of Christians.

Note the little statuary holding up the rose window

Baptismal font of both Francis and Clare 

Lion wins this one

We also visited the Basilica of St. Clare and saw both her tomb and the Crucifix of San Damiano. This is the crucifix, formerly located in the Church of San Damiano, that spoke to Francis in his early years, telling him to rebuild the church (no photos there).  We walked through the town as darkness fell and were fortunate to see the St. Francis Basilica beautifully lit.

Basilica di San Francesco

On Tuesday, we returned fresh and ready to see inside the Basilica. There are actually two structures, the lower, older Basilica and the upper Basilica. We started the proper pilgrim tour with the lower, visiting the tomb of St. Francis and main large sanctuary. This Giotto Crucifixion fresco was one of my favorites from the lower Basilica.

Giotto's "The Crucifixion"

The upper Basilica contains the infamous Giotto's frescoes depicting the life of the Saint in huge panels covering the walls. They are sensational--the emotion and imagery brought out in this work explains why Giotto is referred to as the Father of the Renaissance. This is Giotto's depiction of St. Francis receiving the "Stigmata" (wounds of Christ).

Giotto's "St. Francis receiving the Stigmata"

Upon leaving the Basilicas, you can see the vast lawn and the words "pax" (peace) and the Franciscan signature Tau (T-cross).

Tau and Pax

We left the older hill-part of Assisi and drove down to see Santa Maria degli Angeli, the church located where St. Francis actually lived and died. The Saint worshipped in this tiny chapel (1200's), and then in the 16th century, a huge cathedral was built around it. This St. Francis statue actually had live white doves roosting in it. A fitting tribute to the man who preached to all of God's creatures.

St. Francis little chapel swallowed by a later built cathedral

Live doves with the Saint that preached to the birds

Saffron and Montepulciano Nobile

October 26-27

Life on the farm continued: today harvesting crocus for zafferano (saffron).  The family has a relatively small plot of the specific saffron-producing variety, and it is an extremely labor intensive enterprise. They have to dig up the bulbs in June, and then replant them in July for the annual Fall harvest; different from our ornamental crocus that bloom in the spring. Every morning they pick the flowers and harvest the stamens, which have to be very carefully dried before the product can be packaged. The daily yield ranges from 10-20 flowers up to 40 or so and the season is only about 3 weeks. The net production from 20 flowers is only about 1/4 gram of saffron.

Picking crocus

The bright red stamens are the saffron

With Bozena and crocus in our hair!

To celebrate the annual harvest, there is an annual festival in the nearby town of Citta' Della Pieve, so we decided to join the fun. The highlight was a family style dinner and rather funky entertainment by two women who sang Hillbilly songs in Italian, French and English. Very interesting evening!

Gary samples wares at the Zafferano festival

The next day we sadly said goodby to our new friends, left the farm, and headed to our next destination in Eastern Umbria. On the way we were greatly cheered by a diversion to Montepulciano, home of the famous Nobile wine. This is the quintessential Tuscan hill-town with medieval buildings, sloping streets and awesome views of the surrounding countryside.

Whimsical clock tower

Gary shops for knockers

Tablets from Etruscan and Roman times

Panorama of beautiful view

What a better way to spend the afternoon, than to enjoy a fabulous lunch on a terrace with a view and some Montepulciano Nobile!

Lunch on the terrace of Caffe' Poliziano

Montepulciano Nobile and bruschetta

We loved the central piazza with the Palazza Comunale (town hall), reminiscent of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. There was also a somewhat odd display on the piazza of some modern, comical bronze statuary, and Gary couldn't resist this one of the pudgy tennis player. He thinks we should steal this image for our club tennis trophies!

Gary checks out the medieval cistern

Piazza Grande

Back to Tuscany for wine and cheese!

Friday 10/25

Took a day trip back into Tuscany, actually only an 1.5 hr drive through beautiful, though winding, country roads. First stop: Montalcino, home of the famous Brunello wines. We were happy to finally make it to a town on market day. Interesting that this market was more non-perishable goods such as clothing and household items, and only a few produce stands. Made our way to the Fortessa and the enoteca there to sample the Brunello. We both enjoyed the wine, and Gary also liked the "Ossi di Morti" cookies (bones of the dead), which evidently are popular in this region.

Montalcino Fortessa

Enoteca

Sampling the Montalcino Brunello 

We wandered into the centro storico the see colorful flags displayed from the various neighborhoods. Apparently they are preparing for an upcoming traditional archery competition.

Montalcino Centro Storico

Neighborhood flags...

...colorful viewing

I was particularly interested in getting to the Sant'Antimo Abbey, about 5 miles south of town, in time to hear the traditional Monk prayer-chanting. They pray many times per day, but only certain times are open to the public. The Abbey was founded in the 800's, and the existing church built in the 1200's. The grounds are beautiful, including some quite ancient olive trees (our guess 100 years?). During the prayers we were not permitted to take photos, but could sit and listen to their melodic Gregorian chant lasting about 15 minutes. It was quite fascinating.

Abbazia Sant'Antimo

Abbey built in 1200's 

Bucolic surroundings

Inside the Abbey

Ancient olive trees on the grounds

Next we drove to the Tuscan town of Pienza, famous for the local production of Pecorino cheese. Many cheese shops line the centro storico, and many owners are quite happy to cut a slice for tasting and tell you all about their products. We couldn't resist buying a few wonderfully delicious portions for our evening antipasto.

Cheese tasting

Lots to try!

One thing we've observed in these little towns is the abundance of little specialty shops for meats, produce, and bread. It seems that the locals, at least in these areas, obtain lot of their staples from these shops-what a great way to get your groceries!

Hams hanging along the wall

Fresh fruit looks appealing

Orvieto: Gary's favorite

Thursday 10/24

This marks Gary's third visit to Orvieto. He fell in love with the place during his first visit with Steph about 4 1/2 years ago, and then was the tour guide for Emily, Jordan and me in 2011. There's a lot to love about it, starting with the beautiful Duomo and its amazing facade and large piazza, this hilltop city has tons of darling streets full of shops from prodotti tipico to hand-painted ceramics. Add lots of great restaurants with outdoor seating. We even have a favorite table at this Enoteca!

Orvieto's grand Duomo

Sipping Orvieto Classico, the local wine

Piazza Duomo

Another piazza in town/beautiful architecture

Il Mago di Oz cute toy shop

This Duomo has an interesting story: The Miracle of Bolsena. In 1263, a priest on pilgrimage in nearby Bolsena blessed bread for communion and the bread (Body of Christ) bled, dripping onto the altar cloth (Corporal). The bloody cloth was presented to the Pope who declared a Duomo should be built, and it took 400 years to complete. We love this Duomo with its marble pattern reminiscent of Siena's. The facade has fantastic marble relief carvings depicting Biblical stories.

God takes Adam's rib, lower left panel

Fascinating marble work of the Facade

Duomo's interior

Inside the nave is more stark than Siena, but we did see the Corporal Chamber with the miracle cloth (no photos there). We thoroughly enjoyed the Signorelli frescoes of the San Brizio Chapel, with their brilliant colors and design. It is the often-told story of the Last Judgement, beginning with the preaching of the Antichrist, and ending with the raising of the dead. These paintings are fabulous!

Signorelli's "Preaching of the Antichrist"

"Resurrection of the Bodies"

Since we had plenty of time, we elected to take in some of the points of interest. We walked to the bottom (and then climbed back out!) of St. Patrick's Well; commissioned by the Pope in the 16th century, during his hide-out in Orvieto due to attacks in Rome. The cool thing about this well is that it is a double helix: it has two concentric spiral staircases-one for up and one for down. An amazing engineering feat-pretty smart back in 1527!

St. Patrick's well

We also took a tour of some other underground sights, starting with medieval caves and Etruscan wells. This area was inhabited by the Etruscans from about 7th-1st century BC. They dug over 1000 wells in Orvieto and had an amazingly advanced culture. The other cool thing about this underground tour, was the use of these caves in the Middle Ages for grinding olives, and as a dovecote to raise pigeons for a food source. These caves were also used as late as WWII as an air-raid shelter.

 

Wall holes (dovecote) for Pigeon raising, Middle Ages

Since we were on an Etruscan roll-we even took in the small Estuscan museum that holds a huge collection from this era (about 7th-5th cent. BC).

Etruscan pottery 7-5th cent. BC

Etruscan artifact

They even had some older pottery found locally from the Bronze Age (1000-2000 years earlier). Amazing!

Bronze Age Pottery 1000-2000 BC

We even had time to stroll around the base of the city on the Rupe pathway. Beautiful views of the peaceful countryside.

Walking the Rupe path around the base of Orvieto

Etruscan necropolis (tombs) outside of town

Lastly a word about this little guy-Pinocchio is a favorite in Tuscany, where the character was born in the late 1800's. He is everywhere!