Saturday, July 23, 2011

Assisi

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Today was a pretty easy day in terms of activity. We (sadly) said good bye to Florence and headed to a little hill town in the Umbria region called Assisi. Assisi is well known mostly because of St. Francis of Assisi - the founder of the Franciscan order (Friars). We walked up the hill to the famous St. Francis Basicilla, where we were met by one of the Friars who gave us a fantastic tour of the Basicilla.
As we toured we learned about the life and death of St. Francis, saw his tomb, and best of all got to see the story of his life as it paralleled the life of Christ painted on the walls by Giotto. It's really an amazing experience to see something so important yet so old - still there for everyone to look at. After the tour, we took in the views of the beautiful Umbrian countryside, and then took time doing some shopping, having our daily dose of gelato, and people-watching by the fountain in the central piazza.

The end of the day brought us to Rome and our hotel just south of the city. Tomorrow morning we head into the city where we'll have a bit of a walking tour to get us oriented, and then a free day in Rome, with dinner in the city tomorrow night. Our itinerary says the Vatican for tomorrow, but because it's Sunday and there is mass, that has been switched to Monday.

Buona Serra!

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