Assisi

The hotels where we had been staying provided (by my standard) a huge breakfast, with not only eggs and sausage and the usual, but also fresh tomatoes and fruit and plenty of pastries.  I have usually found granola, or muesli, and also yogurt on the breakfast bar everywhere we went, as well as croissants, which are very good and often filled with fruit or pistachios.  The plain croissants are labeled vuoto, or “empty.”  The usual breakfast for Italians, according to our tour director Lino, is a croissant and a cappuccino.  And one never orders a cappuccino in the afternoon.  When we were on our tour of the fountains and plazas of Rome on Monday, we stopped in a little café and I ordered one, where a friendly Italian scolded me:  “Don’t you know you can be prosecuted for ordering a cappuccino at this time of day?”

Today the coach left early and drove 250 miles through the Appenines to Perugia, the capitol of the Umbria region in Italy, and from there to the city of Assisi, home of St. Francis of Assisi.  St. Francis was the Italian mystic, poet, and friar who founded the order of the Franciscans.  Born into a wealthy family, he renounced his riches for a life of poverty.  He was born and died in Assisi in the 13^th Century, and today we visited the Basilica of St. Francis dating from that period, still a pilgrimage destination for many.

We toured the lower basilica where we viewed some impressive three-dimensional frescos by the artist Giotto.  The upper basilica depicted the life of St. Francis in a series of large paintings.  We were not allowed to take photos, unfortunately.  Like many of the churches we had visited, it was a sacred place where people spoke in whispers, and where worshipers could be seen simply sitting on benches praying or meditating. 

Lino gave each of us a Tau cross, which I learned is a symbol of Franciscan spirituality and the personal signature of St. Francis of Assisi. The Tau is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is mentioned in the Bible as a symbol of salvation. 

After exploring Assisi, we returned to our interesting hotel, which was a converted monastery.  It was a big, rambling place, and we found a beautiful little chapel down the hall from our room.  Some of us met in the lobby later, where there was a bar, and we enjoyed a glass of red wine while awaiting dinner.  I wondered if the Franciscans who had lived here might have had a glass of wine about this time of day, and learned that they are indeed permitted to drink, but no more than a half-liter each day, which is about three glasses.