-Day 14: Monday, May 5, Assisi

A long-time resident of Assisi calls it a day.

Today was our “do” day in Assisi, capped off by a relaxed night. We hit the requisite churches – St. Clare, Santa Maria del Angeli, and St. Francis, as well as the church in our local piazza. Santa Maria is a “church within a church” – they literally built a basilica over a tiny old one-room church where St. Francis once taught. In general the churches here are less ornate than the big-name ones in big cities. St. Francis is an exception. It has three levels – a crypt, a lower level, and a newer basilica built on top of that. The lower church has a good amount of marble and color, though it is dark because of its almost windowless construction. The top basilica is covered in Giotto frescos (including the one you’ve probably seen of St. Francis preaching to birds). I think this church’s courtyard and its look from afar are both neat, because it is built out over the cliff face and the stacked basilicas mean it is an impressive structure. It was here that during my A&M trip our Italian tour guide (who was awesome and who I wish I could have along again) gave a very passionate Italian lecture to a church guy who tried to tell him to be quiet.

Sunset over old town Assisi.

That night we had dinner a place that was way out of the way. It was a really small place and we were the only customers I saw besides one other table of three. The food was great and at a good price, but the best part was the company. It was family-owned, and the granddad was sitting there watching the news on TV. He spoke almost no English, but he and my sister managed to get enough across the Italian/Spanish divide to have a decent conversation. At the end of the meal we left with hearty goodbyes and smiles all around, which was a lot of fun.

That night I went to an internet café for a bit to look up the info on our place for the next day. A Irishman sat next to me since the place was full. He was in Assisi to teach medieval history to some monks/nuns in the area. We got to talking and he mentioned my Aggie ring and I mentioned the UK tradition of school ties. Bad idea. This was an Irishman’s Irishman, and he gave me a good-natured hard time for lumping him with the UK.

That night the medieval music and dance was back, except this time they finished off with a parade up and down some streets about 10pm, drumming and playing away. Italians are generally unconcerned about their noise level. They generally are active and go to bed later than Americans, but even really late at night you will frequently hear people laughing uproariously or talking excitedly in full voices in the echoing stone streets. We talked to a couple of the girls associated with the dancing and they were the ones who first told us it was medieval and that the group was made up of people from several local schools. It seems that medieval song/dance is alive in at least the country schools, which is pretty neat.