ST. TRAVELS

We left Volterra on Sunday, July 5, in route to Assisi, but first with a stop in Montepulciano, a smaller hilltop town that seemed to give us a more authentic glimpse of Italian life in Tuscany.  It had very narrow streets that required a mile of walking to get to the town square at the top where a Rick Steve’s recommended cafe was waiting for us.  The Duomo was impressive as was a panoramic view accessible from the top of the village.

We then enjoyed one-and-a-half full days in Assisi with two nights of lodging at the Hotel Ideale which was, in fact, ideal, and located immediately outside the walls of the city for easy access to everything.  We had a fabulous view of ancient Assisi from our balcony, as well as modern Assisi below us.  Most days it is easy to reach 10,000 steps, and some days 20,000, but usually none of it is level walking:  half the steps are uphill and half back down again!  

Assisi was emotionally moving.  It was the most peaceful and spiritual place of all our visits, due to the significance of St. Francis, and his heart’s goal to be faithful to the end.  We walked the pathways that St Francis did almost 1,000 years ago, and found new respect for how much he truly saved the church by going back to living out a simple Gospel life.   

Francis had a vision of the crucifix speaking to him to ‘rebuild the church.’  While there are many myths about St Francis, at the core of it is a strong story of how he stood up to his rich father, renounced his youthful days of decadence, and pledged to live the simple Gospel life of sharing all with all, and calling people to love God.  He was just a lay person, not a priest, yet his impact is stil felt today, as the current Pope is a Franciscan.

We walked to the Basilica of St. Francis early on Monday morning.  On the front lawn are two symbols: A statue of him as a young man on a horse returning from the military after seeing a vision of Christ that called him to be a man of peace instead of war, and low bushes forming the letters PAX, for the peace St Francis tried to bring to the world as he rebuilt the meaning of faith.   

Inside the Basilica of St. Francis are three extraordinary levels of church: his crypt at the lowest level; a lower basilica chapel built on top of the crypt that contained the remains of his closest friends; and above was the larger upper basilica, which you see in this picture, brightly lit, open, simple, and filled with paintings of the stories of St. Francis’ life.

There are many places in Assisi that chronicle different aspects of St. Francis’ life including a church that now contains the very crucifix that Francis saw speak to him when he was given his new vocation. We also visited the location where his father’s expensive home used to be, and where Francis tore off his extravagant clothes to inform his father and the world that he was renouncing his former ways and that God was now his true father.

Before touring Assisi we were not as aware of the influence of St. Clare, a contemporary of Francis’ who partnered with Francis to serve the poor.  Just as the Franciscan orders resulted from Francis’ work, the Order of Poor Ladies materialized because of Clare’s dedication.  Pretty cool for a woman in that time to have been such a leader!  We visited the basilica where St. Clare was laid to rest, and saw ancient garments attributed to Clare and Francis.

We walked streets and alleys that showed centuries of stone building techniques, and walked across glass floors with spotlights on the ancient foundations dating back 1,000 years.

A special treat in Assisi was to talk with a local artist, Raffaele Ariante, and Sue bought one of his hearts.  He certainly has a love for others and he has created art involving hearts which encourages others to be ambassadors to “sow love and lead extraordinary lives.”  That’s pretty good advice!

It was a gift to share this time with our friends Dave and Kathy.

This was the last part of our common travel together as the next morning they took a train north to Florence and we continued south in the car to our third stop in southern Tuscany.

Our next blog will be about our time in Orvieto and southern Tuscany.