I’m sitting in the private
living/dining area of the beautiful B&B Tess and I have scored
for our time here in Assisi. We had no idea that we would have what
is essentially an apartment to ourselves. It is half of the
downstairs of a three storey house: the downstairs is used as the B&B
and the upstairs section is where the owners live. Have I mentioned
how much I enjoy staying in family homes?
Our hosts, Lanfranco and Marcella, are
especially warm and welcoming. Lanfranco speaks a little English,
though most of our conversations tend to be a hybrid when he can’t
figure out what to say. Marcella knows a few words but only enough to
interject these with a smile. I am loving the opportunity to
remember the language and be helped along. Tess is also understanding
most of what is going on, but she is yet to feel confident enough to
try speaking. Piano, piano (slowly, slowly).
Each morning around eight, Lanfranco
and Marcella bustle into our section with a selection of pastries and
bread rolls for our breakfast. They chat to us and amongst themselves
as they arrange breakfast and the conversations linger on well after
we have finished eating. They are so friendly and really make us feel
like part of the family. I’m in love and haven’t even gotten to
the Assisi part!
The B&B is actually in a smaller
town called Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is about 4 km from Assisi
and where the train station is located. Lanfranco picked us up from
the train station when we arrived then spent about an hour talking to
us, telling us and showing us on the map where all the main sites are
and provided us with a book on the art and history in the area so
that we could ‘study’.
After lounging about for a little while
we put on our walking boots and headed toward Assisi. We first found
our way into the centre of Santa Maria degli Angeli to gaze up at the
Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli, for which the area is named, in
case you couldn’t tell. The main entrance to the basilica is topped
with a golden Mary which radiates unbelievably in the setting sun.
Within the basilica is another tiny church; the chapel of the
Porziuncola, apparently very important to St. Francis. It is
smattered with frescoes inside and out and looks almost comical
sitting in the centre of the basilica. Aside from this the Basilica
di Santa Maria degli Angeli is a fairly standard cathedral.
Around the side of the cathedral is a
long string of fountain jets (26 to be exact) which was apparently
commissioned by the Medici family to “quench the thirst of the
pilgrims who came to take advantage of the indulgence of pardon”.
Awesome. Too bad you can’t actually reach the jets. Yes. I tried.
Maybe.....okay, there’s a path I’m not going down. Go down it
yourself.
So, off to Assisi we ventured. More
like meandered. What should be a 45 minute walk took us 1.5 hours.
Ooh! Let’s take a photo of this. Wow! That’s pretty. Look at
that! Check this out! This would make a cool shot...stand here. And
so on and so forth. The fields that relax out between Santa Maria
degli Angeli and Assisi are lined with trees and beautiful red
flowers, which equals fun when you have colour accent on your camera.
Every so often a beautiful old stone building is nestled amongst the
fields, and look amazing juxtaposed with storm clouds. Ahead of us we
could see Assisi, stretched out and perched atop a hill. We finally
got to the bottom of said massive hill that Assisi is on – whose
stupid bloody idea was that?? We slowly trudged up to finally get to
the top and be welcomed by the stone walled town of Assisi.
<please turn over>
