Assisi!

01/23/09
Day Trip to Assissi
Today we all went to Assisi! The men of the group and I woke up early to make our way towards the bus at the Trestevere. Remarkably the guys got there first. Spirits were high and with smiles on our faces we left the city towards Assisi. After about two hours on the bus we finally arrived at the bottom of the hills in Assisi minor.
The first church we saw was the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. The church was built between 1569 and 1679 and encloses a smaller church inside, the Porziuncola. It was all very fascinating as the Porziuncola is the most sacred place for Franciscans.


Upon leaving the church we rode the bus up the hill to the actual town of Assisi. We saw another Franciscan church and then we broke for lunch. I had a very pleasant lunch with Julia, Nicolette, Shannon, and Lia. It was rather pricey, but I was only in Assisi for so long and so I wanted something authentic. We were served a full course of bruschetta with oranges followed by spinach and cheese ravioli and then a delicious pork dish with an olive dressing.

After lunch we saw another church. The Basilica de San Francesco d’Assisi was actually two churches within the same structure. The bottom church has frescoes from the late medieval artists Cimabue and Ghiotto. The upper church has frescoes depicting the life of St. Francis.

After seeing the churches we made our way back down to the bus. Two hours later we were back in Rome. It was a great trip. My favorite part must have been the Porziuncola. It is not a very large structure but I felt that it was the most important part by far in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.