Where the heck are we now?: Assisi...the home of St. Francis

During our stay in Assisi we spent a lot of time in the countryside but also explored the town which we really liked.

This is Piazza Commune, the main square, where we spent a lot of time in that corner cafe watching the world go by.

There are religious orders all over town as this is the second most visited pilgrimage site after Rome.

St. Francis was born into a wealthy family in 1182 and after receiving a vision abandoned his riches to live as a poor man while founding the order of the Franciscan monks and all over town there are reminders of him.

The door to his ancestral home, part of which is still intact.His father forbade his son to follow a religious path and would often beat him and lock him up in a cell inside this house. However Francis followed the spiritual path that was set before him and set out to preach the gospel.

Here are some of the images of St. Francis that I captured...

With St. Clare, one of his followers who founded the Order of the Poor Clares.

St Francis in the forest.

Assisi is a hilltop town and as you approach the town high on the hill the first thing you see is the Basilica of St. Francis which took 30 years to build and was consecrated in 1253. The church was built to celebrate the life of St. Francis and a final resting place for his body. Earlier this month the Pope who took St.Francis's name celebrated mass here.

The Basilica is huge with a lower and upper section and a large inner courtyard.

St Francis coming back to Assisi after a journey abroad.

All the surfaces of the upper section are covered with frescos, the ceiling was a beautiful shade of blue.

The lower section of frescos tell the life story of St.Francis, here he is giving his clothes back to his father to pursue a life of poverty.

This picture depicts his famous sermon to the birds as he had a special infinity for the natural world....

And of course there is the tomb...

On the other side of town there is Rocca Maggiore, a 14th century medieval castle that was built to protect the town from its' enemies. It was a beautiful day so we decided to climb the hill to have a look...

Beautiful views of Assisi and the mountains

We also visited another site, St. Francis's hermitage which was 4 km above the town. Here he and his followers would retreat for prayer and mediation and it indeed was a beautiful spot.