Assisi

Today I got to sleep in! It was really nice. Then of course I OVERslept :-) but I still was just fine. I headed down to Piazza Gramsci and took the bus to Il Stazione where a group of us were taking another bus to Assisi. I really had no idea what to expect from Assisi as I knew nothing about it! We had a pretty nice bus, which was good, and I sat down and began my reading (from my handy dandy Rick Steves book) to learn about the place I was going. I quite like that book! After reading the book for quite awhile to get the history on Assisi, which is rather interesting, I simply sat back to enjoy the scenery. I love the Italian countryside. It's really funny because the more cities I go to and places I see, the more I long for the countryside. I love it. It seems the more I experience the less I want to live in a bustling city. I absolutely love the rolling hills of farmland, vineyards and trees. Our drive today brought us past a lake just before reaching Parugia to make a stop. It was gorgeous! Assisi is in the Province of Umbria, which is the only land locked province in all of Italy. Very very different type of terrain. It was actually fairly mountainous and I loved it. Nothing like the Apennines towards the north, but still very pretty. Driving into Parugia was amazing too. It is up on a mountain side and driving up towards it we went through lanes and lanes of trees that completely covered the road. *sigh* We finally reached Assisi and as we drove towards it I could look out my window and just see it sitting up on a mountainside staring down at us. It was amazing. Just a city perched on the side of the mountain. So many cities here are like that. They just build a wall around the mountain and put a city inside it. Assisi is a little unique though because it was originally a Roman city (like most) that was a religious city. Ever since Assisi was started it has been a religious headquarters and it has always remained such. For the Romans it was a beautiful temple to Minerva, and for the Catholic church there is San Francesco. I had no idea who this man was really before coming here, but after seeing and experiencing today I have a great respect for that man and I truly believe he was a sincere and good person. He was the first "friar" (which is actually a word that comes from fratteli or brothers, which is what he called all his fellow men). Francesco was a rich boy who was sent to fight in the crusades and came back a changed man. He denounced his life and all his possessions and vowed to live a simple and humble life like unto Christ. He lived in poverty begging for food and shelter and taught humility and humanism. The Church at the time very much did not like him. His ultimate goal was to make religion accessible to the people and he was actually the first person to hold mass in a language other than Latin so that the common folk could understand and enjoy it. Legend has it that he was also the first person to carve a Nativity Scene in order to make the story of the birth of Christ more tangible and relatable to and able to be enjoyed in every home by everyone. I think he was just a down to earth real person who believed in caring about the world he lived in and the people within it. He taught to care for the earth and the animals within it. Assisi is also home to St. Clare, who was a pupil of San Francesco and who started a group of nuns similar to friars. They live in poverty etc. In fact they live in a convent right in Assisi and have lived in the same convent since the 1300's! It's crazy how old things are here. It was a really interesting place. There really wasn't a lot to see. I followed the tour in the Rick Steves book and I went to the old Roman Amphitheater, some churches, one of which was really cool. The Church of St. Clare was built on the foundation of an old church from the 2nd century that was built on top of an old Roman structure. After the earthquake of 1997 they discovered the original foundations of the first church and also parts of the Roman structure. The Roman structure was a Roman cistern, and it's still in perfect condition! It just amazes me. It looks perfectly new and usable. It's basically just a big water tank underground that they caught rain water in and used in case of emergencies (such as being attacked and under siege). After that I went to the Temple of Minerva, which is now a church. The temple however was never actually destroyed, it was simply converted into a church and so it's still in really good condition and towards the front you can actually walk on the ORIGINAL Roman floor! It was really cool. In the floor you can see the drain system that was in place for the blood from the animal sacrifices the Romans performed. It was amazing. The exterior is 100% Roman with old old columns and all. The only main difference is that it used to lead down to the Roman Forum, which is now buried. The current street level is about five feet above the forum, so there are only about 3 steps leading into the temple instead of the many steps that would have been there a thousand years ago. That's right. ONE THOUSAND! It just blows me away. There is a museum of the Forum that is inside a building where they have dug underneath the current buildings but I didn't pay to go in. I've seen a lot of Roman stuff and time was short. Next I headed to the Basilica of San Francesco. It was really simply compared to other churches that I have seen this trip. I think that has most to do with the fact it was a medieval church and most of the churches I've been into thus far have been post dark ages. It was still an amazing church. I'm very conflicted with it however. Firstly: San Francesco was a simply man who taught humility and simplicity. So they build a massive church to bury him in... In complete contradiction to what he taught. Secondly however: I am amazed at the dedication and love for a man. They wanted to prove to the world how much they cared about him by having him buried in a glorious building that would be remembered for generations to come. I'm not really sure what to think. I can see both sides. I guess it is good the church is there because now it is a place where the friars learn and it's somewhat like a convent. So that was my day! After that we grabbed the bus back to Siena, I made some pasta for dinner and here I be. It was a nice day off from classes. I feel like I learned a lot and I've really taken something valuable from Assisi. I took almost the whole bus ride home just writing my thoughts down in a book so that I could really express what was going through my mind. It was very helpful and I would highly encourage everyone to try it sometime! Tomorrow it is back to the grind of classes... Hopefully I haven't forgotten all my Italian :-) It's going to be pretty tough getting back into class again, but it's a short week. Ciao!