Assisi Diary - Day 2 - A Walk Through Town

After catching up on sleep I rose late today.  Walked to Franco's Market for some fresh bread.  The main street seemed less crowded than usual for a Saturday in May, although there still were plenty of visitors about.  Of the millions who visit Assisi each year, most are here for but a day and seem to stay on or very close to the main road that connects the basilicas of Saints Francis and Clare.  Today I decided to walk that road, perhaps a mile or so.  If you were to arrive on a tour bus, as many do, you might then enter on foot through Porta Nuova on the east end of town.

It might be said that Assisi is a prototype "gated community", perhaps understandable when the unwelcome visitors tended to be of a marauding barbarian nature.  The road ahead would take you past a newer section of town, only several hundred years old.

At the end of this section of road, you would pass under another gate.  Each gate was added as Assisi grew, so as one approaches the older center of town, one passes under older gates.  To the left you would see the rear apse portion of the Basilica of Saint Clare, along with its campanile, or bell tower, the highest in Assisi.

Passing through the second gate, you would come around to the front of the Basilica with its simple facade and impressive pink Subasio stone and butresses.

Off to the south you would have beautiful views.

Then you would pas through a third gate into the center of town.

Among this days tourists today are some young scouts with cute beetle hats.

Along many parts of the main road are shops selling everything from fine art to junk trinkets, from beautifully embroidered linens to religious momentos, and food, including wonderful pastries.  Sometimes these categories overlap, and you can end up with, for example, fine religious pastries.

You would pass by pretty walkways.

And finally come to the fountain at the Piazza del Commune, the center of town.  (I live near the top of the steps in the middle of the picture.)

Passing through the Piazza you would see the two thousand year old columns of what was a Roman temple, dedicated to Minerva.

The road narrows.  You would pass many more shops.  This one has nice linens.

Oops, back a little ways is a place specializing in merangues.

Didn't want you to miss that.  You would also find yourself passing by some beautiful architecture.

With a careful eye, you might detect a faded treasure from centuries past.

Glancing to the side you might notice why some people do not just wander off the main road.

Soon the Basilica of Saint Francis would come into view, or at least the upper church.

Here's another view.

So, having reached this end of town, you would have seen most of what most visitors see, but also would hardly have begun to discover all of Assisi's many treasures.  Today there might have been a thousand visitors on the main road through town, but as I returned most of the way home along other walkways I encountered but one other person

Had pizza for lunch at an old favorite place.  Tonight I'm hoping to attend a vigil mass at San Rufino.  Then it will be time to finish catching up on sleep, as the weather forecast looks good for adventures in the days ahead. 

Ciao.