Assisi Diary - Day 10 - Pian D'Arca

The following is an excerpt from The Little Flowers of Saint Francis.  And as he went on his way, with great fervour, St Francis lifted up his eyes, and saw on some trees by the wayside a great multitude of birds; and being much surprised, he said to his companions, "Wait for me here by the way, whilst I go and preach to my little sisters the birds"; and entering into the field, he began to preach to the birds which were on the ground, and suddenly all those also on the trees came round him, and all listened while St Francis preached to them, and did not fly away until he had given them his blessing.
According to legend, Francis preached to the birds at a place called Pian D'Arca, beyond Cannara on the other side of the valley from Assisi.  I set out early this morning in search of this special place, along with other interesting locations, walking country roads in a route of about twenty miles.  It was mid-morning when I arrived in Cannara, pleased to see signs for my destination.  However, just before the end of town there was a marker indicating pedestrians should continue along one road and vehicles along another.
After a momentary pause I set off down the pedestrian road, which curved through a neighborhood and over a small bridge and down a byway until another sign directed walkers down a very long, very straight, very empty gravel road dividing onion fields (Cannara is famous for its onions).  It was a nice enough road, with fine distant views (nearly everything seemed distant).  After walking for a very long while, I started having doubts.  Had I read the sign correctly?  Should I consider turning back?  About then an object came into view by the road.  

And there was a sign post next to it.

The place Francis preached to the birds.  Excellent.  And the peaceful, remote setting was perfect.  With a little imagination one could easily envision Francis' sermon to the attentive birds. 
After a quiet while I noticed a distant road, with occasional cars and trucks.  Rather than retrace my steps, I decided it might be worthwhile to try returning to Cannara by cutting across farmland (onions) to a more traveled route.  So, I set off along a long rutted path running by an irrigation ditch.  Hiking along, the closer I came to the road, the more my path dwindled, but it remained wide enough to avoid stepping on onions.  Finally, I made my way up to the paved road just at a point where beside me was this:

A shrine.  By all indications, the place where Francis preached his sermon to the birds.

However, this location is readily accessible to vehicle traffic. (There's a gas station across the street.)  It's a very nice shrine, although certainly not as simple and tranquil as the other.  But, what is one to make of this?  The two sites are not at all close.  Walkers from Cannara probably think they have visited the site where Francis preached to the birds.  Drivers from Cannara probably think they have done the same.  (Pity the poor couple if one decides to walk, the other to drive, in hopes of meeting.)
So, exactly where in Pian D'Arca did Francis preach to the birds?  Perhaps no one really knows.  Perhaps only the birds know, and they're not talking.  But they're still singing, quite beautifully, just as they did for Francis.
Ciao.