Woke up to another beautiful day. Got talking to a young Canadian couple over breakfast. They are also driving around
We walked up to the Basilica di San Francesco (St Francis Basilica). It looks quite different in the morning light, it looks almost brilliant white. We first went into the lower church. We viewed the wonderful frescoes and interior whilst listening to a Mass going on in another quarter, and singing reverberating around the church from upstairs. The whole place had a reflective, spiritual feel without being cold. One area was closed off and you could see the restorers working on the ceiling repairing the damage from the 1997 earthquake. This seems to be a continual process in this country. Not surprising when you consider age / number of churches / and the earthquakes that they have had over the years.
We went downstairs to St Francis’ crypt. A very restful place, and one of the nicest ones that we have seen. It even had a pipe organ down there for small services. It does make you wonder though when you know that he dedicated his life to poverty, and yet his life and his work is celebrated with grandeur on such a large scale.
We couldn’t go up to the upper church straight away as there was a service going on for yellow bandana wearing youth groups that had raided the town in there hundreds on some sort of pilgrimage. We were told that this year is the 800 year centenary of something to do with St Francis (not exactly sure what yet), but the pilgrims are swarming to this town. When we did get upstairs, we weren’t as impressed as we had been by the lower church. It was great, but just didn’t have the spiritual sense that we had felt downstairs.
From here we walked up the hill to the Tempio di Minerva, an old pillar fascade from Roman times, and now a church of course. Very small compared to everything else that we have seen lately, almost as long as it is tall. We then went further up the hill to the Rocca Maggiore which dominates the top end of town. This is an old fortress with 360 degree views of the area. A dominant force in the history of the town and with a very checkered history over the years under the different rulers. Primarily medieval, and this is celebrated annually with an event that spans several days (but we missed that unfortunately – first week of May). There is a warning at the entrance that if you are claustrophobic, don’t enter the fortress, and with good reason. There are tight spiral staircases and small tunnels in all directions. So when we were leaving and we heard a prospective visitor ask “is there an elevator” … we had trouble keeping a straight face. I don’t think that was part of the planning brief back in the 14th century.
From here on to the Duomo, and then to Basilica di Santa Chiara, the place where St Clare (St Francis’ spiritual companion) is buried. Quite a different feel to St Francis’ crypt, it is more elaborate, but I think that is probably appropriate.
Wandered back down through the town. It is much quieter now that the tour groups and yellow bandanas have gone. Got back to our room just in time to welcome a bus load of yellow bandana wearers into the rooms next door! I just hope that they don’t break out into spontaneous songs/hymns/praise as we have witnessed their contemporaries doing all day.
1 comment:
There's a lot of brick in some of these places!!
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