ASSISI Are you ready for a virtual magical trip to this wonderful town? Milena Mayora, Matteo Loss, Alessandra Ioriatti
BUT...WHY CHOOSING ASSISI? We've chosen this little town for many reasons. First of all, it is not the habitual and enormous city, but rather a little town that is not very touristic. When people usually think about Italy, they think about Rome,
Florence, Venice and Milan, so we wanted to let people know something new about our country. Assisi is an example of how also a small town with a few inhabitants can have an incredible and immense cultural patrimony. Assisi symbolizes a very important point in the Christian Religion because of the Italy's patron saint, who is Saint Francesco. Assisi is perfect for a typical family that wants to spend a bit of time together enjoying each other and has to be visited once in a lifetime.
BASILICA OF SAN FRANCESCO D'ASSISI The basilica’s construction started on the 17 th of July 1228, one day after the proclamation of S. Francesco’s sanctification.
It is located exactly where S.Francesco wanted to be buried, in a location where previously convicts by lawfulness were buried, in fact, the Saint’s relicts are there. It has a Gothic and a Roman style. Today, it is the destination of a lot of pilgrims and it is still a convent where Franciscan monks live.
The Inferior Church It hostes the relicts of S.Francesco. The walls are covered with paintings that depict some episodes of S.Francesco’s life. Inside the Inferior Church, there’s also a museum with some personal objects and manuscripts of the Saint.
The Superior Church It represents the most complete collection of glass walls in Italy, but in contrast with the Inferior Church, it’s just a normal church where the Mass takes place.
SAINT FRANCESCO
Saint Francesco was born in 1182 in Assisi. He parteciped in the war between Assisi and Perugia and was prisoner for one year. When he came back and decided to take care of lepers, his father disinherited him. As response, he took off his clothes and started living in poverty wearing just a sackcloth and helping pour people. He died on the night of the 3 rd of October 1226. He became the Italy's Patron Saint in 1939.
BASILICA OF SANTA CHIARA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ELxJvaAA6g - to see images
The Basilica of Santa Chiara was built between 1257 and 1265.
The Basilica remembers the Gothic style of the Superior Church of S.Francesco. It has always been a cloistered convent.
The external part was realised with the pink and white stone from the Subasio's Mount. The internal one presents archways and white walls with fragments of frescos which depict S.Chiara's life.
In the Basilica there're also some ancient relicts about S.Francesco's and S.Chiara's life.
SAINT CHIARA
Saint Chiara was born in 1193 from a wealthy family.
Fascinated by S. Francesco's preachings, at the age of 18 she decided to leave her house for join S.Francesco. Francesco cut her hair and let her wear a sackcloth. Finally, she was sent to S.Damiano's church where she spent a period of 42 years praying with other women in a complete condition of poverty. Here, she founded the "Poor Clares", a group of nuns who follow their lifes on S.Chiara's rules.
THE “ROCCA MAGGIORE� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqU9PR2mlsQ - to see images
Even if it was built in 1173 as a fortification for the defence of the town, it has often been a royal residence.
The �Rocca Maggiore� (=Major Rock) has been restructured and modified many times. It has been inhabited since the XVII century. The Major Rock is the only one castle located in Assisi. It is connected to the Minor Rock.
The view from the Major Rock It is composed by ramparts that give to the castle a trapezoid form made with pink stone of the Subasio's Mount. It also includes towers on each edge. Inwards, it remembers the Medieval life.
The "Maschio" (=male) is the central tower. It includes five levels connected thanks to a spiral staircase.
TERRITORY PHYSICAL FEATURES & POSITION Assisi is a little town that is part of a region called Umbria, which is
situated in the middle of Italy and incudes woods, forests, pastures, mounts, hills, flat land and valley floor. It's situated on the north-west slope of the Subasio Mount, that is part of Umbro-Marchigiano Apennine. Assisi is located 26 km from Perugia and occupies 187,19 km2. It is 424 m a.s.l. and 43째 04' N 12째 37' E. The town is a sister city of San Francisco in California, Bethlehem, Santiago de Compostela, Messina and Wadowice.
CLIMATE The best time to visit Assisi is in summer: it's warm, but not very sultry. In winter, we can find cold winds coming from North-Europe and, like in autumn, the town is mist - shrouded. Finally, autumn and spring are rainy and quite lukewarm.
POPULATION Assisi has a population of 28143 residents, less than Trento who has 117.000 inhabitants.
GASTRONOMY
Typical dishes from Assisi remember the farmer origin of the population. Let’s look at some examples: Brustengolo: a poor dessert made with cornflour; Ciaramicola: the typical Easter dessert. The tradition says
that girls have to prepare it for their boyfriends on Easter; Cresciole of Ciccioli: sweet and savoury spherical cakes; Fave dei morti: pastries made with almonds prepared on
All Souls’ Day; Mostaccioli: typical biscuits of the winter period; Cannara Onion: a red and sweet onion; Tartufo: a very well-known and
prestigious kind of mushroom Castagnole: a sweet that looks
like a chestnut;
RESTAURANTS Assisi is a town teeming with different restaurants. Here you find some of our proposals, founded on internetreviews: Buca di San Francesco: it is opened all the year and offers regional cooking. It is about 5 minutes distant from the train station and 10 minutes from the airport. Prices are affordable. Via Cristofani 26 - 075 812204
Il Frantoio: 12 minutes far from the airport and 5 minutes from the train station. It provides a bar, a garden, car parking and heating. It offers regional and international food. It's perfect for who wants to eat well without paying so much. Vicolo degli Illuminati - 075 812977
Medio Evo: It takes about ten minutes to get there from the airport and five minutes from the train station. It offers regional and international dishes. It's more expensive than the average but the food is really tasty. Via Arco dei Priori 4/b - 075 813068
Mill Garden: 5' far from the train station and 10' from the airport. It provides parking, heating, a bar, a garden and a lift. It’s a pizzeria, but it offers also regional food. It is an economic restaurant. Vicolo degli Illuminati - 075 813225
HOTELS
Assisi is a tourist town and that is why it provides a multitude of hotels. They can be very expensive or extremely cheap and incredibly comfortable or terrible and filthy hotels. Here there are three hotels different in price and quality in the vicinities of the town-centre recommended by the "booking.com" web-site:
Hotel Sorella Luna: it is just 100 m far from the famous Basilica of San Francesco and 5 minutes from the train station. It includes air conditioned bedrooms with flat screen TVs, a terrace in common and a buffet for breakfast. It costs about 90£ per night for one
person in summer.
Hotel Berti: the hotel provides a typical restaurant and a nice garden. It takes about 5 minutes to get to the city centre. There is a car parking 50 m far from the hotel. The bedrooms aren't very big and that is one of the reasons why the hotel is cheap. It costs about 50 £ per night for one person in summer.
Nun Assisi Relais & Spa Museum: it offers a panoramic view of the city and the Subasio Mount. It also boasts a thermal centre
obtained from Roman excavations. The rooms provide air condition, flat screen TV and balconies There are also a swimming pool and a restaurant. The stay there can cost from about 240ÂŁ to 500 ÂŁ per one night for a couple in summer. It's located 10 minutes far from the Basilica of San Francesco.
If you want to spend less money, you can also stay in an agritourism, in tourist apartments, in a hostel, in campgrounds and in bed & breakfasts.
TRANSPORT It is very easy to move on foot in Assisi, but you can also use buses, taxis and trains.
BUS There are three different bus lines (A,B,C) that take people everywhere within the city. They run every 30 minutes. Bus line A: Municipality Square - Matteotti Square - Olivi Stadium Bus line B: Municipality Square - Hospital - Unit of Italia Square Bus line C: Matteotti Square - Theater - Train Station - Garibaldi Square
TAXI St.Chiara Square 075 812600 S. Francesco Square 075 812606 Municipality Square 075 813193 Italian Union Square 075 812378
Train Station Garibaldi Square
075 8040275 075 8041605
TRAIN STATION The train station is located in the suburb of Santa Maria of Angels. There are 54 trains per day that run to Rome, Florence, Perugia, Terni, Terontola, Foligno and Milan. The tickets are available at the ticket counter.
EVENTS
Calendimaggio: beginning of May – a representation of the Medieval life with music, dance, processions, flags and theatre performances;
The “Vote” Celebration: on the 22nd of June – a memory of the expel of Saracens thanks to Santa Chiara;
The “Palio” of S. Rufino: end of August – an historical memory when Assisi was divided into three parts with processions, flags and archers;
• The cinematographic festival: end of November;
The horse riding of Satriano: on September – jockeys ride the same route that some knights took for taking S.Francesco back to Nocera Umbra to die when he has sick;
International Festival for Peace: on September – a cultural exhibition dedicated to peace, to ecology and to solidarity;
March for the Peace: a march from Perugia to Assisi between September and October;
The Arrival Celebration (Festa della Venuta): on the night of the 7th of December – people celebrate the arrival in Loreto of the Saint House of Nazareth (the brightening of the hike to Heaven) with big bonfires;
The celebration of S.Francesco: on the 3rd and 4th of October – liturgical ceremonies and civic demonstrations to remember the Patron Saint of Italy; The “Palio” of the Rose Easter: a memory of the traditional palio originally celebrated during Pentecost.