We are in the office Monday - Friday and some Saturdays. Saturday is our day to shop, clean, take in the sights or just sleep in and relax. One Saturday some weeks ago we visited the city that Saint
Francis made famous, Assisi. As I
understand it, he was born into a wealthy family but after a vision he renounced
the riches of his family and took upon him a life of poverty and obedience. We toured a house where tradition says his
father locked him in a room to try to force him to return to his family and
wealthy lifestyle. Every city in Italy has a patron saint. The country of Italy has two patron saints, Francis of Assisi being one of them.
Assisi is one of
dozens of hilltop cities in this part of Italy; built upon the hill to keep
invaders at bay. We walked by many
churches. The last
church dedicated to St Francis is huge with two levels and many frescoes. We took a Rick Steves walking tour of the
town and the main cathedral starting near the top of the town.
A narrow road leading down into the middle of the town.
We just happened to stumble past this out of the way but beautiful doorway.
This was in front of one of the churches. According to Steve Ricks, a lion eating a Christian.
A lot of the notable churches in Italy have bell towers.
It was surprising to find two of them in such a small town.
Last, but not by any stretch least, the cathedral of Saint Francis.
I am afraid it is difficult to grasp just how huge this cathedral is.
When they were doing some restoration work years ago,
one fresco fell from an upper wall and killed two of the workers.
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