To Assisi!

Wednesday September 18th

Today, we set off for Assisi! It was a very early start, as we had to be at Stanstead airport at 5.30 am. We spent Tuesday night at a hotel at the airport, and even so, we were up at 4 and in breakfast by 5. There was a 5.30 shuttle from the hotel to the airport, which was only 5 minutes away, so we were in good time for the plane, and even had a few minutes to sit and wait.

It was far too bumpy a landing at Perugia airport for my liking, but the airport is small and so we went through quite quickly and were picked up in a taxi and taken to our hotel in Assisi. The town is perched on a steep hillside so you see it in the distance, tumbling down from the fortress of the Rocca Maggiore at the top of the hill.

We drove in through one of the gates in the medieval walls. It’s called the New Gate because it’s newer than the others - it’s 15th century! Our hotel if right in the centre of the old medieval part of the town, so it isn’t far from all the sights, though the hills are very steep and it’s hot so you can’t move anywhere too quickly.

This is the central square, just a few steps from our hotel.

We had spent some time deciding what to do, bearing in mind that we were being taken on a tour tomorrow, so we wanted to see things we might not be taken to see. We settled on one of the churches, which used to be a Roman temple, the Temple of Minerva, built about 40 BC on a set of terraces that marked the centre of the town.

It was converted to a Christian church, then it became shops and later the town hall. It became a church again in 1456, and it’s called Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

Inside, it’s rectangular, and very baroque.



I took 4 photos in here, and they are all slightly out of focus; I think the camera was havin a nice rest and objected to being made to work again!

Next door to Minerva is the Palazzo del Capitano del Populo, built in the 13th century and extensively restored in the 20th century.

At the foot of the tower, just next to the rightmost arched doorway, are the 14th century measures for bricks, tiles and fabrics.

We had a quick lunch and then set off towards the Museum of the Roman Forum. This sets out various Roman finds. There are tombstones and sarcophagi and plaques. Then you go through into the ruins of what was probably the forum, under the current level of the city streets. There’s a glass floor you walk on so you can see the drains beneath you as you walk along what was once a Roman Street. There are the remains of a podium, and the remains of many shops.

There are also statues and the huge base of something called the Tetrastyle, which held massive statues of the Dioscuri. Only the base is left.

After this we set off for the Museum of Assisi. Some of the shops are fascinating. We saw this outside a shop which sells salami - presumably wild boar salami. 

Poor thing. There was also a baby boar, and more heads inside the shop.

The streets are lined with original medieval buildings; there may have been alterations but the walls are still standing after hundreds of years. I think this was one of the town gates.

That’s a tour group - not ours - being told some details about the house with the metal balcony on it, but as it was an Italian Group, I don’t know what was being said. It’s an interesting building though.

We pressed on to the Museum of Assisi, to see some paintings. The most important one is a Madonna, dated around 1300, originally thought to be by Giotto but now considered ‘school of Giotto’. 


This fresco is not from a church but from the Palazzo del Capitano del Populo. It is though that many of the painters who were painting the Basilica of St Francis were also asked to paint areas in public buildings. I’m afraid it has suffered a bit over the years, so now there are blank areas.

There are many rooms full of frescos, mostly damaged and by artists of whom I have never heard. I liked the one below.




It’s at least a century later than the Giotto, and is by somebody called Tiberio d’Assisi. It’s called Our Lady of Mercy with Saints Ruffino and Francis. It too has suffered a bit - most of the frescos have missing bits.

There’s a room of what look like copies Roman frescos, but there are no notes or information of any sort so you have no idea what they are. And there are some, to my mind, truly dreadful and odiously sentimental Baroque paintings which I walked past rather quickly.

Outside in the street, I was attracted by the view over the hillside and the valley beneath.


I love the old lamp. You see them on quite a lot of the buildings.

We were tired by then, and went back to the hotel for a snooze - or in my case, to write all this.

Later, we were collected by Roy, our host for the tour and taken for a walk to his house so he could give us information about the tour and show us his collection of medieval art.

This is the wonderful facade of the Duomo, the church of San Rufino, who is a 2nd century Christian bishop murdered by the Romans, and is now the patron saint of Assisi.

It was built around 1029 on a Roman religious site, and rebuilt in in the 12th and 13th centuries. Roy says it is rather disappointing inside but we didn’t have time to look in and I don’t know if we will have time on any other occasion, as this tour is quite busy. One interesting feature is the old baptismal font where both St Francis and Saint Clare were baptised.

From the terrace of Roy’s little house we looked up to the castle, the Rocca Maggiore, which I hope we have time to see. We also admired Roy’s collection of medieval art, his little house is full of it, most of it not Italian, but very fascinating. He also has some Roman artefacts in his bathroom.