Assisi and Surroundings, an Oasis of Spirituality

We first arrive at Rivotorto, where we visit the Holy Hut that saw St Francis together with his companions; we visit the basilica of St Mary of the Angels and the Porziuncola inside, a little church that was the first Franciscan nucleus. The next day we take the bus up to Assisi: we visit the cathedral of St Rufinus, patron of Assisi, with St Clare's house next to it and the church of St Clare, whose crypt holds examples of the saint's spirituality. It's hot, and we head into the shopping area: for 3 euros we buy from a café the rocciata assisiate, a local sweet, and we visit the Temple of Minerva, now a baroque church, and then an old shop said to have belonged to Pietro Bernardone; the heat grows ever stronger and we take the road towards St Francis. The descent is steep and beside it there's a garden. At last the huge basilica appears, spread out over the town's hills.

Its interior is magnificent, simple but entirely frescoed by Giotto with scenes from the saint's life: you can't take photos unless you do it on the sly. In the evening we go to the festival of Rivotorto. While people eat at long tables and, in the distance, dance to the rhythm of sixties music, we witness a partial lunar eclipse and look at an old tractor, then we move on to Spello