Hotel Gentile da Fabriano

... 8211; many of us Lutherans do this informally as well) to hold ceremonies blessing animals in honor of St. Francis’ feast day on or around October 4th every year.

The Basilica di San Francesco was built on a hill known as Colle d’Inferno (Hell Hill). People were executed at the gallows here until the 13th century. St. Francis asked his followers to bury him here in keeping with Jesus, who died on the cross amongst criminals and outcasts. The area ...

... today. That has to be my favorite saint. Very busy here even though end of season. No wireless interent. We have one more day and we start home. I think we are ready to get home. It has been beautiful here and I have learned so much, but all good things must come to an end. See you all next week I hope.

Hello again!

We're still a little behind with these entries, but we're doing our best to catch up! Thanks for reading!

Our next city, and our second of four in Italy, was the little town of Assisi. At the time it was the smallest town we'd been to, and it may end up being the smallest of the whole trip. The town has a population of less than 30,000, and it seems like many of them live outside of the main town area (I'm trying to avoid using the word "downtown ...

Day 1 – Thursday 3rd September – We arrived in Assisi this afternoon for a walking tour of the town and a one night stay. I must say that I wasn’t looking forward to it as I was kind of getting a bit over walking tours. I decided to go though as I wasn’t sure what else I could do with my time.

We spent some time walking around the markets for half an hour before our tour started and I was amazed ...

the francescan monks must have been part mountain goat.this palce is unbelievably hilly.also it poured with rain and thundered and we got drenched.we slept in an 1800 year old nunnery in single beds of course
we went to the church of saint claira and saw her tomb

I am writing this from a pullout beside a highway just south of Assisi, in central Italy.
We ended up here because of vehicular difficulty. "Fiat" is becoming an expletive around here. It is a 4-letter word starting with F after all. It all started earlier today.
We set out from our campground in Pompei early, so as to climb Mount Vesuvius in the cool of the morning.
We started up the mountain, and true to form we were soon down to first gear. Igor ...

We are excited to visit the Basilicas of two famous saints, for which both have cities named after them in the Bay Area. San Francisco was named after St. Francis by the Franciscan monks and Santa Clara was named after St Clare. Both St Francis and St Clare were born into wealthy and powerful families and both turn their backs to ...

The Italian language is both beautiful and humble:

- Companion comes from "con pan" meaning “with bread”. Tuscans consider their companions to be those they share their bread with therefore.

- Rosemary is “rosmarino” or “rose of the sea”.

Very close to Perugia, do not miss the chance to visit Assisi. It is easy, cheap and quick to go there by train from Perugia.

I think that one day, maybe half a day, is enought to visit this city.

Located on a small hill, the view from the top is ...

... out the other side of town on the way to the country side. so we hopped off the bus as soon as we could and found that we were stranded on a dual carridge way, with no way of walking back into town. luckly we found a bus stop and the bus would arrive in 15 mins to take us back into town. so we waited patiently whilst cars wizzed passed us at 70mph. while we waited the rain clouds rolled in and it started to spit rain. the ...