Azienda Agrituristica Bartoli Spoleto

... when sunlight hits it! Again, this basilica also sits right on the edge of a hillside overlook, so the views of Assisi from here were gorgeous.

Inside, the Basilica di Santa Chiara was lovely. Similarly to the crypt of St. Francis, the most moving room here was the crypt underneath the church where St. Clare is buried – another place of deep spirituality and tranquility.

From the piazza of the Basilica di Santa Chiara, we took a taxi (I just wasn’t ...

... 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.

... an unintentional but nice detour through an old cemetery, we found a small trail, and hiked up the mountain.

At the peak of Mount Subasio is a castle, which we walked around (though we decided against paying to get in) and a great view over the whole town and the surrounding area. We took our time on the mountaintop, and eventually made our way back into town, where we continued our aimless but fascinating "adventuring" along the small, curvy, cobblestone streets.
Assisi, Umbria, Italy emyandwarren

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 ...

... white clouds. It was idyllic.

Heading back down the hill we stopped at Castelle de Campo. The castle overlooks the Spoleto valley. People are living there today and the Duomo is fully functional inside the walls of this tiny medieval town. Reaching home again in the hottest part of the day we jump into the pool to cool off. Refreshed we drove into Campelle de Clituno for the daily gelato. Shopped the ...

Today Mike takes us for provisions for our picnic we are planning for Tuesday. They leave for NY today and we will be on our own. Mike has us drive so we get the feeling of Italian roads and drivers. He takes to the local butcher, Hugo, an artist with meat. He makes beautifully aged prosciutto, 15 months, compared with the 2 months in the US ...

It starts out smoothly with a pleasant ride to the airport we are on the plane and then they turn us back and say the plane is broken and off the road. We all make a mad dash for the ticket desk. Traveling light saved us as we could make all of our connections because we didn't check our bags. We made two unplanned stops Dallas and Heathrow but do end up Rome on the same day as we planned.

We arrive in amazingly good shape ...

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

... as you can see from the photos, there has been a tremendous amount of effort to restore the city. It is a truly beautiful little town and feel luck to walk around this historical and spiritual place.

We also had a quick stop over in Oriveto to see it's famed cathedral. It's known for it's vivid colored mosaics.

... one just now) and the most excellent olive oil I've ever tasted in my entire life. They make only 10,000 bottles...one tree's worth per bottle. MMMM. And the owner gave us the wine tasting portion herself (along with Mario, the old gamekeep who's worked on this vineyard since 1953 and wears and awesome outfit complete with hat and feather). Really, it was all just amazing. I'll put the pictures up sometime soon... Oh, and I bought two bottles. Mwahahahaha ...