Francis, Clare, More great dining

May 01, 2015

Francis, Clare, More great dining - Assisi

Following our three wonderful nights in Sorrento, we head to Assisi for two nights. Time for a travel hiccup unfortunately. Pasquale takes us down to the train station, we get our tickets and get on the next Circumvesuviana train to Naples, catch the next Frecce Treni to Roma Termini, where we have a tight connection to catch the next train to Assisi. A bit too tight it turns out - we missed our train by one minute - we were running up to the train, luggage in tow, when it pulled out. That ended up costing us 2.5 hours - an hour plus wait for the next train, which was then "ritardo" en route, causing us to miss a connection in Foligno, ........so we finally made it to Assisi at roughly 8 PM. I called Massimo, our b and b proprietor (Il Roseto Country House) about our delayed arrival and he asked if we wanted dinner at his place (I vaguely remembered that they offered dinner - had no idea about cost or anything else, but said absolutely). No regrets on that decision, because our next two dinners were at Massimos's and they were our only four course dinners of the trip and they were wonderful!(Massimo's wife was the chef, Massimo the waiter/host). First night there were three groups eating; next to us were an engaged couple (He was from Assisi, she was Iranian, and they were going to be married at the b and b later that year) and two guys who worked for Stihl, one of which (Manuel) spoke good English, and we had a lot of fun visiting with all of them that evening. It also turned out to be Massimo's 60th birthday, and we joined in the celebration after dinner. First meal was so good and fun, that we ate the next night there and and had a second great meal, and more fun conversation (Massimo sat Donna next to Manuel "her boyfriend" according to Massimo).

Our room had a fantastic view of Assisi too, another bonus for our accommodations. On our full day in Assisi we walked up the hill into town, and wandered around taking in the sights, visiting three churches, including the church of Saint Clare and Saint Francis Basilica. Assisi was a very quaint and beautiful small Umbria hill town and we really enjoyed strolling around town. Donna purchased "baby Aria" (granddaughter on the way) some items. Saint Francis' Basilica was our favorite among the many churches we visited while in Italy (no inside photos - they weren't allowed)- Saint Francis might be rolling over in his grave if he visited I suppose, since he practiced and preached a very simple "back to nature and the roots of Christianity" lifestyle, but a very beautiful church it was. Assisi survives I suspect on the Saint Francis tourist trade, and if you want a statue of Saint Francis and/or Clare there were probably 10's of thousands for sale everywhere - but it is not a tacky town at all, rather a beautifully preserved and very clean hill town.

Typical small world story too - it rained cats and dogs while we were in Saint Francis Basilica, and we visited the gift shop to avoid going out in the downpour, and we met the couple from Pennsylvania that we had met in Rome at our second meal - they were on a day trip from Rome visiting Assisi).

So although getting to Assisi was a very long day, we are very glad that we put Assisi on the trip agenda.