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ASSISI
27km (17 miles) E of Perugia; 190km (118 miles) SE of
Florence; 175km (109 miles) N of
Rome.
The ancestors of the people of Assisi claim a Roman heritage,
and the city has a looming castle,
twisting alleyways and some of
Italy’s finest early Renaissance
art to back up this claim.
Situated in the Umbrian hills, it
is more of a large, tiered village
of pink and pale-grey stone, than
a town. The town is spread out
along a mountain side, surrounded
by a patchwork of cultivated
fields lush olive groves, all this
is in the backdrop of the
brilliant green slope of the
sacred Mount Subasio. Assisi has a
very small population of about
three thousand people, but during
the late twentieth century the
number of tourists who visited the
town was in the region of four to
five million. The University of
Perugia has a centre for
“Tourism Studies” based here;
and these studies are on the
phenomenon of uncontrolled tourism
destroying the charisma and charm
of a town, as has happened in
Assisi. Countless pilgrims, art
lovers, and just plain curious
travelers over the last 700 years
have given the town a tourist
veneer it can't quite shake even
in its quietest, least visited
corners.
Having said this, Assisi is still one of Italy's top sights,
ranking with the Colosseum,
Pompeii, and Venice's canals. It
has an almost intact portico of a
Roman temple on its main square,
one of the better-preserved
Albornoz Roccas with sweeping
views, and a two-story basilica at
one end of town that' is a
festival of frescoes. The basilica
is a showcase of the creations of
the greatest geniuses of the early
Renaissance, both Sienese (Pietro
Lorenzetti and Simone Martini) and
Florentine (Cimabue and Giotto).
Saint Francis and Saint Clare were born in Assisi in the late
middle ages. The reputation of
these holy people has made the
town famous all over the world.
St. Francis is Italy’s patron
saint, founder of a famous
monastic order and one of the most
holy and revered men who ever
lived. Because of this Assisi is
chock full in the summer months
and on the weekends of weeks with
religious holidays. Hence anyone
intending to visit Assisi during
these times should book all
facilities well in advance. Of
course the opposite is also true,
and the town is practically empty
from January to March.
In 1977, earthquakes in Umbria damaged the Santa Chiara
church and the Duomo, but the
Basilica di San Francesco was the
worst hit, part of the ceiling in
the upper church collapsed,
killing four people, destroying
frescoes by Cimabue and his
followers, and damaging Giotto's Life
of St. Francis frescoes. The
basilica belongs to the Vatican
and the Catholic Church managed to
repair most of the worst damaged
areas in a remarkably short time,
though the full restoration of the
entire structure may take a few
more years to complete. The
damages to the rest of the town
are still being repaired, and a
lot of the medieval buildings have
to be shored up, to prevent them
from falling down. Doorways and
arches have been filled in with
temporary struts; the Palazzo
Comunale on the main square is
only just now coming out from
under wraps, and its Pinacoteca is
still closed. It will take a long
time for Assisi to recover fully.
However, it's a testament to the
quality of Assisi’s heritage,
that what remains open is still
more than worth the journey here.
Call the tourist office for the
latest details before you visit.
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