Day 3 - Saturday, October 1 - Assisi, Spoleto and Norcia

Lunch at the Assisi piazza

 Saturday was a long day, starting at 8:30 with a bus ride to the city of Assisi, most famous for the St. Francis Cathedral which was built shortly after his death in 1226. It is filled with some of the most beautiful frescoes of the 13th century. At 10:30 we were met by Jerry, a Franciscan serving as a tour guide. He is from Montana (!) and served previously in Mexico, Vietnam and Australia. Although he had only been there 4 months, he had a good knowledge of the history and artwork. We visited the tomb of St. Francis which is in a chamber directly underneath the altar - it is a somber place with many worshippers. 

The cathedral has huge lower and upper sanctuaries, with every surface covered with frescoes depicting various religious themes. One of the major characteristics is Giotto's style of portraying lifelike facial images. 

Leaving the cathedral, we walked up (lots of up!) to the main piazza in front of the ancient Roman temple going back to 241BC. This now fronts a church which was built in the 13th century. 

We had a pleasant lunch at a cafe in front of the temple, sharing salads, calzone, pizza and flatbread. And of course, beer. Our preference is for IPA but the Italian pilsner-style was fitting.

From there we walked further up to another church dating back to the 9th century and back down to the parking area, stopping for delicious gelato and buying a meringue 'gigante'.

We then took our bus to the Roman walled city of Spoleto, dating also back to the 2nd century BC. Fortunately, there is a "people-mover" to take us up to the main area of the city where we visited the Duomo du Spoleto. We were treated to a spectacular view of the Duomo with a rainbow in the background. There are beautiful bright frescoes in the Nave although we couldn't get too close or spend too much time as a Cardinal was about to officiate a wedding.

After some more time exploring the historic alleyways of Spoleto, we headed back to the bus for the ride to Norcia for dinner. Norcia is also a walled city and, unfortunately was seriously damaged by a major earthquake in the 1990s. Huge scaffolding is propping of the facades of two of the churches with much of the church behind in rubble. There aren't enough funds to repair the damage.

Norcia is famous for its cured pork products and has numerous small shops selling prosciutto, salami, sausages and cheeses. We stopped in two shops to buy sausage, cheese, wine and fruit for our dinner on Sunday. 

We had dinner at a restaurant featuring local produce. The appetizer was prosciutto, sausages and bacon for the meat eaters and a cheese plate the the vegetarians, followed by lentil soup for which the region is famous. The meat eaters had a plate of grilled meats and the vegetarians a dish of grilled cheese with spinach. Fortunately, we weren't forced to eat dessert after such a large meal!

It was almost 11pm by the time we returned and collapsed in bed.

2nd century BC Roman temple in the Assisi piazza

Spoleto Duomo with rainbow

Norcia appetizers - I think I would have preferred the cheese