Hotel Villa Zuccari Assisi

People engage here

by icunme

Both residents and other tourists will converse very comfortably here - in cafes, on the streets, in front of the various monuments, and by the churches. After Mass a local resident offered us a ride back down to the train station in the lower city once he heard we were headed there. The most lovely human connections seem quite a natural occurrance in this atmosphere.

St. Clare basilica

by fairy_dust

The basilica of St. Clare is smaller and much simpler than the basilica of St. Francis, but it's still worth seeing. The original San Damiano crucifix that spoke to St. Francis and told him to repair the Church is in this basilica, and the tomb of St. Clare is in the basement.

Fonte Oliviera

by croisbeauty

This beautiful fountain, erected in the year 1570, is situated next to Portico del Monte Frumentario and it is worthy of your attention.
The running water from the fountain is very cold and drinkable.
In the hot summer days, as it was during my visit to Assisi, you can stop here and refresh yourself.

ASSISI

by Goner

"The Place of St. Francis"

Assisi is in the beautiful hills of the Umbria Region in Northern Italy. We were told by our tour guide that there are 99 hilltop towns in the area, however, we couldn’t count them all. It was enjoyable riding along in the bus and watching this pretty countryside pass by our windows, so different from the busy Venice we had just left. The hilltop towns sit perched on hills far from the main highway and we didn’t stop to explore any until we reached Assisi. There was an air of reverence as we left the bus and climbed up the steep hill to the Basilica. I had read about the mystical and poetic Saint Francis as a child and was quite impressed that a man would give up his wealth to become a penniless monk and care for lepers.

"The Story of St. Francis"

Francis of Assisi, Saint (1182-1226). Born in Assisi, Italy and originally named Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, he appears to have received little formal education, even though his father was a wealthy merchant. As a young man, Francis led a worldly, carefree life. Following a battle between Assisi and Perugia, he was held captive in Perugia for over a year. While imprisoned, he suffered a severe illness during which he resolved to alter his way of life. Back in Assisi in 1205, he performed charities among the lepers and began working on the restoration of dilapidated churches. Francis’s change of character and his expenditures for charity angered his father, who legally disinherited him. Francis then discarded his rich garments for a bishop’s cloak and devoted the next three years to the care of outcasts and lepers.

Francis began preaching. and established the order of the Franciscans. In 1212 he received a young, well-born nun of Assisi, Clare, into Franciscan fellowship; through her was established the Order of the Poor Ladies (the Poor Clares). It was probably later in 1212 that Francis set out for the Holy Land, but a shipwreck forced him to return. He then went to Spain to preach to the Moors. In 1219 he was in Egypt, unable to convert the sultan, Francis then went on to the Holy Land, staying there until 1220. In September 1224, after 40 days of fasting, Francis was praying and a stigmata appeared on his body. Francis was carried back to Assisi, where his remaining years were marked by physical pain and almost total blindness. He was canonized in 1228. In 1980, Pope John Paul II proclaimed him the patron saint of ecologists. In art, the emblems of St. Francis are the wolf, the lamb, the fish, birds, and the stigmata.

Parts of narrative were taken from Encarta