Hello Rome!

Goodbye to Florence!

I quite liked Florence though it was very crowded. It’s historically significant and, most importantly, the food was excellent!

We hit the autostrade for our first stop Assisi.

There are two parts to Assisi. The old town on the hill with buildings dating back to the time of Jesus and the more modern lower town in the valley where most of the population now live. We had a guide for our walking tour so he explained things as we walked around the main sights of the old town.

The town was originally a Roman era town and started with a big fort built on top of the hill. The old power struggle between the Pope and the Emperor meant Assisi needed protection as it was part of the Papal States and there were regular clashes.

The town evolved further so walls were added and baths built.

There are a number of churches in Assisi but of course its big claim to fame is the place where St Francis of Assisi started his Order. It is also where St Clair founded her Order so there are the remains of two saints in Assisi and lots of pilgrims come here to visit them both.

The town itself is very picturesque. The guide said they worked out when the last building was built in the old town and the reckon it was around 1750 so it is all really old. Being on a hill it has spectacular views across the wide valley.

There is a supply of limestone nearby so the churches are pink and white as the stone varies in colour. Most of the building was done in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The first church was St Claire’s and given we visited on a Sunday of course mass was happening. We couldn’t take photos. What is left of St Clair is in a glass coffin.

We then walked down the hill through the old town towards St Francis’ church. This one is much bigger and is actually two churches built on top of each other. When he died St Francis left instructions his church was to be very plain and simple - well that sure didn’t happen!

This church is very ornate with frescoes on every surface. This area is subject to earthquakes and one in 1997 caused the roof of the top church to collapse though it was completely restored in the years afterwards. We started with viewing the tomb of St Frances (he is not on display) which is in the crypt below the lower church, then the lower church itself, finally the upper church. It was built this way to handle the number of pilgrims that were coming at the time.

After Assisi we continued down the highway to our next stop Marmore Falls near the town of Terni. These are the highest man made falls in the world and were originally built around 271BC to drain wetlands near a town on the top of the plateau. They evolved and were added to over the centuries to what we have today.

The amount of water going over the falls was huge and the spray made us a bit wet. We walked up to one of the viewing platforms and it was quite impressive.

We then headed on the Rome. First impressions are this is a very very big city with ancient ruins on just about every block. The streets are lined with orange trees, don’t know why, but the traffic wasn’t too bad for a Sunday evening.

Our hotel has a roof top bar so we could see the dome of the Vatican, very exciting!

Tomorrow we go to the Vatican.Les mer