Tuesday, we woke to a beautiful day and exciting day! The hot water stopped so there were no hot showers, and we found a black scorpion trying to get into the bedroom! Luckily google confirmed that black scorpions are not lethal in Italy, just like a bee sting, but nonetheless, he had to go! After breakfast we headed out to Assisi, which was 1 1/4 hours away.
The Tuscan/Umbria sky has been hazy since we arrived, and no idea why! Smells of smoke sometimes, and we see post-harvest crops being burnt, so we are not sure if its smoke, smog, or pollution!
We arrived in Assisi and toured the highlight of the town, the Basilica di San Francesco. The church was built in the late 1200s after St Francis’ death, and is full of world renown frescos painted by Giotto. The Basilica is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a place of pilgrimage for Catholics everywhere.
The frescos are so important to the western world, and they have long been considered one of the turning points in Western art, moving from the Byzantine world of iconic saints to one of humanist narrative.
The Basilica is split into to venues: the lower church and the upper church. We toured the lower church which has beautiful frescos in bright colors! Below the lower church is the crypt where St Francis himself is entombed in a modest stone box.
They upper church is incredible as well with frescos of St Francis’ life events painted in 30 different panels. We do not have many photos of inside the basilica, as photos were not allowed. We snuck a few pictures until Bob was told by a security guard to stop it! Bob replied “pardon moi” in hopes the guard thought he was a Frenchman!
We had pizza and salad for lunch in the town to Assisi, did a little olive wood shopping and returned home to sit in the garden. We returned to Cortona in the evening for our first aperitif of the trip, shopping and dinner of bruschetta, caprese salad and pasta.
Tomorrow, we return to the Tuscan wine area of Montalcino with a visit to the hilltop village and required wine tasting! Cin cin!!!
Yes, that is one of the scorpions!!