Seeing Assisi

 

Santa Chiara

I decided to go to Assisi for a couple of reasons.  I had read about Giotto's frescoes in the Basilica of San Francesco in my art history class a year or two ago.  But before that, many years before that, I sang in the student choir of the LDS Institute in Logan and we sang a version of the Prayer of St Francis by John Rutter.  Sadly, even though it is often referred to as the Prayer of St Francis we don't know who actually wrote it.  The Franciscans call it the Simple Prayer.

One of the things I think about is how I would paint or draw a place or thing, what pigments or paper color I would use etc.  While Siena was most definitely siena, both burnt and raw, Assisi is pink, specifically potters pink, a muted earthy pale pink that I quite like.  The color comes from the local pink and white limestone used to build the town.  The colors are especially noticeable in the striped walls of the main churches.  Along with the pink the new spring grass was especially vibrant this week and contrasted with the muted blue green of the olive trees.  Many of the other trees were still bare from the winter so the olive trees stood out.

Santa Chiara and olive orchard on pink

I couldn't find my hotel at first so I stopped in at a shop to ask about the address.  I didn't see it because the entrance was up an adorable set of stone stairs.  The room was basic, but the location was fantastic.  I smiled every time I climbed the steps.

After checking in I walked down the street looking for lunch.  It was a little cold and rainy, but some places had their doors open.  I could smell something amazing so I stopped.  The place was an Indian Italian fusion restaurant.  The only other guests for lunch were an older American couple who live in town.  The chef was doing double duty since the owner was out jumping through bureaucratic hoops.  I completely enjoyed eating chicken curry and chatting with the American woman.  It would be such a different experience to live in a small hill town.  These towns are charming, but so small.  There are language schools and summer music festivals, but it's pretty quiet except for the Franciscan pilgrims.  There is a large expat community, but they are mostly seasonal visitors due to Schengen visa limitations.  I can see the appeal with the slower pace of life and the relationships you build with neighbors, but I'll stay in Rome.

View from my window

Assisi was a Roman town and an important stop between Venice and Rome.  It is was a wealthy place in the middle ages, but the world passed it by and as a result it is a fairly well preserved Medieval town that celebrates it's most famous former inhabitants, St Francis and St Claire.  Rick Steves has a walking tour recording for Assisi and the Basilica of St Francis.  

St Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant.  He was popular and aspired to the nobility.  He joined the local army during a war with nearby Perugia hoping to advance his social position.  He was captured and imprisoned for a year.  After his release he joined a crusade, but did not make it far from home.  He returned home after receiving a call to a religious life preaching a message of poverty and peace.  He soon attracted followers who organized themselves into a religious order, the Franciscans.  One of his followers was a young noblewoman from Assisi named Chiara (Clare).  She followed him into the religious life and founded an order of religious women, the Poor Clares.

Basilica of St Francis

St Francis preaching to the birds

Upper Basilica of St Francis

I came to Assisi to see the frescoes in the Basilica of St Francis.  They are stunning and historically quite important.  There are actually two basilicas, a lower older church and a slightly newer, but still old, upper church.  We weren't allowed to take photos, although I did sneak in a couple, but they did have post cards available to purchase.  It was interesting to see how much emphasis is placed on the saints in the Catholic church, especially in a place like this were everything centers on such an influential person.  The frescoes depicted Francis' life as parallel to Christ, placing him as a near equal.  For a person whose life was about poverty and preaching about peace through Christ, the churches seemed a rather incongruous.  They are opulent glorifications of the saint and secondarily about God.

Buttresses on Santa Chiara

Pink Romanesque lions - San Rufino

I visited San Rufino on a rainy morning.  It is very typically Romanesque, which makes it austere compared to the Baroque I'm used to in Rome.  It is beautiful in it's own way.  The interior has had some of the usual updates that take away from the original, but they did a great job with the underground.  If there is ever a church that charges a euro or two to visit the crypt it is almost always worth the visit.  San Rufino did not disappoint.  There is a well restored warren of chambers down below.  You can see remnants of an earlier church as well as a Roman cistern and other old Roman bits as well as a library and painting exhibit.

Assisi embroidery from the hotel breakfast room

The walking tour mentioned Assisi embroidery, a Medieval style characteristic of the area.  I've been playing around with Blackwork, a related style.  These are both counted styles which are done today on even weave linen or on aida cloth, like cross stitch.  In both cases there are more traditional Medieval patterns and motifs, but people have adapted the techniques to more modern designs as well.  I even found a woman who researches old paintings and recreates the stitching patterns from the clothes of the Medieval and Renaissance nobles.

My own birds in Blackwork

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my quick weekend in Assisi.  I walked up and down the length of the small town many times, talked to some interesting people, and enjoyed beautiful art and scenery.  Although enjoyable, I'm reaching my fill of Tuscan and Umbrian hill towns.  It's time to explore something else.  I'm curious about the South.  It just isn't as accessible and I still have a few things in the North on my list.

Hiking to Bagnoregio

 

My Girl wants to be the first female Eagle Scout in Rome and she is close.  She needed to finish up the cooking merit badge which involves planning and preparing meals for backpacking which must then be eaten on a hike or backpacking trip.  We didn't have any backpacking adventures planned so we went with the hiking option.  I've wanted to go to Civitta Bagnoregio for awhile.  The pictures are pretty cool.  So off we went for our somewhat urban hike.

The lower town where we parked is still a viable town, but the old town, the civita vechia, is dying, with just a handful of residents remaining.  It is kept alive by day tripping tourists eating lunch in local restaurants.  It started as an Etruscan town and was quite prosperous in its day.  In the late 17th century the bishop and the municipal government moved out of the old town after an earthquake and by the 19th century erosion was impacting access.  Today the old donkey trails are replaced by a modern bridge while the cliffs continue to crumble away.  The bridge is mostly for pedestrians, but residents and, I assume, business owners can get a permit to drive a vespa or mini truck up the hill.

It was a beautiful day, perfect for hiking.  We took our backpacking lunch and nibbled at it on the steps of the church, then found a restaurant where we ate some really delicious food, parpadelle with chigiale ragu and pasta with pistachio pesto.  That's Italian hiking.

Later that week we packed up our little stove and took another urban-ish hike to Cafarella park for another merit badge meal.  We cooked our backpacking meal and identified birds and bird songs with the Merlin app.  

Another great day for our non-ski ski week.  My girl was just getting back from a week at the DODEA European basketball tournament and I had been out and about traveling while she was gone, so a week relaxing at home and catching up was nice.

A bit of Bologna

 I chose two cities for my four night trip.  I really wanted to see the mosaics of Ravenna and I needed to change trains in Bologna so I made that my second destination.  Bologna is the major city of the Emilio Romagna region where you also find Parma and Modena, cities you may have heard of for their famous cheese and balsamic vinegar.  It isn't a city that makes the short list for many tourists.  In fact, it isn't even included in the guide book I have.  But there were certainly plenty of people out and about on the weekend I was there and I really enjoyed my short stay.

Bologna was Etruscan, Gaulish, then Roman.  As the empire fell it was frequently under attack by the Goths and Lombards.  It survived and became a prosperous medieval city and an intellectual center.  

It used to be full of medieval towers, perhaps as many as 180 or more, but more likely 80-100.  Most were destroyed or fell and now only about 20 remain.  The towers were built mostly in the 12th and 13th centuries initially for defensive purposes as a final redoubt within a compound of connected townhouses.  This was a time of city states and fierce inter-familial feuds.  The towers which were originally practical, also became status symbols among the wealthy and powerful.  The taller the tower, the better.  

A pair of towers in the city center are the most famous, partly for their height and partly for the rakish angle at which they stand.  These are the tall slender Asinelli tower and the shorter Garisenda tower, with a more dangerous tilt.  They have been in the news lately as they continue to lean and threaten to fall.  The leaning started early.  Dante Alighieri mentions leaning towers in Bologna in his writings.  As of last fall, visitors are no longer allowed to climb the towers and traffic is limited around the base in an effort to preserve the city land marks.  It's just as well.  A local tradition says that if a student climbs the 498 steps of the Asinelli tower they will never graduate.  Since Bologna is a university town, this is a serious threat.

Bologna's leaning towers

Bologna's towers

Video: What happened to Italy's sky scrapers

Another famous feature are the porticos that line the streets.  In a crowded city these covered walkways came about as a way to increase the floor space of the upper levels.  I appreciated them for the wide covered sidewalks, often a couple steps up from the street level.  In the era of horse travel the separation was probably quite nice.

Piazza Santo Stefano

Evening under the porticoes

The Basilica of Santo Stefano is a unique treasure.  It is a medieval warren of seven churches with the accompanying halls and cloisters.  It's easy to imagine a life of monks and priests in this place.  The oldest part of the church that is still standing date to the 4th and 5th century and was built over a temple to Isis.  As you might expect the church was added onto and rebuilt over the years as the church aged and was damaged by invaders.  Much of the current structure dates from the Benedictine work during 11th and 12th centuries after extensive damage from the 10th century invasion of the Hungarian armies.  

Map showing the growth of the San Stefano complex over time

Intricate stone work in a cloister

Pulpit in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

San Petronio

San Petronio, on the main square, is one of the largest churches in Italy.  Construction started in 1388 and continued in to the 17th century, but it was never fully finished, as you can see from the partially covered facade.  In spite of its semi finished state, it was the site of several historically important events, including the coronation of Charles V as the Holy Roman Emperor (1530) and two sessions of the Council of Trent (1547), a temporary move to avoid the plague in Trent.

The most interesting part of the church is the Chapel of the Magi.  It was one of the first chapels built and features frescoes telling the story of the visit of the Magi who traveled to visit the Christ Child.

Chapel of the Magi

Me in front of the statue of Neptune, Piazza Maggiore

I missed several of the important churches of the city, but I did climb the bell tower of San Pietro which overlooks the main square.  The air was hazy that day, as it often is in Bologna, but the views were still magnificent.

Steps up the bell tower

Terra Cotta figures by Lombardi in San Pietro

My first association with terra cotta is garden pots.  However, in Bologna during the 15th and 16th centuries it was a material for finely detailed and very expressive sculpture.

Cheesy appetizer typical of Northern Italy

The region of Emilio Romagna is a foodie center and Bologna is right in the middle of it all.  I took a food tour of the city and we tasted all of the regional goodies.  Mortadella is from Bologna itself.  Parmesan cheese is from nearby Parma and balsamic vinegar from Modena.  Tortellini are traditional in this region, made in the shape of the belly button of the goddess Venus.  The little pasta buttons are filled with meat and served in a rich clear broth, not a heavy sauce.  Tortelloni are larger pasta cousins filled with ricotta cheese.  The parmesan cheese is aged for years.  It's rich and crumbly and contains crunchy crystals when done well.  It is a treat by itself, not just a powdery pasta topping.  The balsamic vinegar is syrupy and sweet and used to top strawberries, ice cream, and parmesan cheese, not salads.

Here the bread is salted and delicious compared to the unsalted bread of Florence and much of central Italy.  I love to visit the different regions of Italy and see just how much the food changes.  There isn't one single cuisine in Italy.  It is incredibly regional and diverse.  When I am out of town I sometimes test restaurants by checking the menu for carbonara, a strictly Roman dish.  If there is carbonara it's a restaurant that caters to tourists.  I also look for the nonne, Italian grandmas, out for lunch.  That's a good sign.

Dante references all over Bologna

I loved my visits to the University of Bologna.  There are many different things to see including a series of interesting museums.  The university has long history.  It claims the title of the oldest university in the world, having started in the 10th century when a group of wealthy young men organized their tutors and book collections into the Alma Mater Studiorum.  It wasn't so much a physical location as an idea.  Students met where they could throughout the city in rented rooms, private homes and palaces, monasteries, and under the porticoes.  The university became a center of power in the 13th century as it continued to attract wealthy young men from influential families.  In the 14th century the local and papal authorities took more control and students lost some of their autonomy.  The university flourished during the Renaissance of the 15th century.  After the council of Trent in the 16th century the university was centralized into a single physical location under strict papal control from Rome.  With the religious restrictions, the university faded.  In the 19th century the university was revived as a public institution during the time of Napoleonic control and later the independent Kingdom of Italy.  Since the official relaunch in 1888, 800 years from its legendary founding, the university has grown to occupy a large section of the historical center and expanded into modern campuses in the region. 

 

Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio

The Archiginnasio, built in the 16th century, was the first location of the forcibly unified university under papal control.  (It is now a city library now that the university is centered in Palazzo Poggi.)  Remember that Italy as we know it today was not unified until 1871.  At this time central Italy was known as the Papal states and Northern Italy was divided into many different city states who were constantly at war.  In 1506 Bologna came under the control of the army of Pope Julius II.  By the mid-1500s the university was the center of the counter reformation and a temporary home to the Council of Trent.  As such, many protestant students from Germany were forced to leave.  

  

The galleries and hallways are lined with heraldic symbols from the families of former students.

Anatomical theater

One of the rooms I really wanted to see was the Anatomical theater.  It isn't a particularly large room, but it is arranged so that medical students seated in rows, theater style, could watch the dissections being performed at the central marble table.  The room is elaborately decorated and includes sculptures of famous physicians.  On either side of the lecturer's elevated desk are Spellati, sculptures of skinned men.  It's rather gruesome, but appropriate for the setting.

I also visited the Palazzo Poggi, built in the mid 16th century for the Poggi family it later became the center of the Institute of Sciences in 1714.  It is now one of the main buildings of the University of Bologna.  Part of the building is now a museum which houses historical laboratories and educational collections.  It's fascinating.  There are rooms of collected animal specimens from around the world, wood printing blocks for scientific botanical prints, and models of star forts from the study of military defenses in an age when cannons were the latest military technology.  There were also extensive anatomical models of normal and abnormal human physiology and incredibly detailed models of sailing ships.  The whole thing was amazing.  Definitely worth the visit.

Models of star forts and cannons

Drawing of the specimen rooms

Specimen collections today

Printing blocks for botanical prints

I loved my visit to Bologna.  It's a lively city thanks to the students.  It gets a share of tourists, but wasn't overrun.  Will I go back?  Maybe, there is definitely more to explore in the region with Parma, Modena, and Verona nearby.