Buona Serata Toscana — Montepulciano, Italy
Saints and Sinners
Tuesday morning we got up, got going, and left for the town of Assisi. Mike started off driving, but we had to switch after he had some brief tummy trouble. He was fine again in a little bit. We managed to get there with not much further trouble (passing the so-called chocolate town of Perugia), a little more than an hour and a half. While Assisi, another Tuscan hill town, has an elevation of about 1400 feet above sea level, as opposed to Montepulciano's 1900 feet, it seems a lot more vertical. I was apprehensive when we had to pull into a parking area only about halfway up, but outside the garage there escalators which took us most of the rest of the way. When we got up, we turned around.
What a view. Really amazing view. Assisi has a lot of churches, medieval stone buildings and a castle fortress at the top of the hill. It's almost entirely pedestrian - and should be! Cars have no business here. And when you look out over the town walls, on one side you have the mountains and farmland of Tuscany, and on the other the green hillsides of Umbria. Just beautiful.
We huffed and puffed our way to the top, and following Rick Steves' excellent audio tour, wound our way down through a Roman amphitheater, medieval neighborhoods, a working Roman aqueduct, and the Christianized former Temple of Minerva. We then stopped for this popular Italian dish called pizza. It was yummy.
Frank and Clare
Most people associate Assisi with St. Francis, or San Francesco as he's known around here. There's certainly St. Francis shops, artifacts, tours, and points of interest everywhere. A lesser known associate of Francis' was St. Clare, or Chiara in Italian. She also has a church and a number of points of interest.
St. Francis, as you may know, was born in Assisi and grew up in the church, against the wishes of his parents who wanted him to become a merchant and take up the family business. Instead, he became a monk and teacher. He and his dad had a big blowout in the town square which ended with Frankie stripping, throwing all his clothes at his dad and living the rest of his life in determined poverty. How's that for teenage angst?
Clare, one of his students, was also having problems with her parents, who wanted her to get married rather than become a nun. She was obsessed with Francis and his teachings of poverty, simplicity and humility. The feeling was apparently mutual, as one night Frankie got a bunch of his monk brothers together, 'rescued' Clare, and protected her from her family so that she could live a religious life under his rules and tutelage. The two lived the rest of their lives in common devotion to their religion and the teachings of poverty.
Francis and Clare, a love story? You be the judge. Here's a quotation from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"It was to her he turned when in doubt, and it was she who urged him to continue his mission to the people at a time when he thought his vocation lay rather in a life of contemplation. When in an attack of blindness and illness, St. Francis came for the last time to visit San Damiano, Clare erected a little wattle hut for him in an olive grove close to the monastery, and it was here that he composed his glorious "Canticle of the Sun". After St. Francis's death the procession which accompanied his remains from the Porziuncula to the town stopped on the way at San Damiano in order that Clare and her daughters might venerate the pierced hands and feet of him... So far, however, as Clare was concerned, St. Francis was always living, and nothing is, perhaps, more striking in her after-life than her unswerving loyalty to the ideals of the Poverello, and the jealous care with which she clung to his rule and teaching."
Ups and Downs
Moving on from religious controversy, after Dave had too much wine for lunch (a carafe to himself!) and too much coffee after, we walked down to St. Francis' basilica, then up, up, up, up, up back to the parking lot. We may be having too much chocolate and too few vegetables here, but there's no complaining about the exercise quotient.
We headed back home for Montepulciano, but unfortunately took a wrong turn at Albuquerque - er, Perugia, and headed way too far south. We then (with no real map) took a shortcut to get back in the right direction, and headed through some terrifyingly beautiful countryside, tall mountains, deep ravines, lakes and rivers and through it all, the road twisting and clinging to the edges of the cliffs. I was clinging to the door handle, but Mike got us back safe and sound. An extra hour or so, but still back in time for a late dinner.
Deb and Dave were a little too tired, but Mike and I walked down to the hill to restaurant called the Shining Stars. With some prosecco and limoncello in us, we're calmed down and ready for sleep. Tomorrow is packing and Roma. I hope you sleep as well as we will tonight.
Buona Serata Tutti!
