Assisi Walking Adventure Guide

By John Litwinovich

There are a few places on earth where artistic, historic, natural and spiritual wonders merge as they do in Assisi. With this handy guide, visitors to Umbria can explore Assisi, its surrounding towns, and Mount Subasio Park. This book is definitely for walkers, for those seeking to leave the main roads in search of treasures, to wander the paths of Saint Francis, to go where his followers gathered and found shelter, and to experience the natural beauty of Umbria. The walks range from short strolls to day-long hikes, sometimes in towns and cities but mostly in idyllic rural settings. Examples of what readers may find include structures from Roman times, natural wonders atop a mountain, a ghost town with fading frescos, stones remaining from a saint's childhood castle, opportunities to visit cloistered monasteries, churches Saint Francis labored to rebuild, and much more. This guide takes its readers from a tunnel beneath Assisi's Piazza del Comune, with two thousand year old walls, to the top of Mount Subasio, with its extraordinary views of Umbria's mountains and valleys. One can hardly begin reading without lacing up a pair of walking shoes and setting out in search of adventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Litwinovich
• Release date: Aug 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476359786

John Litwinovich

John Litwinovich lives, writes and runs in California when he's not wandering around Mount Subasio and discovering the treasures of Assisi.

Book preview

This November 2016 Second Edition of the Assisi Walking Adventure Guide contains updates to the First Edition, published in August 2012. Also included are two additional walks.

Contents

Preface

Do This First

How to Use This Book

Five Reasons to be Cautious

Walking Adventures

Assisi Gates

Basilica to Basilica with Something to Eat

Rocca Maggiore & Museums

Assisi's Roman Past

Assisi's Back Streets

San Damiano

Sant' Angelo in Panzo

Eremo Delle Carceri

Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli

Bastia Umbra

Rivotorto

San Benedetto Loop

Costra di Trex Loop

Armenzano

Colcaprile

Spello & the Way of the Olives

Foligno

Cannara &Where the Birds Were

Bettona

Valfabbrica & the Franciscan Path

Colle San Rufino

Subasio Summit by Road

Subasio Summit by Trails

Mortaro Grande

Two Small Churches

Visiting Monasteries

Sasso Rosso & Gabbiano Vecchio

All the Way Around Mount Subasio

Mount Subasio Park

Gubbio to Assisi

Preface

On a sunny April morning your tour group arrives at a bus parking area just below Assisi. Your leader distributes bright orange kerchiefs for all fifty-three of you to wear over the next few hours. It is imperative, with thousands of other tourists moving through town, that no one wander off and become lost. The leader will carry a bright, easy-to-follow orange flag, but it is each person's responsibility to remain with the group, not to rush ahead and especially not to linger.

Disembarking from the bus, you step onto an escalator that goes up to Porta Nuova, one of Assisi's eight gates. Out come the cameras. This is no typical gated community. Passing through the high entryway is like passing through time, rolling back the centuries, stirring thoughts of those who have passed this way before, Umbrians, Etruscans, Romans, emperors, papal troops, barbarians, saints, occupying Germans, pilgrims and now, tourists. Fifty-three of the latter, wearing orange kerchiefs and, within sight, a group of forty-seven adorned with purple kerchiefs, as well as thirty-eight schoolchildren sporting beetle beanies, two parties of nuns, and countless families and individuals, all heading toward the Piazza del Comune at the center of town.

But first you approach the great Basilica of Saint Clare, joining others to crowd in and view the San Damiano cross that spoke to a young Francis, then to wind down stairs into crypt-like rooms that hold the remains of Clare and other eight-century old relics. This is a special moment for some of your group, and a special challenge for your leader. Waving an orange flag in a church is not considered good manners, and keeping fifty-three people on task is not easy when some are kneeling in prayer, others are engrossed in art and artifacts, and others have opted to wander out into the sunshine.

After regrouping on the front steps of the Basilica, you parade forward through the Piazza del Comune, past the fountain, past the two thousand year old Roman Temple of Minerva (now a church), past numerous cafes and shops and interesting buildings, toward the far end of town and the Basilica of Saint Francis. Flags and groups and kerchiefs and beanies and matching jackets are moving in both directions now, as the road narrows. At one point your leader halts for a quick count, coming up with only fifty-two. A moment later the offender appears, gelato in hand. Following a curt reprimanded, your pack advances.

The Basilica of Saint Francis comes into view. Without hesitation your group keeps on, determined not to lose time in gaining access to the famed upper church. At worst a few of your cohorts slow to snap pictures. Minutes later you enter the ironically grand monument to the humble little saint, and are rewarded with time to view Giotto's famous series of frescos. For some twenty minutes you are free to visit the upper church and take in the artist's magnificent portrayal of the life of Francis. Then your orange kerchief crowd is rounded up to file down stairs to the gift shop, then to the lower church and, before a full hour has passed, back out onto the same road through town, in the return direction.

Now, your benevolent leader grants you one hour and fifteen minutes to make your way back up to the fountain in the Piazza del Comune, allowing people to shop, grab something to eat, or otherwise explore the places and buildings along the main road. Of course, it is imperative that no one wander off the main road and that everyone be punctual, as the group will be proceeding from the Piazza to the parking area, and the bus will be leaving on time for Florence, with or without all fifty-three on board.

With this temporary freedom, you move forward alone, stopping momentarily for a slice of pizza. You enjoy your snack while continuing on toward the center of town, pausing at each crossroad or alley to glance up or down, seeing interesting and less crowded walkways, wondering what treasures lie just