Don't Be Such Assisi

This is our second and final night in Assisi, the home of San Francesco AKA Saint Frances and also lesser but quite lovely Saint Clara.

Our Hotel La Fortezza is worth talking about for hours. Run by very polite and non-jokey Stefano, who spends his time in the information booth office in Piazza San Rufino until 6pm and then is the evening on call from his home nearby. He is only here when you need to check in, out, or have some issue that needs resolving, like if the wifi goes out, which is often so we are getting know each other pretty well.

The hotel has only 7 rooms, 3 on the first floor and 4 on the second. The third floor is accessed by a windy staircase full art books, art and vases and comrpises the breakfast and teatime room, and a terrace which are self serve, free with your reservation and open all the time. When we arrived we were shown how to make espresso, and where the tea, milk, juice, yogurt, cereals, jam tarts, ceramic dishes made in Assisi are. There are 6 little cafe tables and chairs inside, and a terrace that overlooks the tile rooftops of the town.

I learned from Stefano that Assisi, inside the walls, has 1000 residents and outside the walls about 35,000. This is not unlike other walled city in some ways, but the whole place has such religious overtones and is so quiet and old that it makes all all the bars, pizza and gift shops everywhere seem out of context. Assisi is comprised of the Basilica of San Francesco, alot of old, old stone buildings, and is just monks, nuns, tourists, the residents who are mostly all monks or people serving the tourists, and more tourists - and yet somehow it remains beautiful and serene. The whole story of Saint Frances is inspiring and it makes people come here from all over the world. And the town, which inside the walls remains much as it looked when he was alive, is one of the prettiest in the world.

Needless to say, we are feeling a little hemmed in by it all and are missing the action and non-austerity of the world outside. We will leave in the morning and head back through Umbria and Tuscany towards Florence via Lucca, where we must return the rental car by noon, as we are winding up our big tour of middle Italy.

It might interest the people who are always losing things to know that there is a big shrine to Saint Anthony of Padoua here and I might have seen his tomb today, or at least a beautiful room dedicated to him inside the Basilica.

In other news, we should be home in only 5 days! Itzel started talking in Italy and now we cannot get her to stop. Ezra is still the same, only more cocky while longer hair. And the new one is kicking around like crazy, probably pounding its little fist saying "another cappuchino! And step on it lady!" And I hope to post some pitcures soon but am not on my own computer and can't seem to get it online. Oh well, "va bene," as they say here.