Thursday 6th October
This morning we set off at
about 8 a.m. for Assisi. First we dropped Olga off at Pescara and then took the
coast road up as far as Ancona before turning west towards Assisi. For a spell
we had to drive on State roads (non-autostrada) as there is a very long viaduct
on the main road and Bruno has a fear of these which is very real and so to
avoid any distress we drove on the smaller roads for a while before rejoining
the motorway. We arrived in Assisi around midday and our first stop was at the
enormous church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. This is a huge edifice which
contains within its nave a smaller church which was the church at which St
Francis worshipped. There are other relics of St Francis in the church and it
has huge frescoes and paintings and a large cupola. No photography is permitted inside the church so I have added the exterior views and one picture from Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia
The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels (Italian: Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli) is a Papal minor basilica situated in the plain at the foot of the hill of Assisi, Italy, in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
The basilica was constructed in the Mannerist style between 1569 and 1679, enclosing the 9th-century little church, the Porziuncola, the most sacred place for the Franciscans. It was here that the young Francis of Assisi understood his vocation and renounced the world in order to live in poverty among the poor, and thus started the Franciscan movement.
After the death of Saint Francis in 1226, the friars built several small huts around the Porziuncola. In 1230, a refectory and some adjacent buildings were added. In the course of time, little porticoes and accommodations for the friars were added around the Porziuncola. Some foundations of these were discovered during excavations under the floor of the present basilica between 1967 and 1969.
As vast numbers of pilgrims came flocking to Assisi to receive the "Pardon of Assisi", the small space of the Porziuncola became completely inadequate to house all these pilgrims. The necessity grew to build a church incorporating the Porziuncola. The buildings around the shrine were taken down by order of Pope Pius V (1566–1572), except the Chapel of the Transito, the cell in which St. Francis had died. Construction of the basilica started on 25 March 1569.
This majestic church, the seventh-largest Christian church, was designed in a bold Mannerist style, which prefigured the Baroque style, by two famous architects, Galeazzo Alessi and Vignola.[2] The work progressed slowly, due to a constant lack of money, as the building was financed with donations. The noteworthy dome, resting on an octagonal drum with eight windows and cornices, was finished in 1667. The construction of the church was finally completed in 1679. In 1684 a bell tower was added. It was originally intended to have a twin tower, but the second was never built.
On 15 March 1832 the central nave, a part of a lateral aisle, and the choir collapsed during a violent earthquake. The dome escaped destruction but was left with a wide crack. The apse and the side chapels were left standing. Reconstruction of the basilica started in 1836 by the architect Luigi Poletti and it was finished and reopened for worship in 1840. He remodeled the façade in a neoclassical style. Between 1924 and 1930 this façade was given back its original pre-Baroque style by Cesare Bazzani (Rome, 5 March 1873 – Rome, 30 March 1939). The gold-plated statue of the Madonna Degli Angeli ("Madonna of the Angels") by the sculptor Colasanti and cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry, was put on top of the façade in 1930.
On 11 April 1909, the church was raised by Pope Pius X to the status of "patriarchal basilica and papal chapel".
The basilica has a rectangular ground plan, divided into a central nave and two lateral aisles, flanked by ten side chapels, with at the far end a transept, and a long choir in a semi-circular apse, protruding from the ground plan. The Porziuncola is situated directly under the dome.
The interior is simple and yet elegant, with only a few decorations, in stark contrast with the decorations of the side chapels. The nave and the aisles were rebuilt in neoclassical Doric style by Luigi Poletti. The apse holds the precious wooden choir, carved by Franciscan brothers starting in 1689, the papal cathedra (with bas-reliefs by E. Manfrini) and the papal altar. The Chapel of the Transito, the cell in which St. Francis died, is still preserved. It is situated under the bay of the choir, against the right columns of the dome.
The side chapels were decorated by great artists from several periods, including Antonio Circignani (all paintings in the Chapel of St Anne, 1602–1603), Francesco Appiani, (Chapels of St. Anthony and St. Peter in Chains, 1756–1760), and Ventura Salimbeni (Chapel of the Removal of the Lord, 1602).
The chiesetta (little church) of Porziuncola (Italian for "Little portion") is the most sacred place for Franciscans. Francis was given this little church, dating from the 9th century, by the Benedictine monks.
The church is decorated by artists from different periods. Above the entrance is the fresco by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1829) depicting St. Francis receiving from the Christ and the Virgin the indulgence, known as the “Pardon of Assisi”. The side wall on the right side shows fragments of two frescoes by an unknown Umbrian artist. The austere interior is decorated in a simple Gothic style with frescoes from the 14th and the 15th century. The most outstanding work is the six-part fresco in the apse of this little church, painted by Ilario da Viterbo (1393). At the back, above the entrance, is a fresco depicting the Crucifixion by Pietro Perugino.
The Cappella del Transito is the small room where St. Francis died on 3 October 1226. It was a little hut serving as a primitive infirmary for the sick. It is decorated at the outside by the fresco of The transito by Domenico Bruschi (1886). On the inside, above the small altar, is the rope of St. Francis. Behind the altar, there is a glazed terracotta statue of St. Francis by Andrea della Robbia (c. 1490). On the walls there is a fresco by Giovanni Spagna (1520), depicting the earliest followers of St. Francis, with their names above each portrait (Ruffino, Leone, Masseo and Egidio).
The town is, of course,
hugely associated with St Francis who founded the Franciscan religious order in
1208 and also of St Clare (oft forgotten) who, with St Francis founded the Poor
Sisters which later became The Order of Poor Clares after she died.
After visiting the church
we had lunch at a nearby pizzeria before taking the car the 5 km to the center
of old Assisi. It was amazing to me, just how big the town is. Here we found
our lodging for the night high I up on a narrow street. It is the Albergo
Giotto and is the most amazing place with astounding views over the rooftops
and the surrounding valley. We checked in and it arranged with the very kind
and helpful man at the desk to pay for both our room and also Stefania and
Bruno’s, which we thought was only fair. I predicted that this would cause a
ruckus later but we would deal with that when it happened.
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| Hotel Giotto |
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| The streets adjacent to the hotel |
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| The Basilica of St Francis containing his tomb in the crypt. |
Wikipedia on the Basilica of St Francis
We walked back to the hotel, had a rest and wash and brush up and then went to dinner at 8 p.m. in the hotel restaurant. The restaurant is on a lower level of the hotel and also has outstanding views. The dinner was excellent. Then it was off to bed.
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