Assissi and Perugia

Assissi and Perugia

Today was a fairly relaxing day because we spent almost all of it traveling from Florence to Rome, but I can tell you a little about the two cities we stopped at on the way there. We stopped in two smaller towns, first Assissi and then Perugia. Assissi contains in it the Basilica di San Francesco, where the tomb of St. Francis is buried. Religious people from all over the world come to visit the church and tomb on pilgrimages and there were many beautiful fresco’s all over the churches walls, which were partially destroyed due to a damaging earth quake in the 90’s. It was amazing to see part of the church service that was going on (since it was Sunday) and to also see all the tourists who wandered the church aisles while the service was taking place. I have to believe there is something unsettling about all the commercialism for the people that attend the church on a regular basis. I think its wonderful that people want to visit the church but ( and I know this is highly hypocritical) they should not just visit these places so they can say they have visited them. I have a true passion for all the art I have been seeing, and I am often absorbed in the magnificence of a work, but it is hard for me to appreciate the piece on a religious level. I feel so academic when observing the cathedrals and fresco’s, viewing them from an architectural and artistic stand point and not from a spiritual one. It just really makes me wonder how others view this amazing stuff, what they see when they look at the same work and how they appreciate it. Regardless of saying a work is “beautiful” I think people need to know the meaning behind a work.
I got a little off track. After Assissi and viewing the monk’s tomb and the fresco’s in the upper chamber we were back on the bus heading towards Perugia. The great thing about Perugia was it wasn’t another tourist sight, nor were there any parked buses which signals a group is near by. No, Perugia was completely just a typical Italian town where people lived in a non tourist environment (except I suppose for us). We took a tour of the town, learned some interesting facts about how the city came to be and stopped in a few stores to buy the famous Perugia dark chocolate. The city was a very relaxing visit because it was just a fun town to enjoy. With no set sights that we had to see, we just got to wander aimlessly and enjoy the jazz festival that was going on too. It was also really nice to be separated from the other buses full of touristic chaos.
Rome was still 3 hours from Perugia when we got back on the bus, but when we finally did get there, I was so excited to be in Rome I knew we had to do something else. So after getting the bags we did a quick trip to the church of St. Peter and Chains, where Michelango’s Moses statue was on display, and the supposed real chains of St. Peter were encased. It was yet another fabulous church. Dinner was at the hotel, and tomorrow is ROME!!
Ciao