Assisi (Perugia), Umbria, Italy
I personally have had a long-standing debt to this Umbrian town: even during the planning of our first trip to Umbria, Assisi was written in bold capital letters at the top of our list. In fact, we even began our first morning on that trip with the intention of heading to Assisi… But unforeseen issues with our rental vehicle forced us to spend half the day “jumping through hoops” around the car. As a result, Assisi moved from the top of our travel list to the top of our plans for the future…
And so, not even 9 years later, the future has arrived…. As one well-known saying goes: “Everything happens for the best.” I tend to be skeptical about such sayings, but when it comes to Assisi, this one turned out to be true… When I first planned that trip, I imagined Assisi to be just another small Umbrian town, much like the others in the region. If you roughly describe its geography, it’s basically two points (let’s call them A and B). In reality, these points are the gates at the lower part of the historic center, Porta Di San Francesco (Viale Guglielmo Marconi, 2, 06081 Assisi PG, Italy) and at the upper part, Porta Perlichi (Via Villamena, 3, 06081 Assisi PG, Italy). The distance between them is only 1.2 km. The entire old town consists of two streets going from point A to point B, sometimes running parallel, sometimes intersecting, and then diverging again. There are two small “pockets” towards the Big Castle and the cathedral San Rufino (Cathedral of San Rufino), and a maze of alleyways crisscrossing the two main streets. Of course, this is an oversimplified description of the town’s geography, but this is the general layout. In that unfulfilled trip, we had allocated half a day for Assisi (the very half-day we spent “jumping through hoops” around the Mercedes).
So, after visiting Assisi (where we stayed for 6 days), here’s what I can tell you: half a day in Assisi is just enough to rush through the city’s main streets, glance at the main square, visit the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, see 2-3 more churches, and leave without really seeing the town. You’ll definitely catch the main sights, but you won’t have time to truly explore the city itself.
On this trip, we decided not just to visit Assisi, but to make it our base. There’s a reason for that: I really dislike walking through small towns (however beautiful they may be) when they’re crowded with busloads of tourists. Jostling among noisy crowds speaking different languages is not my idea of fun. I prefer to visit such places after the crowds have left or before they arrive. Ideally, if possible, it’s best to stay overnight in such places (the crowd fills the town while I’m off visiting other interesting spots and clears out by the time I return). After we managed to find a small apartment in a medieval house within the historic center (even if it was on the outskirts) with parking available, there was no turning back.
Assisi, in addition to being the birthplace and home of some of the most prominent Catholic saints, Saint Francis and Saint Clare, is also simply a stunning medieval monumental city. But describing the sights of Assisi is a thankless task—Google does it much better, and most people today know how to use Google. So, just my personal impressions: as I mentioned before, despite the city’s relatively small size, it’s not a place you can explore in just half a day, like many other beautiful Umbrian borgos. Even in a full day, you’re unlikely to see everything.
The true charm of Assisi isn’t just in the abundance of historical and architectural monuments, but in the alleyways and narrow, winding, stepped streets that climb towards the Great Castle (Rocca Maggiore) or descend to the monastic complex of Saint Francis. It is in these hidden corners where you can catch a glimpse of the city’s true face, hidden behind all the tourist trappings, and feel the pulse of this place. The main challenge for tourists visiting Assisi is its topography: only the physically fit will be able to spend a day trekking all the climbs and descents and explore every nook and cranny. The inclines aren’t steep enough to warrant lifts, funiculars, or escalators, but they’re not wide, smooth, or gentle enough for public transportation—so getting around requires only one mode of transport: your own feet.
That’s why I believe the idea of basing yourself in Assisi is a very smart decision (especially considering the fact that despite it being the end of September, the weather treated us to 35-degree heat with intermittent strong thunderstorms). We explored most of Assisi’s charming corners after dark, which only added to the romantic atmosphere, but it left much of it outside the reach of my camera. After long tourist days, driving, and dealing with the heat, I didn’t have the energy to carry a tripod around, so there aren’t many photos, and most of them feature the city’s main attractions like everyone else’s. So, SORRY (or should I say SCUSE)…
