One reason we chose Perugia as our home base for Italy was its access to many other great Italian towns we really wanted to see. Our list was long and so we got started almost right away four days after our arrival in Perugia in mid-October. The very top of our list was Assisi, home of St. Francis. I have a special affinity for St. Francis and especially his prayer to be an instrument of peace. Of all the Catholic orders, I find his to be the most appealing.
Travel to Assisi
Knowing Assisi is a very popular tourist destination, we wanted to get an early start to arrive at the opening time of its main attraction, the Papal Basilica and Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi. We left Perugia when it was still dark out, around 6:30 a.m., and the streets were lovely and quiet.
Because the Assisi train station is a ways away from town and requires connecting with a city bus, it seemed simpler to use the Busitalia airport shuttle that goes to and from both Perugia and Assisi central, which was an option that came up on Google maps. It would be a little more expensive (10 euros for each of us compared to around 5 euros), but seemed more efficient than the train to a bus. However, when we went to purchase the ticket at the bus station, we were told this wasn’t really allowed. After showing the woman at the ticket counter that we were following Google Maps directions, she went ahead and sold us the needed tickets to the airport and then on to Assisi as an exception and let the bus driver know we’d be riding on to Assisi. However, I would recommend just doing the train/bus thing. When we passed the train station on our airport bus, it seemed like the bus to town was fairly easy to find and that is the expected way to travel.
Saint Francis Basilica
When we arrived at the central bus area of Assisi, it was just a short walk up the hill to the St. Francis Basilica. We were just a bit early for the 8:30 a.m. opening time, which was good because it was a little confusing finding the right entry. We wanted to start with the upper church, but found that you have to enter through the lower church. We finally figured it out and appreciated that it had free entry. We also had a chance to take a few photos of the town in the morning light.
There are a few attractions in the complex but the main one is probably the 28 frescoes by Giotto in the upper church depicting the life of St. Francis. So, following our Mona Lisa strategy, we headed for them first. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the upper church but we really enjoyed looking at Giotto’s works, which were similar to his frescoes we’d seen in Padua but not quite as advanced. Chad used ChatGPT to identify the stories. Our favorite was St. Francis preaching to the birds.
By the time we returned to the lower church, the tour groups had started arriving. But it was very beautiful and inspiring to see. They must not have allowed photos in the lower church either because I don’t have any.
After leaving the basilica, we walked through town to find a cafe. We lucked into a table at Café Del Vescovado, where I tried a latte macchiato (sort of a reverse macchiato with a lot of warm milk and a “stain” of espresso) and Chad got his usual cappuccino. We also had some delightful pastries, a whole wheat croissant for me and a cranberry and pistachio frolla (shortbread) for Chad.
Basilica di Santa Chiara
Refreshed and caffeinated, we headed over to the Basilica di Santa Chiara (St. Clare), a 13th century church with the tomb and relics of St. Clare in the basement. She was one of St. Francis’s first followers and founded the Order of the Poor Ladies for his women followers. On the right side of the church as you enter is the Chapel of the Crucifix, which features the San Damiano Cross, from which St. Francis heard the voice of Jesus commanding him to rebuild the church.
Downstairs in the church, there is a queue to view St. Clare’s tomb. The walls are lined with art depicting episodes from her life, including one we enjoyed in which Francis cut Clare’s hair. This tickled us because Chad had recently given me a trim.
We weren’t able to get a very close look at the main sanctuary of the church because there was a worship service in progress. Interestingly, it was being held in Spanish. I know Assisi is an extremely popular place for Catholics from around the world to visit.
After the church, we popped into a truffle store, La Bottega del Tartufo, which offered free tastings. We enjoyed trying the different sauces and bought a little gift box with white truffle sauce, black truffle sauce, and truffle oil to enjoy during our time in Italy, as well as some truffle-flavored potato chips for our picnic later. We realized later the shop was a part of a large chain found in almost all the Umbrian towns we visited, but it was still a fun experience.
Piazza Del Commune Attractions
From there we walked to the Piazza Del Commune, the center of Assisi. It includes the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, a 1st century church built over top of a Roman temple that sits above the extensive Roman ruins below town.
Though we’ve seen a lot of Roman ruins in our travels, we decided it would be interesting to check out Assisi’s, the entry to which is located just off the Piazza, marked on Google maps as the Roman Forum and Archaeological Museum. It had a discount combined ticket with the Rocca, which I also wanted to check out that afternoon, so it was an easy decision to purchase the combo ticket for 10 euros each, a savings of 3 euros versus buying separate tickets.
We ended up really enjoying the underground ruins. It was fun to get a sense of what the city was like in Roman times versus the preserved medieval architecture that exists today. They had several interpretative exhibits that really helped bring it to life, including a couple of 3-D animations d epicting Roman life. And being in underground tunnels like that is always cool.
After leaving the museum, we were able to note where they have outlined on the Piazza Del Commune where the main structure was. Things like that really give you a feeling of how far back the history of a place like Assisi goes.
Picnic in the Bosco di San Francesco
Though our mid-morning snack had been filling, it was getting on lunch time so we found a highly reviewed sandwich place called La Bottega Dei Sapori in the piazza to buy something to eat as a picnic in the forest area next to the St. Francis basilica. When we went inside, we found a sign advertising their mention in a Rick Steves guide. Another American couple was there ordering and they said they always eat there multiple times when they visit Assisi each year. They were right about the food, the focaccia con porchetta that we ordered was excellent, especially paired with the tartufo-flavored potato chips.
We walked back to the basilica to enter the bosco. The price tag of 6 euros each felt a little steep but it was actually worth it to enjoy the nature. We enjoyed our hike very much and found a picturesque bench to enjoy our sandwich and chips. Fair warning though, the bosco is on the side of a hill so you hike down a steep path into the valley and then have to hike back up again to depart.
Rocca Maggiore
Our last stop in Assisi was the Rocca Maggiore, a large medieval fortress overlooking the city. In addition to being a cool historic structure, it was also featuring a Banksy exhibit that I thought would be interesting (it was). We enjoyed checking out the Banksy prints and exploring the fortress. It was quite a climb from the bottom of the valley where we’d had our picnic up to city level and then on up to the Rocca, but definitely worth it.
A Quick Trip to Spello
After the museum, we found a bus line that would take us to the Assisi train station and made the very short trip to Spello, another pretty medieval town. Because it is so close to Assisi, we decided if we were going to see it, it would need to be that day. Again, a word of gratitude for the Trenitalia app, which makes it so easy to buy train tickets on the fly.
Unfortunately, shortly after arriving in Spello we had a text from our Airbnb host sharing that the wifi repairs that were supposed to happen that day had failed to fix the issue we were experiencing. That news definitely marred our time in Spello, as did being charged 3 euros each for entry into their little church, Santa Maria Maggiore. It was a cute little town but there wasn’t much to it. We stopped for aperitivi at a cute little garden cafe, Bar Giardino – Bonci, despite its bad Google reviews and enjoyed a wine and amaro and snack. Then we took the train back to Perugia and enjoyed an Umbrian dinner out, which I wrote about in my Perugia: We’re Home post (as well as the saga of the wifi issues).
Summary
All in all, our first daytrip from Perugia was very successful and Assisi lived up to our very high expectations for it. It was exactly the kind of day we love having in Europe and why we chose to base this part of the leg in Perugia.