Umbria, Perugia, Assisi
Assisi is a travel favourite, a simple and peaceful town with a rich religious heritage in a lovely part of Italy. It's a great town for wandering and exploring. Its narrow and steep lanes are picturesque and conceal plenty of surprises; hidden restaurants, faded frescoes, stunning views. After the earthquake it suffered in 1997, Assisi has been carefully rebuilt and restored; the town has a well-kept and proud feel to it. There are still repairs being carried out, and work on some of Assisi's frescoes will go on for years, but most of the buildings, streets and monuments are restored and open for business.
You don't have to be a pilgrim to appreciate Assisi, but it helps if you have some interest in churches. For hundreds of years Assisi has been dominated by its favourite son, St. Francis, whose followers filled the little town with churches, monasteries and shrines. Everywhere you look in Assisi, you'll find another fine church, mostly built in the pretty pink stone which defines the town's appearance, and containing fine artworks and Franciscan relics. The grandest of these, of course, is the Basilica di San Francesco with stained glass windows, and frescoes attributed to Giotto, Cimabue and Simone Martini.
Assisi's other attractive churches are numerous; among the finest are the Basilica di Santa Chiara (St. Clare's); the seventeenth-century Chiesa Nuova, a small church built over St. Francis's presumed birthplace; and San Pietro, which has an interesting underground museum with varied exhibits and some Roman remains.
The town's attractive main street is the Via San Francesco, which runs from the Basilica up to Piazza del Comune. There are many interesting buildings along the way, including the frescoed Oratorio dei Pellegrini (Pilgrims' Oratory), and the town's art gallery, the Pinacoteca Comunale. The latter contains a number of interesting paintings and frescoes, many of which decorated the walls and gateways of the town.
Olive groves and rooftops
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