Via di San Francesco Day 17: Assisi

Our accommodations in Assisi, once we managed to find them in the labyrinth of the old city, were basic but comfortable, at Ospitalità Citadella, a church-run institution which "aims to be a welcoming place, able to ignite flashes of inspiration in the landscapes of the soul." In our attic room it was hot enough to ignite more than flashes of inspiration, and the dinner menu was, let us say, appropriate for the advanced age of the average resident. But pilgrims do not criticise, and on the whole consider any place that provides sheets and towels quite luxurious! 

Having visited the Basilica of San Francesco and the Church of Santa Chiara the previous afternoon and picked up the Testimonium certifying our completion of the pilgrimage on foot, we spent the next morning on a mini-pilgrimage walk to some of the other Franciscan churches in Assisi. Awakened by the dawn chorus of birds, we rose at 5 a.m. and hiked up to the Eremo delle Carceri, a hermitage on the mountainside high above Assisi where Saint Francis used to retire in prayer. Walking uphill through the silent city streets, past the cathedral, the remains of the ancient Roman theatre and the castle, we left the town by the upper gate and took a trail through the woods, climbing from an altitude of 350 to 800 metres in only 3 km. The trail then levelled out and continued for another kilometre and a half around the flank of Monte Subasio to the Fosso delle Carceri, the gully in which the hermitage and former prison is built right into the rock. The oldest part of the complex is a chapel in what was originally the cave where the saint retired to pray. At 6:45 am there was no-one about but us, and the monks singing praises in the little church.

Assisi: the cathedral, San Rufino, in the light of dawn at 5:15 am

Eremo delle Carceri

Above the hermitage is a wood riddled with pathways and little corners in which to sit in meditation or even hold a religious service, in a landscape of rocks exactly like the ones in Giotto's frescoes in the Basilica below. I had always believed Giotto's cheese-like rocks to be stylised, but I now realise they are a realistic depiction of the rocks on the mountain above Assisi!    

After exploring the hermitage and its grounds we returned to Assisi by a different route, following the road and then a gravel pathway and enjoying fantastic views over the plain below. 

We returned to our accommodations just as breakfast service was starting, having already walked ten kilometres!

After breakfast we checked out, said goodbye to our friend and fellow pilgrim Franco, put our backpacks on and walked down the hill to San Damiano, the church Saint Francis rebuilt with his own hands upon command of the crucifix before which he prayed in the ruins of the church. Saint Francis interpreted the command he was given in his vision as an order to literally rebuild the walls of that specific church, a Romanesque rural chapel with adjacent pilgrim hostel which was already four or five centuries old in his time and falling apart; but he later came to realise that the his mission was to rebuild the church in general, meaning the community of believers, corrupt and torn by strife and heresy.     

In the year 1211 Francis assigned the church to Saint Clare and her community of nuns, who remained there until Clare's death in 1253. Francis returned to San Damiano to be tended by the nuns during the illness of his final years. It was at this time, in the winter of 1225, while living in an unheated and rat-infested hut, ill and practically blind from an eye disease at the age of only 42, that Francis wrote his most famous song of praise, the Cantico delle Creature, known in English as the Canticle of the Sun, one of the earliest poems to be written in the Italian language (rather than Latin). Taught to all Italian schoolchildren as one of the first examples of poetry in the vulgar tongue, the poem was originally set to music, which has been lost, and expresses all of the saint's love and thankfulness for the whole of God's creation, the natural universe, beginning with the heavens, then turning to the elements and all forms of life on earth. On his deathbed Francis and his companions added another verse expressing thanks for "Sister Death".

English Translation:

Most High, all powerful, good Lord,

Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong,

and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,

especially through my lord Brother Sun,

who brings the day; and you give light through him.

And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,

in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,

and through the air, cloudy and serene,

and every kind of weather through which

You give sustenance to Your creatures.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,

which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

through whom you light the night and he is beautiful

and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,

who sustains us and governs us and who produces

varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Praised be You, my Lord,

through those who give pardon for Your love,

and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace

for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord,

through our Sister Bodily Death,

from whom no living man can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.

Blessed are those who will

find Your most holy will,

for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord,

and give Him thanks

and serve Him with great humility

After this treasured visit to the monastery of San Damiano, we continued down to the valley floor and the town of Santa Maria degli Angeli, with wonderful views of Assisi above us.

Here we had an appointment for a ride-share to take Flavia to Florence, and the driver was kind enough to take me aboard as well and drop me off in Siena, where through a series of perfect coincidences I found a bus across town, lunch, an out-of-town bus to take me where I needed to go and even a ride up the hill from the bus stop to home!

In the end we managed to clock 17 more kilometres of walking today, just from chapel to chapel in Assisi! So now it's time to give these feet a break!

Via di San Francesco Day 16: Valfabbrica - Assisi

Fratello, sorella, fatti pellegrino della mia casa terrena, ma cammina verso la casa di Dio che è in te, verso la Sua casa, il paradiso. 

Alzati e cammina. 

Ti accompagno con la testimonianza della mia vita, sostegno i tuoi passi con la preghiera. 

Cammina. Ti aspetto. Dio ti benedica. 

San Francesco, tuo fratello. 

Brother, sister, become a pilgrim to my earthly home, but walk toward the home of the God within you, His home, paradise. 

Get up and walk. 

I will be with you with the testimony of my life, I will support your steps with my prayers. 

Walk. I'll be waiting for you. God bless you. 

Saint Francis, your brother. 

- Engraved in stone beside the childhood home of Saint Francis in Assisi

Arriving at your destination on a pilgrimage, you always experience mixed emotions. Relief that it is over. Satisfaction at having made it all the way. Anticipation of going home to see your loved ones and put your feet up to relax. 

But already you begin to feel homesick, to long to be on the Way once again, rising at dawn to walk to a new destination every day!

 

Assisi: the city gate

The basilica of Saint Francis

Chiavari - Firenze September 2020: 414 km

Firenze - Assisi Giugno 2021: 306 km

Chiavari - Assisi 720 km! 

Via di San Francesco Day 15: San Pietro in Vigneto - Valfabbrica

La vita chiede solo di essere vissuta. 

Sii nel respiro per essere nel presente... 

Per esserci. 

Life asks only to be lived. 

Be in your breath to be in the present moment... 

To be there. 

- Message for pilgrims, hanging from a tree branch in front of the Benedictine church just outside Valfabbrica 

At breakfast in the courtyard of the hermitage of San Pietro in Vigneto, Luca, the other pilgrim who had stayed overnight, played the guitar and sang songs from Franco Zeffirelli's film Brother Sun, Sister Moon about the life of Saint Francis. After an emotional goodbye we left the ospitaliere behind at the hermitage and went our separate ways, Luca heading north toward Gubbio, while Flavia and I walked south to Valfabbrica. Today's stage was 23.5 km, a long way in such hot weather, but very green and scenic, winding through the hills around Lake Valfabbrica, a brand-new lake created this year when the dam for production of hydro-electric energy and regulation of the level of Lake Trasimeno became operational. On the way we crossed a few streams, and passed several agriturismi farm holiday places and a number of chapels, all closed and locked. We met a German couple walking for three days, from Gubbio to Assisi, with their dog, a rescue from Romania which cowered whenever I tried to pet him, and when I picked up my sticks. Who knows what the poor pup has been through! Further along the way we met two German ladies with large backpacks. But none of them are staying where we are, at the super-clean and comfortable pilgrim hostel in the medieval centre of the town of Valfabbrica, run by very friendly nuns, Casa Betania. 

Casa Betania

The nunnery turned out not to be as quiet as we would have expected. Right below our bedroom window was a pizzeria; when I saw it filling up I leaned out the window and asked the waiter to reserve us a table. But the pizzeria was not the source of the noise! On our way into town we had passed the local football stadium, and seen many people heading in its direction. Later in the evening, honking horns and shouting interrupted the nuns' vespers, and celebrating townspeople gathered outside the bar in the main square. One of the nuns explained to us that the town is divided into three districts, and they normally dispute a sort of palio, an archery contest I believe, every year, an event surrounded by celebrations of all kinds around which the social life of the village revolves. Frustrated at not being able to hold their traditional palio for two years, the townspeople had organised a series of football games in which the three districts played against one another, and this evening the winners were celebrating their victory!

Luckily they did not carry on until very late, and we were able to get a good night's sleep and rise early for our final day of walking.  

Eremo di San Pietro in Vigneto - Valfabbrica 23.5 km

Via di San Francesco Day 14: Gubbio - San Pietro in Vigneto

Se vuoi salvarti, fuggi, taci e ricerca la quiete

If you want to be saved, run away, be quiet, and seek silence 

- Engraved on the gate at the hermitage of San Pietro in Vigneto 

Left Gubbio bright and early and walked to the church on the spot where Saint Francis is said to have tamed the wolf. 

From here we walked along the road to the former leper colony where he first began his ministry, then followed a footpath beside a stream among the well-tended gardens and vegetable plots of the aptly named village of Cipolleto (literally, onion garden). We stopped for provisions at Ponte di Sasso, which has a gas station, a grocery store, and - the biggest Harry Potter store in Italy! In addition to HP paraphernalia, the store sells medieval costumes, armour and swords (unsharpened, presumably). But unfortunately the shop didn't open until ten, so I was unable to purchase a crossbow to carry in case I meet any wolves untamed by Saint Francis!

A selection of the medieval weaponry available at Ponte di Sasso

After this interlude of civilisation we left the main road and climbed among famers'  fields and a series of agriturismi, farm holiday establishments which also welcome pilgrims. One of them displayed a modern-day biker-man scarecrow. 

Cows ruminating over the view

It was quite warm by the time before we reached our destination for the day: the hermitage of San Pietro in Vigneto. Next to the chapel is a pilgrim hostel run by the Italian branch of the Confraternity of Saint James, the organisation concerned with pilgrims and pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, the Italian branch of which is based in nearby Perugia. Here the two ospitaliere are busy preparing our dinner, to be served after the ritual washing of the pilgrims' feet! 

Gubbio - San Pietro in Vigneto 17.5 km

Via di San Francesco Day 13: Loreto di Gubbio - Gubbio

Laudato si', mi' Signore, per frate vento et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo, per lo quale a le tue creature dài sustentamento.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene,and every kind of weather through which You give sustenance to Your creatures.

- Saint Francis, Cantico del Sole 

Walked only 11 km today - then the same number sightseeing within the city of Gubbio!

The sun was already hot when we set out from Loreto at eight a.m., descending into the Chiascio valley and following a little-travelled road between the wheat fields of the valley floor all the way to Gubbio. A cool breeze accompanied us all the way, making the sunshine bearable and threatening to blow our hats off! 

We came to the Roman theatre before we arrived in the city itself. All of the medieval city of Gubbio is actually built over Roman and pre-Roman early Umbrian ruins, and many of the artefacts that have been found may be seen in the city's museums. 

The Museo Civico in the Palazzo dei Consoli, which we visited while waiting until it was time to check into our hostel, contains among its many treasures a set of seven bronze tablets discovered in 1444 and dating back to the third to first century BC, engraved in the ancient Umbrian tongue, using letters borrowed from the Etruscan and Latin alphabets. 

At the top of the museum is a loggia with a magnificent view over the valley, and a picture-gallery in what used to be the great hall of the palace, with a fountain in the middle of it - which must have been a very impressive feat of plumbing in medieval times, especially considering that Gubbio is built up the side of a mountain! 

Even higher up the side of the mountain is the cathedral, and above that, the city walls. 

My explorations also took me a little way up a gorge where goats clung to the rocky cliffs on one side of the canyon, while fortifications were incorporated into the rock on the other side. I walked as far as the site of a former convent and water mill. 

Returning to the city centre, I popped into the chapel of the Confraternità della Misericordia and drew back the curtain of the confessional on the left side of the nave, as instructed: inside was an envelope marked with my name!

No, I am not being sent on a secret mission: I had simply asked the organisation which takes care of pilgrims on the Way of Saint Francis for another pilgrim credential, as mine is almost full of stamps. Their office was closed today so they left it there for me. 

I also took a look at the chapel which is supposedly on the site of the cave of a wolf which had been terrorising the people of Gubbio and decimating their flocks until Saint Francis came to the town. He is said to have talked to the wolf, reasoned with her and struck a bargain: the people of the town would feed the wolf if she would promise not to eat their sheep but live in peace with all living things. The wolf lived peacefully for two years in the town before dying of old age and being buried beside the chapel, where indeed the bones of a wolf were found when the church was renovated in 1872.

Gubbio is where Saint Francis came to take refuge after breaking off relations with his family, when he had angered his father by selling off his stock of fabrics (his father was a wealthy cloth merchant) to raise funds with which to repair the derelict church of San Damiano. He began his ministry here, assisting the lepers in the leper colony outside the town (the site of which we will pass tomorrow morning). The place where he lived in Gubbio is now the church and monastery of San Francesco, where we are spending the night as guests of the monastic community. In fact we are the only guests this evening, and so we have a whole wing of the monastery to ourselves! 

We cannot use the communal kitchen due to covid restrictions, so we went out to enjoy a local specialty, crescia: an unleavened bread eaten with a variety of fillings, mostly cured meats and cheeses, though we tried vegetarian versions. Mine is filled with a mixture of cabbage and potatoes! 

Loreto - Gubbio 11 km