Day #268 - Assisi, Spoleto, Perugia, Italy

Streets of Spoleto

Spoleto

Nativity - in front of St. Francis Basilica

St. Francis Basilica

Streets of Assisi

Tuesday, December 7th

I've spent my time in Italy to date by seeing the big tourist attractions. It's been excellent. Because I have a few days, I wanted to branch out and visit some of the smaller towns and get a flavor of real-life Italy -- away from the congestion and crowds.

I'm writing this from the town of Assisi, Italy (actually on the hotel computer because their Wi-Fi doesn't work. If you want to drive yourself crazy, try typing on a keyboard where all the keys are different than standard US versions.)

I visited 3 towns today: Spoleto, Perugia, and Assisi.

Spoleto was my first stop out of Rome. Great little town. Hilly. I felt like I walked straight up a hill for a couple miles into the city center. The city is known for the Spoleto Festival - a 3-week, world-class music, art, drama, and dance festival held at the beginning of June. I could see where this place gets going in the summertime. Their main pedestrian street is very narrow and greatly sloped. I don't doubt this has led to a few accidents when the beverages get flowing.

Perugia was my second stop. This is not such a small town. It was signficantly larger than the other two I visited today. Because of the size, I didn't get to see everything. Again, very hilly. My readings say that there is a vibrant international student population here. It has 2 well known universities. The heart of Perugia is the Piazza IV Novembre. This is a large, open square where all the locals congregate in the late afternoon to discuss the day's events.

Assisi was my final stop of the day, and is also the location I'll be staying the next 2 nights. This was my favoritie place of the 3 visited today. The entire city is located on a bluff - a couple miles up from the train station. Excellent. Great views, great streets. St. Francis of Assisi - you've heard the name. This is HIS town. Go to Youtube and play Montgomery Gentry - "My Town". It's appropriate. Everything here is all about St. Francis. The massive Basilica located on the far west of the town was built in his honor in the 13th century. He's buried there. It has an upper and lower Basilica - unusual - but interesting. I went for a run tonight when I got into town, I toured the Basilica with my sweat gear on (whatever it takes). The streets here are narrow and filled with Christmas lights and small shops. Again, very hilly. This is the theme today for sure. My legs would say as much.

I had dinner at one of the great restaurants very near my place. All in all, a very nice day. Tomorrow I'll continue to tour some of the smaller areas in Tuscany. Good night from Assisi.