Assissi, Umbria, Italy
Virtual Europe – Assissi
With the pandemic the way it is, I don’t see us getting back to Europe any time too quickly, even though Canadians are welcome now. It got me thinking about our European adventures of the past, and I realized that the new blog, begun in 2017, was as a direct result of losing my earlier blog writing (I have triple backups of all photos) 8 years ago to a crash at my former ISP’s servers.
I thought it would be fun then to re-create the blog for the trip in 2012 which was to Italy, Croatia, Greece and Turkey. I’ll post a blog featuring images of Europe every once in a while, and use one image I found particularly memorable to re-kindle the trip.
Leaving Rome, we travelled to Assissi, Italy and then on to Civitavecchia, where we would start a cruise from. Assissi is a wonderful town and like many very old Italian towns is located on a hilltop. This defensive stance was needed during an earlier time when Italy was much younger, but today that hilltop is a great place for vineyards and olive orchards, which dot the hillside everywhere.
However, the thing Assissi is known for is that it is the site of an amazing church and a connection with the current Pope – Pope Francis who told journalists that he had chosen the name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, a saint with patronage of animals and the natural environment,
The church itself is spectacular. The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi having been founded in 1228, and having been added to and even resurrected after a large double set of earthquakes. There are frescos by Giotto and there are three levels of churches built one on top of another.
An historic site that has so much meaning and is such so special is something that we need to preserve. The beauty and sense of awe that one can see and feel in a place dedicated to the connection between nature, man and whatever God or spirit one wishes to seek is a life changing event.
And why people need to travel.
