Thursday 16th October 2025 – Assisi, Italy

A much brighter day but still cool as we set off at 09:00 on the campsite shuttle bus for Assisi. It was quiet when we arrived but the coaches were starting to arrive and by mid-morning the main areas were very bust. We saw the church of Santa Maria Maggiore where Carlos Acutis is buried. He was born in London to Italian parents but was brought up in Italy and made a saint in September this year. We saw his image in souvenir shops all over Assisi throughout the day.
We visited the Piazza Comune where the well-preserved front of the Greek Temple of Minerva is now used as the front of the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Just off the square is the entrance to the Roman Forum Museum that gives access to the Roman Forum underneath the current piazza. It gives a fascinating view of the layout of the forum with good audio-visuals and lots of finds.
We briefly visited the Chiesa Nuova (New Church) and the Basilica de Santa Chiara (Clara) before walking on to the Basilica of San Francesco, the most important church in Assisi. It didn’t disappoint with its two churches in one – inferior and superior (lower and upper) built one above the other. We visited Assisi many years ago, before the 1997 earthquake that did so much damage to the town and the Basilica. The Basilica was closed for two years whilst the damage was repaired. The lower church has amazing frescoes by Giotto but the highlight for me was the marquetry in the upper church. It was beautifully made by highly skilled craftsmen and the variety of scenes and their depth was incredible.
By this stage, we were churched out and we decided to have lunch. We both decided to try typical Italian dishes – Jane chose the pasta with black truffle and I went for the boar stew. Both were excellent. We then caught the very efficient shuttle bus back to the campsite.
Photos: Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and the Torre del Popolo; A view from the top of the tower; Basilica of San Francesco Superiore; And the square and entrance of Basilica of San Francesco Inferiore; Some of the marquetry of the Basilica; And the detail of one of the panels – the panel is flat even though the cage looks 3-D; Unsurprisingly, we saw lots of pilgrims, priests, monks and nuns.