Day 5-Sante Angelo di Celle, Assisi, Deruta

The big trip of the day was to Assisi. Assisi is a small town, about 20 minutes from here, that was once the home to the famous Catholic saint St. Francis. St. Francis lived in the 12th Century and became a very famous man in his time. Because of St Francis, Assisi is the second most visited "Holy" city for Catholics, after the Vatican. There are so many tales about him in this area of Italy, that in able to have actually performed them he would have had to have lived 100 years instead of 44. I’m sure half of the stories are not true. There is a town which claims it originated when St. Francis spent the night there. It is said that Francis went to the top of a mountain and threw a stick off and said "wherever this lands, I will spend the night." So Francis slept in this place, it became famous and people began living there because they revered him so much. There is one glaring problem with this story . . . the stick landed 3 miles from where he supposedly threw it.
In modern news, Assisi is a very picturesque little town built on the side of a hill in northern Umbria. The streets are lined with little shops, pizzarias, and trattorias (restaurants). On the main piazza (square) there is a church which was originally built by the Romans as a temple to Minerva; it became a town hall for some time and was then taken over by the Catholic church in the Middle ages. The front facade is a Corinthian style building with six enormous pillars.
The Basilica of St. Francis is at the end of town and is the largest church in Assisi. The inside is built in the cross style typical of medieval churches and the walls and ceilings are covered with magnificent frescoes. It is so hard to describe how massive and ornate these buildings are. Anyways, underneath the main cathedral is another ornate chapel with more paintings and beautiful architecture. Below that level, is the tomb of St Francis. His body is actually on display, although his face, feet, and hands are covered with wax to make the body more presentable (the rest of him is clothed, naturally). Trust me, these "liberties" are not taken with all the saints that are entombed in glass displays in the churches over here.
Other than the churches in Assisi (and the pizzarias), we only saw one more notable sight. On top of the hill is a large fortress dating back to the 15th century. It was quite a vigorous climb to the fortress. After climbing the hill on foot, we sat down and caught our breathe. Then we rested some more. We are so out of shape. We went into the fortress and climbed up in the towers for a windy photo opportunity.
Our next stop after Assisi was Deruta. The Di Bagnos live in Sante Angelo di Celle which is actually considered a community of Deruta. We stopped by the Di Bagnos for a few minutes to get a drink. I had a splitting headache and stayed behind for this excursion.
Deruta is known for its exclusive ceramics. Sarah absolutely loves their style of ceramics and is always excited to go shopping for some. The town is actually very small but half of the stores in town sell solely ceramics. The actual center of town is, as most medieval cities were, on top of a small hill. It is typical of medieval town with protective walls and gates, narrow streets and really narrow alleys. There is a town near here called Citta del Pieve which boasts the narrowest street in Italy at 30 inches wide. The street is called Vicolo Baciadonne, which means "kiss the women Street," evidently because if you pass a woman on the street you don’t have much of a choice.