Assisi via Perugia

The Assisi trip was nothing less than extraordinary. The first night we stopped in Perugia, across the valley from Assisi. A small town perched on the top of a hill, Perugia boasts an impressive main piazza with the Fontana Maggiore. The fountain is guarded on one side by Cathedral de San Lorenzo, and what the church lacks on the exterior is more than made up for inside. Assisi came the next day, and we were immediately greeted by swarms or tourists and pilgrims. Never have I seen such a contrast in a place as in Assisi, on one hand you have pilgrims brought to tears in the presence of a saint, while tourists with headsets were ushered around them. A curious dynamic. The city itself is a series of switchbacking roads heading to the top of the hill where the Rocca Maggiore stands watch over the city and valley below. Our time there was spent visiting churches and retracing the steps of the Patron Saints of Italy, St. Claire, and St. Francis. Below are some images from the trip.