The ancient buildings are constructed from a  local stone that has slightly pink color enhancing  

the visual beauty of this special place with a  lovely network of pedestrian lanes to explore,  

some of them so steep they are  staircases rather than streets. 

The main reason that most people visit  the town is because it was the home  

of Saint Francis, one of the Catholic Church's  most important saints, who is buried here under  

the great basilica that was constructed two  years after his death in the early 13th century. 

Later in the program will visit  inside the Basilica of St. Francis  

to enjoy its Gothic magnificence and the beauty  of these early Renaissance frescoes all around us. 

But we will show you that is Assisi has  much more to offer the traveler because  

it is one of the most beautiful and best  preserved of all of the Italian hill towns. 

The Basilica on the west end of town is located  about 400 meters from the nearest parking lot,  

so it's an easy walk straight over there. However,  there are many other sites to see in town, as we  

will show you on this suggested route that takes  in all those major sites, walking along those  

pedestrian lanes to the main piazza, as your first  major destination, exploring some of the nearby  

lanes, then continuing to the Cathedral, called  the Duomo, then up the hill to the fortress. 

And then back down and around  through more of those narrow lanes  

heading over towards the  Basilica to complete your visit. 

Assisi is in central Italy, a 30-minute drive  from Perugia and two hours from Rome or Florence.  

You can also get there by train or bus. And now we get started at the Porta San Pietro,  

which is just next to the car parking lot, and  notice there are taxis out front. You could take  

a taxi up to the top of the hill to that fortress  right here, and then you could walk down following  

our route somewhat in reverse. But walking up is  also most enjoyable as you're about to find out. 

That impressive gateway is part of the original  medieval wall that went all the way around  

the town protecting it from attack, and  the wall is still pretty much all there,  

as you'll see in this map. The town  itself is just about one kilometer from  

one end to the other, easy to walk. Upon arrival inside the town we came  

across this interesting street market. It was  apparently for the locals. It was clothing,  

a little bit of food and produce, very  good prices from these merchants, and  

no souvenirs for sale here. In town you will find  souvenirs and many shops selling fine handicrafts,  

leather goods, ceramics, and much more. Right away, you will be impressed by the  

beauty of these old stone buildings,  so well-preserved and taken care of. 

You'll quickly realize the streets are a  little steeper than they look on the map. 

When you come to Assisi, be prepared to  climb some hills and go up the staircases,  

and up the paths, it's steep. Typical of many Umbrian towns,  

it was built on a hill, partly to protect  themselves from attackers, with origins  

of the town that go back thousands of years. While walking along you'll be tempted to make  

some detours into the little side lanes. One little lane after another,  

so picturesque in Assisi. Every place you  turn, there's 100 spots like this, at least. 

In the medieval days people would build this kind  of bridge over the alleyway if they wanted more  

room for their home, because they had no lawn in  which to extend the dwelling, and there were no  

vacant lots inside the walls in which to build,  and outside the walls, it was unsafe to live. 

Some of the lanes in town are quiet  residential areas with no shops,  

but don't worry, there are plenty of streets  that are filled with stores ready to sell you  

fascinating items, such as along busy  via Portica, one of the main streets in  

town that will soon take us to the Piazza Del  Comune, the thriving heartbeat of the city. 

This stretch of via Portica, just west  of the piazza, has one of the biggest  

concentrations of places to eat. Oh, it's a  great spot for some quick meal, you can get  

sandwiches, you can get pizza, obviously,  and pasta and all sorts of great local foods. 

The self-service restaurant is one of those  typical eateries that you're going to find  

all over Italy. Just stand at the counter. point  you at r food, pay the lady, and find a table at  

the back and sit down and eat. You'll be out of  there in 1/2 hour, enjoying a pretty good meal. 

Which brings us to the main piazza of Assisi –  it's at the crossroads of town, you'll probably  

come back here several times in your visit. There is a multilevel fountain with three lions  

in the southern side that dates from the 16th  century. It's called the Lions Fountain, but  

perhaps a better name for it might be the Pigeons  Fountain. At least they're trying to keep clean. 

You'll get a fine seat for watching all the action  from Bar Trovellesi, either at their street level  

portico or upstairs on the terrace – open all day  for good food, or perhaps late afternoon spritz. 

Café Central is another convenient spot if  you just want a coffee or a light snack. 

There are shops and a few hotels nearby and also  some major historic attractions on the piazza. 

The tower is 47 meters high. It's called  Torre Del Popolo, the people's tower.  

On the left is Palazzo Del Popolo who  was the administrative leader of town. 

The most fascinating building on the piazza  is this ancient Roman temple. Its façade  

is intact and very well preserved with those  six Corinthian columns, each one a monolithic  

single piece of stone, and triangular pediment.  It's a bold reminder of the power and beauty  

of the Roman Imperial architecture.  The piazza was the ancient Roman forum. 

Roman invaders conquered Umbria in the year  309 BC. The Roman Empire greatly enhanced  

the city with new buildings and temples, and  marble statues of the gods. Assisi greatly  

increased in prosperity during this time, with  its commerce and agriculture growing rapidly. 

One reason the temple  survived more than 2000 years  

is that it has been reused in  various ways, and in the Middle Ages,  

a church was built behind it that will  surprise you with its dazzling rococo interior. 

Built in the 17th century this church  of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was  

dedicated to St. Philip Neri, who is depicted  in a fresco on the vault of the nave. 

During the 13th century, St. Francis preached many  sermons on the steps of an earlier church here. 

Back out on the piazza, there's an  interesting painted arch that we  

learned about from a friendly local resident. “You see an arch, and it, go in there and take a  

look. That is called the Volta Pina, the painted  arch. Look carefully at it, because it's in the  

grotesque style, which is based on the Roman,  old Roman, things that were done in the grottoes,  

and it is a finger in the eye of the Pope of  that time. It was painted in like 1556, which  

was the time of the Spanish Inquisition. It was a  dangerous thing to do it, put up pagan stuff. Look  

carefully at it – it's real obscene in places  – apparently was the entrance to the bordello.  

The Pope was a bad Pope, and he's the one who  signed the papers that started the bonfire  

of the vanities, and everything. Marcelus, the  governor of Assisi, had this thing commissioned,  

probably, and when you look at, you'll  think, oh wow, how did he get away with this.  

He not only got away with it, but in three years  they sent him to be the governor of Siena.” 

Later, Mara will tell us about her cats. You can walk out through the back of the arch,  

and then just south of the piazza we find another  beautiful church, Chiesa Nuova, built on the site  

of the legendary boyhood home of St. Francis. It  was here that Francis renounced his inheritance  

and began his divine evangelical way. Construction  was financed by Philip the Third, King of Spain. 

The little streets around the piazza are an ideal  place to just take a wanderer, kind of an aimless  

stroll. You can walk in these lanes just south  of the piazza along Via Bernardo da Quintavalle.  

Like all of town, it's a very old neighborhood  with stone buildings, mostly residential,  

and this lane is quite level like some of the  others in this central area by the piazza. 

You're always going to notice these  little side staircases as you walk along.  

Maybe best to resist some of those temptations  and just keep on going on the level. 

A lane like this is not a place for shopping  or eating, or any spectacular historic sites,  

but these quiet neighborhoods give you a glimpse  backstage into the residential life of the city. 

From there you can easily return to the piazza  and continue along to your next adventure  

that will take us along via San Ruffino, a major  street leading out from the piazza to the Duomo,  

the San Ruffino Cathedral. Then we continue to  the top of the hill visiting the Rocca fortress. 

Via San Ruffino is one of the  most delightful streets in town,  

perhaps because it connects the main piazza  with the Cathedral, and all along the way,  

it's got shops and restaurants,  and beautiful old buildings. 

Notice the paving of the street. This has been  fairly consistent throughout the town. The paving  

is perfect. It was laid down with brick and stone  in the most pleasant way, and it's so smooth and  

efficiently built that you will never trip or  slip while walking on these beautiful lanes.  

It all came about after the horrific earthquake of  1997. The city was partly rebuilt and all of these  

lanes were refinished with this excellent paving. There is a high-quality restaurant along San  

Ruffino, La Lanterna, classic Italian  cuisine at a fair price with various  

homemade pasta dishes under €20. It's only 200 meters from the piazza  

to the top of via San Ruffino where you come upon  the Cathedral of San Ruffino, called the Duomo.  

This magnificent church is one of  the most popular attractions in town. 

It's 12th-century Romanesque façade is considered  one of the most beautiful of that period,  

and features three rose windows and three elegant  doors - their rounded frames cut in pleasing  

patterns that are unusually graceful for the  period. Above it all stands the Campanile tower. 

The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Rufinus, the  first Bishop of the city who converted to Assisi  

to Christianity in the year 238 and was  later martyred. The interior was designed  

in the year 1500, with later additions in  the Baroque style. St. Francis was baptized  

here and later preached in the church. From the piazza in front of the church,  

we get the best view of the fortress up on  the hill, which is our next destination,  

the Roca Maggiore. You'll notice there is a  slight difference in altitude from the piazza  

up to the fortress, and there's no elevator,  no escalator. We'll need a little muscle power. 

Looking back down at the Duomo from the  Rocca gives you a little preview of the  

great vistas that you're going to find up there. One of the things you want to do in Assisi is  

climb up to the top of the hill and get a  view from the fortress, called La Rocca.  

It's a bit of a steep climb. It might take you  10 to 20 minutes to get up there, but they say  

the view is worthwhile. So let's go find out. You could take a taxi up here, as mentioned  

earlier, and then walk down through all  those lanes we've just seen – up to you.  

No matter which way, you will certainly  enjoy a visit to this old fortress. 

Once you're inside there is more climbing on  staircases and up inside a couple of towers. 

Construction of this fortress began in the  year 1174, but smaller fortifications were  

here for many centuries earlier. After the fall  of the Roman Empire in the late fifth century,  

Assisi was sucked into the downward  spiral of the Middle Ages violence,  

creating a need for this powerful castle,  in a commanding position on top of the hill  

with the strategic view looking out across the  fields and hills of Umbria, and the town below. 

The Holy Roman Emperor, Federico Barbarosa,  use the fortress to consolidate his power  

against those autonomous communes that were  sprouting up everywhere in central Italy. 

Descending the tower, we had a  nice surprise with a friendly cat,  

who climbed up on my wife and  made himself right at home.  

And then it was my turn for  a visit from this castle cat.  

The fortress was pretty empty on this day, so  we were his best chance for some good rubbing. 

They even have a snack bar where you  could get some chips and a drink. 

There are several impressive large rooms  inside the fortress that offer reconstructed  

themes that are inspired by medieval life. Walking around inside and exploring this  

Rocca Maggiore is just as fascinating as  the views that you get looking out from it. 

And now we're heading up the Maschio Tower,  which leads to the highest point in the fortress,  

providing the most spectacular  view all around, 360 degrees. 

When you finally climb to the top of  the castle you get a stupendous view  

looking down on the Basilica of San Francesco. We'll be taking you on a grand tour inside the  

famous Basilica later on in the program. The fortress was destroyed and rebuilt  

several times in its history, and then by  the year 1600, it was completely abandoned,  

to remain almost intact as one of Italy's  best preserved medieval fortresses. 

Nice view looking down at the Duomo we just  visited and beyond, we see the Basilica di  

Santa Chiara, a Gothic church dedicated to St.  Clare of Assis, a devoted follower of St. Francis. 

The fortress is open every day from  10 AM with the last admission at 5 PM. 

That completes our visit, having climbed to  the top of the tower and exploring the rooms  

of the fortress. Now, making our way down this  narrow medieval staircase is one last adventure. 

You can see why you need at least  one full day to explore Assisi,  

with all of those little lanes and piazzas,  and restaurants and shops, the castle,  

and now we're heading for the grand  climax, the Basilica of St. Francis. 

We've done a lot of walking up hilly  streets and climbing staircases to get here,  

but now it's all downhill. And now we can have  some pleasure of watching others climb up the  

steps while we go down. Some people develop clever  techniques to help out, such as this lady who's