View from the walk in the Bosco San Francesco
Walked around some more in Assisi today. First to the Basilica again to see the upper church with the Giotto frescoes of the life of Saint Francis. Then to a walk down the side of the hill and into a valley below the basilica, the Bosco di San Francesco, or Saint Francis' Forest. This is a piece of regenerating forest, renovated by the FAI (Italy's version of the National Trust) to represent what the area would have looked like in Saint Francis' time. A pleasant walk down to the valley leads to a small group of buildings that belonged to a Benedictine convent in the fifteenth century. The convent chapel has been renovated and the convent buildings are now a visitor centre.
The old city wall, extended during a period of peace and prosperity, but abandoned later when Assisi withdrew back inside the old walls due to war with neighbouring Perugia.
Interpretation boards on the way down explained the differences between the Franciscan and Benedictine approaches to the relationship between nature and humankind. Franciscans were mendicant and practiced subsistence harvesting, only taking what they needed and moving on, like hunter-gatherers. They relied on the charity of others for food and funds. The Benedictines on the other hand, actively farmed and managed their lands, but still with an emphasis on nurture and conservation.
View of the Basilica from the old convent garden
The little convent of Benedictine nuns here helped the poor and sick, offered accommodation to travelers, gardening and praying, but eventually life outside the protecting walls of the city became too dangerous and they moved into Assisi. There is an ancient bridge here across the river; apparently it was used by both Charlemagne's troops and the later Lombard invaders to attack Assisi from the rear. Hard to believe now that such a peaceful and apparently insignificant spot was once of vital strategic importance.
Orchids grow wild in the forest here
Street scene in Assisi
Belltower of Saint Stephano
Wandered around a lot in the afternoon. Many, many souvenir shops here, all selling the same thing - images of St Francis and Saint Clare, various religious items (you can buy a rosary then take it to the Basilica to have it blessed by a monk, no doubt for a small offering). I can't help but wonder what the two saints would have felt about the huge basilicas and commerce associated with their names. It's a far cry from the beginnings of the movement, housed in ruined buildings and wattle huts, wandering the streets begging for bread and wedded to Lady Poverty.
Saint Rufino, the church where Francis and Clare were baptised. Clare's childhood home is in a building on the left of the square.
Romanesque tympanum of Saint Rufino.
Found the church of Saint Rufino, the oldest surviving church here. Lovely Romanesque facade, but what a disappointment inside. All Baroque and nineteenth century stuff of the worst kind (to me, a non-believer), agonised saints pierced with daggers and arrows, spouting blood and haloed with electric lights. Not for me at all.
Some church architecture (particularly the old churches) is sublime. And, like you, I have a lot of difficulties with, for want of a better term, the interior decorations. They often clash vilely with the simple and beautiful lines of the building itself.
ReplyDeleteAssissi looks charming though.
There's a certain kind of Catholicism that seems to revel in torture, blood and punishment, which I don't understand; surely faith should uplift and hearten, not terrify. There's enough horror in life without dwelling on it in such a morbid way.
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