We awoke to a beautifully sunny Fall day.  We got going fairly early to walk to the train station (about 15 minutes) to catch a ride to Assisi.  I’ve gotten pretty good at buying the train tickets on the Trenitalia App and being able to ride with tickets on my phone.

From the station in Assisi, we took a very crowded bus up to the town and walked from there.  Here is the entrance to the city from the bus stop:

The Basilica of Saint Frances was our first stop.  We had visited Assisi about 15 years ago and so much was familiar but security and traffic management seemed much tighter than my memories.

The visit to the tomb of the saint was still powerful and moving to me as we stood for a long while just looking at what is really quite a modest setting, as was Frances himself.  Then we went upstairs into the cathedral and worked on following the beautiful frescoes about St. Frances’ life.  

Walking away, I was struck by the totally commercial/kitchy vibe of the souvenier shops juxtaposed with this holy complex.  And Christmas just adds to it.  Look at this elegant restaurant with the junky decorations:

I really wanted to go back to the place we ate in years ago, Trattoria Pallotta.  We looked in, close to noon and they said they would hold a table for us while we continued to explore.  Right across the piazza, the Roman Temple of Minerva is such an interesting place.  Built in the 1st century, it was actually dedicated to Hercules, but earlier people thought it was for Minerva because they had found a female statue there.  The baroque, Christian church is housed there now, since 1539, but the building had gone through many uses, even at some point serving as a jail.  The stunning Corinthian columns still remain.

Lunch was…well interesting.  I started with this tortino of farro which was out-of-this-world excellent.  

After some confusion, Ken ordered ravioli with gorgonzola, pears and walnuts and neither of us cared for it.  We shared pork with a port and fig sauce, which was good but not great, and some fabulously fresh, cooked greens. So, it was a mixed bag.  I really enjoyed the ambience though, and we were the only non Italians in the totally full place. This is the wall of fresh herbs just outside the entrance to the restaurant:

We walked some more after lunch and eventually made our way back to Spoleto where we stopped for a few groceries on our way home.  The pretty Christmas lights were lit on Corso Garibaldi. 

It’s just moments away from December.  And the sun is shining. Wow!