The story of the nativity and the animals is told at Christmas time in many tableaux in churches, public buildings and end of term school plays, as well as popular jokes. The custom of creating a living nativity scene was started by St Francis. Where can you visit sites associated with St Francis? Assisi in Italy, of course.
Problem
Where do you go to see sites connected with the nativity, and St Francis of Assisi, the most famous person in Umbria, Italy?
Answer
Don't worry. There's plenty to see associated with St Francis. You can take an entire St Francis of Assisi trail and many churches arrange group tours and many individuals make individual visits and pilgrimages. You can get maps marking the trails, for walking, cycling or driving or taking a tour bus.
The two sites most well known are in Assisi, which is blessed with both his birthplace and burial place. However, even if you do not visit Assisi, with its grand basilica, or leave his burial place to last, several other sites have fascinating places associated with St Francis.
Story
I flew from Stansted airport in England to Italy to the Umbria region near the town of Perugia and I flew into Perugia airport. Perugia itself is a lovely town, with an impressive towering Tuscan gate built against the cliffside and cobblestone streets leading up to the hilltop cathedral and the square in front with the fountain.
I had researched St Francis and found my tour of Umbria was missing the two big sites associated with St Francis, in Assisi. Assisi is only about half an hour from Perugia. We contemplated paying for a taxi cab. I saw there were buses and trains. But would we have time?
I was taken around in a minicab on a press tour of Umbria. At first we were mystified as to why the tourist board was diverting away from the two most obvious places to visit. Why? Eventually I summoned the courage to ask. The reason was that so many groups went to Assisi and wrote about Assisi, ignoring all the other places in Umbria. So the tourist board wanted half a dozen of us on the tour to see other places, which are not so inundated with tourists and stories being written. Naturally all the other towns, villages, cities, museums, churches and restaurants in different areas want their turn in the media spotlight.
Cannara - Red Onion City
The first place we visited was the real thing. St Francis slept here. Where? Cannara. A town famous for red onions. I'd never heard of it. But once you've been there, you don't forget it.
The Hovel
Our guide found a local VIP who phoned a woman to open the door of the St Francis site. Beyond the hall is the door into the Hovel where St Francis slept. This is the origin of the word hovel. A small place. He slept on a stone bench. Hard. Hardly any light. A tiny room.
In the hall are souvenirs, postcards, and a little statue of St Francis to buy. I was given a postcard, and another postcard, and a statue, one, offered it.
I treasure the pictures, and my statuette. I don't know why. I am not a Catholic, not even religious. It's absurd really, to be so fond of a figurine. It's a sort of cross between a protective St Christopher and a Barbie Doll. Or maybe it's just that I like souvenirs of places I have visited and people I have met, and heroes of history. I especially like souvenirs which are small enough to pack in a carry on bag to take back home on Ryan Air.
How do you find it? "If it is closed, just ask in a nearby cafe," our guide said. That sounded to me a bit hit and miss.
However, after walking around for half an hour, I realised that leaving the cafe and the cafe owner, I was soon passing the same shops with red onions, and streets, street names, the same cafe and owner again, the same shop window with the red onions. If I know half the VIPs who operate the St Francis site, the cafe, the hotel, all living or working yards from each other, the vital people, after half an hour, it's clear that everybody knows everybody and will be glad to help you find the right person.
I visited:
1 Cannara St Francis's Hovel
2 The Bed and Breakfast
Gosh, St Francis, this great man, who has influenced people worldwide for centuries, knew the top people of his day, founded whole movements, slept in a cubby hole on a hard rock bench, without electric light or heating.
A bit of a hermit, he went out to the nearby fields and talked to the animals and birds. That's understandable. I do that. Especially if you have a day when you have nobody else to talk to. On the other hand, I have not had the vision and determination to found a monastic order following my feelings and teachings. Nor the charisma to persuade opponents to change their minds and to take up my cause.
I stood in the street, thinking, this is a 'real place', not a huge monastery, a small town where the saint slept. I would definitely recommend this.
But where would you stay? I asked, 'Can I see a hotel?"
"Ah," says Mr VIP, "you really want to see a hotel? We don't have a hotel, just a guest house. Will that do?"
"Yes, I must see it," I said.
The others in my group look like they might be ready to head back to the bus.
"Maybe the others would like to see it?" I suggest.
One of the others declines. A guest house is not quite what they want to recommend. We are staying in the four star Castello di Monterone, a wonderful hotel with suits of armour, views over the valley (see the pictures in my previous post). I can imagine what everybody is thinking.
But I still want to see the guest house. Our VIP greets the owner at the doorway, we have to walk through her house to get to the guest rooms, in an annexe at the back.
Oh well, local colour, all madonnas and rustic charm and Italian bric a brac. Some people will prefer this, chatting to a local lady.
Across the courtyards, full of pots, up a flight of stairs, no lift, then suddenly a miracle occurs. We reach the back building and step inside a miniature cathedral. It has murals, ceilings paintings, artwork, colour, cloths, hangings, sculptures! A honeymoon couple would love this.
You have a choice of two bedrooms, both like a king's or bishop's secluded boudoir. Each room looks like it is in a converted chapel, with cupids and scenes painted across the ceilings. Yet, you have all mod con bathroom en suite in beautiful Italian tiles and perfect plumbing.
What's more, there's a real chapel, where you could get married, before taking a few steps across the hall and jumping straight into bed, legally wed.
The price is not that cheap, nearly a hundred pounds (translated into Euros) but you'd struggle to find a basic hotel room in London at that price. The word boutique paints itself in gold.
Compared to the hovel of St Francis it's a five star hotel.
Final revelation, the mayor who shows us around is somehow connected with the hotel. Yes, they all know each other, so here you are part of one big Italian family, through space and through time.
More information from
umbriatourism.it
www.festadellacipolla.com (Onion festival, annually, in September.)
Photos by Angela Lansbury (to be added shortly).
See other photos of Umbria in previous and subsequent posts.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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