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SUNDAY 2nd October 2005
PERUGIA
On leaving the coach at Perugia we climbed up steps and steep pavement through the extraordinary submerged medieval vaulted street “Via Baglioni Sotteranea”. Its houses now form part of of the foundations for the Piazza Italia, but were once incorporated into the “Rocca Paolina”, a colossal sixteenth-century papal fortress designed by Sangallo. The “Rocca” was connected by tunnels to strategic points throughout the city. Passing by the “PiazzaItalia” we walked along the “Corso Vannucci” (named after the city’s most celebrated artist Petro Vannucci, also known as “Perugino) reaching the “Piazza IV Novembre” with its medieval fountain, “Fontana Maggiore” designed in 1277.
Just beyond the fountain is the “Duomo” (started in 1345 with most of the building completed in the late 15th c). The Duomo suffered earthquake damage in 1983 but has now been restored. The bronze statue to the left of the Duomo portal is of Pope Julius III, and to the right an unfinished pulpit used by Saint Bernardino of Sienna. To the left are the remains of the “Loggia Fortebraccio”.
Opposite the Duomo is the lawyer’s meeting hall, “Sala dei Notari” dating from the late 1290s, and “Palazzo dei Priori” (from which convicted criminals in medieval times were thrown to their death from the trefoil windows).
The doorway of the Sala dei Notari is topped by a bronze Guelph lion and a Perugian griffon. Once thought to be Roman, these were actually made in 1274 and are thus among the first pieces of large-scale casting in medieval Italy. According to folklore, the chains below were snatched from the gate and gallows of Sienna during a raid in 1358.
A Sunday market was in progress next to the Duomo in the Piazza Danti.
We returned back down the Corso Vannucci to the old Rocca, and from the rampart wall had magnificent views across the Umbrian countryside.
ASSISI
Our next stop was Assisi, first of all to the church “Santa Maria degli Angeli” that has been built around the the “Porzuincola” that Saint Francis made the centre of the Franciscan movement. The outer church was built between 1569 & 1684, and had to be re-built after an earthquake in 1832.
Lorenzo made a brief stop enabling us to photograph a view of Assisi.
From there we were coached near to the “Basilica di San Francesco”, and faced a steep climb to the Basilica itself, which is two churches - the Lower and Upper. Both have been amazingly well restored following the earthquake damage of 1997. The Basilica was conceived shortly after St. Francis’s death in 1226. The sombre Lower Church,(view of entrance portal) has frescoes that span a century of continuous artistic development, including works by: Maestro di San Francesco, Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini & Pietro Lorenzetti. The Upper Church is built in an airy Gothic style, with its single-nave setting a style for countless Franciscan churches around the country. Giotto was responsible for the bulk of the Upper church dazzling frescoes on the life of St. Francis, which date from about 1256.
The lucky ones dodged the showers and stayed dry.
PALAZZO BANDINO
The evening meal, and the wine, were enjoyed in the “Palazzo Bandino” near Chianciano Terme, after having a conducted tour around the wine making facilities.
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