30 March, 2009

My World-Basilica di Santa Chiara-Assisi, Italy February 2009

Comune di Assisi is a medieval town located in the province of Umbria . Assisi is a little over two hours north and east of Rome by train. You have to transfer at Foligno for a 15 minute ride to the Assisi Railroad Station. Outside the Station you hop on a local bus (1 euro per way) that takes you up to the hill.

Assisi's notoriety throughout the world comes from Saint Francis of Assisi and is the burial place of him. I will share more about Saint Francis and the Basilica di San Francisco in a future post.

The Basilica di Santa Chiara (Saint Clare) pictured is dedicated to and contains the remians of Chiara Offreduccio(July 16, 1194 – August 11, 1253) - Saint Clare of Assisi, a follower of Saint Francis and, a founder of the Order of Poor Ladies, and known to today as the Order of Saint Clare.

The Church was built in 1257 in Italian Gothic Style (also known as Franciscan Style) and was consecrated in 1265. The simple facade consists of horizontal layers of pink and white stone, and there are two lions at the side of the portal.



The Piazza di Santa Chiara is lovely and welcomes visitors with a fountain and seating along a wall overlooking the valley below.


The Church has these great lateral buttresses, also known as flying buttresses and are common in medieval cathedral design. Under these and incorporated into the design are areas where the townspeople could get water which you can see in the photographs below. The water is cold and quite refreshing after a long day of exploring.




Of course I had to stop and grab a bite to eat and enjoyed a couple of sausages, they were quite tasty and, a bowl of country soup.


Be sure to check out all of the MY WORLD PARTICIPANTS posts at
MY WORLD . You are sure to find some interesting reads from all of the world.

39 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What a lovely and fascinating post for "My World"! Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed your post. I armchair travelled with you today to a place I long to see someday with my very own eyes.

ninja said...

Must of been a nice day.

Janie said...

What beautiful architecture! Very interesting information and history in the post, too.

kayleen said...

Love the architechture. Lovely photos, was nice to be along on the trip!

Nebraska Birding

Grammy said...

That is wonderful. I love old churches and there architecture. I have never seen one this old. Thanks for sharing the photos and info.

Tarolino said...

A wonderful post. A special place indeed. The church is beautiful. The gotich style is very pleasing in its simplicity and strong geometrical shapes.
The soup looks very fullfilling. One does not remain hungry after that.

Guy D said...

Thanks so much for the tour of that amazing place.

Have a great week!
Guy
Regina In Pictures

Anonymous said...

Loving the piazzas and the architecture and you got a pic of the great car I had when I lived in the UK, a Fiat Multipla!

Jane Hards Photography said...

This is a wonderful post of such an historic town. The architecture is so detailed.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Italy is such a wonderful world. Thank you for all the great pictures and explanations. You are a skilled tourguide!I enjoyed my tour.
mine is on thisandthat)

Arija said...

Yhank you for shating your trip to Assisi with us, I have always wanted to visit. Your photo journal is just great and the informationa about the clean water resource for the townspeople much appreciated. A wonderful invention to have it between the flying buttlesses where it keeps cool in the shade and is also protected from dust and general town debris.
I look forward to the nexr instalment.

SandyCarlson said...

That looks like a wonderful place. The food, the architecture, the light--delicious.

Gaelyn said...

Erin, what a delightful tour. I like the patterns made by the two colors of stone. Food sure looks good.

Barb said...

Erin, as usual, a wonderful tour through your words and your camera. Why do I always feel the need to eat after I read your posts?

Indrani said...

The architecture is beautiful, especially the arched structure.

Anonymous said...

Lovely post. Memories flashing back of my visit to Assisi but these photos makes me feel like I'm seeing it for the first time. It is a really nice, quaint town. Thanks for the tour.

GreensboroDailyPhoto said...

What a nice "my world" entry! Learned a lot.

Lakshmi said...

I love looking at churches..they are wonderful..thanks for taking me on another journey

MedaM said...

It was really beautiful weather during your staying in Italy. This is another beautiful and informative post. Thanks for sharing these b eautiful photos.

Mojo said...

Gorgeous photos! Pretty impressive building too!

Unknown said...

Lovely post, I am so enjoying your tour of Italy

Lantaw said...

Thats a beautiful church!

Ebie said...

Beautiful and informative photos. Wish to visit someday. Yum, I love the food!

Carver said...

Great post and such a beautiful church. Your photographs are the next best thing to being there.

Anonymous said...

Amazing photographs of such a beautiful place! Thank you so much for the tour.

Reader Wil said...

Thanks for the walk! The weather looks quite fantastic! And the food must have been delicious! Tjhhanks for the visit. Have a great day!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Erin: Thanks for sharing these great photos from your tour. That was a fun visit. Great looking food also, what fun.

Parisbreakfasts said...

Beautiful shots!
Ant so big too!
Thanks

George said...

Thank you for taking us to Assisi with you. Your photographs are absolutely gorgeous.

alicesg said...

Very beautiful photos in your part of the world. The buildings have so lovely designs and the food looked so yummy.

Clara said...

It looks like a lovely place to visit. I'm not a Catholic, but I do know about St. Francis of Assisi. I'd never heard of St. Clare before. That's one of the things I love so much about My World. I learn from every blog I visit. And your lunch looks like it was delicious.

Thanks for visiting me.

Gattina said...

Beautiful pictures !
Mr Gattino is from the Lake of Garda and we go there each year end June, for family and friends.

J said...

Ah, beautiful Italy! One of my favourite countries. I have a great deal of respect for the Poor Clares too.

antigoni said...

I would like to visit this place one day. And the food looks very tasty.

Esther Garvi said...

The details of the buildings are just so beautiful!

Sebastian Anthony said...

Ah, Italy! I was there for 2 weeks in October and did a loooot of churches.

I took a lot of photos too (though only of the main cities -- I didn't get go too far out -- Ostia Antica, Pisa, etc.), and I have some fun stories to tell.

I'll try to let you know, when I start writing about it... or you can keep an eye on my blog :)

Annie said...

Ymm..that makes me hungry.
Hope this isn't where the earthquake is?
Thanks for popping in to visit My World (NYC) today.

AMIT said...

This is a very good blog post you have.I love the pictures specially which you have posted.

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