#assisi Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

July 15, 2026July 18, 2026

St. Francis’s Assisi

this place is famous for Saint Francis so if you’re interested in him or something related to him and the Catholic Church or the foundation of the Franciscan order, this would be a great place to visit. He is also entombed in the main basilica.

Hill complex St. Francis’s Assisi — A big complex on the hill, a few from the train

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Santa Maria St. Francis’s Assisi — This church is in the Little town by the train station

View from the Hill St. Francis’s Assisi — The church has seen from Assisi

Church with a saint Bill Smale — People may think this is a minor church but it has the tomb of a very young and early saint which is Kind of interesting

800th anniversary Bill Smale — It was the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis. I hope they are making an adjustment for the old and new calendar

Old fresco Bill Smale — Watch left a very old fresco

Old streets Bill Smale — Up in the main town on the hill the streets are medieval width

Water gushing out Bill Smale — Here you can see some water coming out of a pipe. The water was traveling all the way down the city to the streets below. While I was there, after taking this photo, the repair people came to fix it, probably people from the water company. This is the police station in Assisi

Gelato — And afternoon is not complete without gelato. I think this was just a two scoop, strawberry and lemon

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Burial place of Saint Francis — This is where Saint Francis is in a cement coffin down below. You can visit the burial coffin and do your religious stuff.

The basement tomb — So you walked down here to see the tomb

Area of relics — There is an area where there are relics, clothing and artifacts eight years ago

Tiny emblem — The detail indeed books are really amazing. Look at what the fellow is writing. In the photo above you can see this little emblem is on the lower left corner.

Amazing painting — I found this painting really amazing in color and texture.

Interesting detail — The detail on this metal box is very interesting

Small trinket — This is just one of the trinkets you could buy in the shop. This is just one euro

In my Borsalino — Proof I was there in my Borsalino

Interesting architecture — This is interesting architecture.

July 7, 2026July 7, 2026

Mediaeval Assisi

Mediaeval Assisi definitely a place you need to visit in Italy especially if you’re interested in Saint Francis at his live nature and animals. His tomb is here in the large basilica so you can come and visit or pay your respects or whatever.

Bus stop building Mediaeval Assisi — You can stay here in this city on the hill or you can stay down on the flatland near the train station and then take a bus up to this city in about 20 minutes and the buses run every 15 or 20 minutes so it’s easy to get around. This is a government building right by the bus stop

Bus station Street Mediaeval Assisi — After you get off the bus you walk down this narrow street to a small Piazza

Narrow streets Mediaeval Assisi — Since this city has been around for many hundreds of years the streets are very narrow

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Interesting opening Bill Smale — This is one of the first things you see when you enter this church. I’m not quite sure what it is but it looks like something leading down to the original structure or something meant for some purpose and it’s no longer used

Wax candles Bill Smale — If you are interested in lighting candles for some blessing you will notice that some of the churches in Italy have installed electric candles. That way you pay some money and an electric candle lights up. But many of the churches still have wax candles

Carlo tomb is here Bill Smale — This fellow I saw promoted in a church as a recent saint. I’m sure it’s important to keep things current in the Catholic Church and so this fellow is very greatly revered. one thing I did not realize before coming here is that this is the actual church where he is entombed. you’re not supposed to take a photo of the tomb out of respect. Above his remains is a glass box where you can see a wax replica of him lying down

John Paul presentation Bill Smale — I’m sure this pope is very prominent in this hallway presentation because he visited

Respect for nature — This city is organized around Saint Francis so you will see a lot of attention paid to nature. This is just someone’s yard

The entrance to paradise

Road to paradise — It’s interesting to note this is the road to paradise

Rocca maggiore — This is the Fortress on top of the hill which has been here for as long as the Romans were here

Castle — a view from the castle

Assisi below the castle

Famous artist — so this famous artist had an exhibition here

Permanent design — This is his signature design and this one seems to be permanent just below the castle

South American project — This is in the mountain South America, a project he was commissioned to do

Verona Arena project — This was done in the arena in Verona

Outer space project — he got somebody in outer space to do this for him

Hidden Borsalino — There is a hidden Borsalino here

Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

on this site was a Roman temple to Minerva and on top of that a church was built.

Minerva temple — You can see the columns of the Minerva temple which were rescued from the ruins

The tower — Next to the temple is the tower.

128 steps up — Before ascending I asked how many steps. The answer was 128

Clock backside — This is the first time I’ve been on the backside of a clock

Changing the guard — The former king of Italy comes to pay respects to the town as it changes guardianship from the Vatican to the nation of Italy

Beautiful view from the tower — The tower has a beautiful view

The Bell striking mechanism — Here you can see a metal ball and a mechanism which allows it to strike the bell

Roman artifacts — There are many interesting remains from excavations of Roman artifacts

Abandoned shoes — Back down in the town near the station of Assisi you can see that not only people choose their shoes but here you can see the shoes will soon choose the person

Interesting artwork — Some interesting artwork