My Assisi Birthday ...

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty

never grows old.

~Franz Kafka

I woke up Sunday, December 9, (2012) and wondered what the day would have in store! It was my birthday and I was in Assisi, one of my favorite places on the planet! The Christmas Festa was still going on in Assisi and there would be various things on the agenda (musicians, choirs, etc.) and hopefully I would meet up with Nancy and Ben, my new friends from Minnesota.

I walked around town, picked up more goodies in the craft tent, then got hungry walking around. I stopped at the little place I'd been the night before on Via San Francesco. I had eaten there after the tree lighting, with the girls I met from the U.S., and had a little lunch and little birthday vino.

Le Cantine di Oddo

While I was eating, I heard from Nancy and they invited me to lunch ... which I was already eating, so we planned to met up after, over by the fountain in the piazza.

Edna had told me about a little museum, near Chiesa Nuova, the church where we were told a choir would be singing. We had some time, so we decided to pop in.

Il Museo 

Arti e Mestieri

I am not quite sure how to describe it, but let's say it's a little quirky. The museum houses arts and crafts of Umbria, and other the "tools of the trade," (including agricultural) collected by the Constantini family, as a way of documenting their Umbrian cultural heritage. 

The sign, below, -- I think, is saying it's the storehouse, of the home, of Bernardone family. Pietro Bernardone was a wealthy cloth merchant and the father of Saint Francis. It's a bit confusing because it's not the only place that is related to the home of Francis. Another place, under Chiesa Nuova, says that as well. Google translate won't translate "Fondaco," as an Italian word, but if you go to an Arabic origin, it means "storage." 

Anyway ... here it is.

Chastity Belts ...

Ladies' on the left, Guys' on the right. Eeeek!

Blacksmith's Tools

Lace making tools ...

Roman Aqueduct and ... I'm not sure about the T.V. 

Loved the old pots and pans ...

Volpe means "fox."  Not really sure what he had to do with anything ... taxidermy? 

After the little museum we went to Chiesa Nuova, but found no choir. We looked on the official program and realized we were in the wrong place, so we headed back to the Piazza Commune and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is inside the old Roman Temple of Minerva (1st century B.C.) ... thus the Sopra Minerva.  "Sopra" means over, above or on top of, in Italian.

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

By the late 4th and 5th century, paganism was pretty much outlawed and the temple was abandoned. Benedictine monks restored it, in the the late 6th century. Later it was leased to the newly formed Commune of Assisi, in the 13th century. It was used as a jail until the 15th Century, after which it became a church again. (1,000 years in 4 sentences! I think that's a record!)

It was restored over the centuries, with different interiors but what you see now is a 17th century Baroque explosion, that looks like nothing you'd expect, seeing it from the outside. Here  you can see the exterior, from my trip in 2010, at Calendimaggio. It's amazing, what great condition the facade is in, after 2,000 years! It's the second from the last photo in that post.

Anyway, as you can see, we found the choir!

They were singing mostly in English, as I recall, and to our surprise, they did a rendition of Kumbaya!

And then, they did this familiar tune ... (which I captured on my iPhone and uploaded to YouTube!!) so turn up your volume!

I think it's the only video I took on the whole  trip, but I am SO glad I did! Doesn't it sound so sweet with their Italian accents! Nancy and I were loving it!

This great shot, below, was taken by Ben. Thanks Ben!

After exploring for a bit, the light began to change. This is looking toward Chiesa Nuova from the main piazza.

We decided to head to Saint Claire's for sunset!

Nancy and I in front of the Umbrian valley ...

 

That's Santa Maria Maggiore, in silhouette, below.

Below, looking back toward Sopra Minerva ...

And back to Piazza Commune ... for more music!

We weren't quite ready for dinner, so we stopped by the apartment Nancy and Ben were renting, then I took them to Santo Stefano and Santa Maria Maggiore, where they had never been!

Before San Rufino became the Cathedral of Assisi, or "Duomo," Santa Maria Maggiore held that position. 

The bishop's palace, on the square next to Santa Maria Maggiore, is where Saint Francis renounced his earthly possessions. He stripped down in front of the town, Bishop Guido and his father who, as  you can imagine, was none too happy. 

Santa Maria Maggiore

12th Century (current church)

 

The Church was built out of limestone from Mount Subasio ... so it was made from local materials. ;)

According to tradition, the church was originally founded in the 4th century by a bishop Savino, over yet another Roman pagan temple.  This time it was the Roman god Janus. (God of beginnings and transitions.)

Remnants of 14th and 15th century frescoes. 

(Below), Madonna and Child 

mid 14th Century, attributed to Pace di Bartolo

In 1832, the church, including the frescos and stained glass, were badly damaged by an earthquake. The nave's ceiling and part of the right aisle were were destroyed. 

Excavations in 1864 and 1954 identified a Roman residence, of the poet Propertius, who lived in the Court of Emperor Augustus, and was of Assisi. This old Christian crypt is somehow connected to the residence. No one was around to ask and I have gone on several websites it's all unclear. I guess I'll have ask Anne, and see it when I go back! The columns are likely Roman.

After the church, we decided to go enjoy the big Christmas tree at the Basilica of San Francesco.

A wooden nativity that was hidden, the evening before, when the children's choir was singing ...

One of the doors to the lower basilica ...

 

And then, dinner! I scarfed it down so fast I forgot to take pictures! 

We went to one of my very favorite restaurants in Assisi, Trattoria da Erminio. It's up around the corner past the Cathedral of San Rufino, if you are coming from the center of town. So basically, like everything in Assisi, at least one way, it's up hill! 

The restaurant opened in 1954, and is still run by the family, now in it's third generation. 

It's so yummy! They have a little fire where they grill for you, right there! And the pasta is great ... And the dessert! Don't ask me what it was called but it was the perfect way to end my birthday! And, of course, there was chocolate involved!

Ben, Nancy and I, with our rosy cheeks, from being out in the cold!

Oh, and my little birthday portrait at the basilica!

Birthdays are good for you.
The more you have, the longer you live.
~unknown

Needless to say, I was very happy to spend my birthday in beautiful, magical, spiritual Assisi! Of course, it was also great to get a slew of birthday emails, texts, and Facebook messages from back home, when I turned my wifi on, back at the hotel!

Those of you that have been on my blog forever, have already seen this video, but for those of you who are new to the blog or happened to have missed it, this video/slide show was from my first trip to Assisi. That was 2008, which somehow feels like a lifetime ago!

So much more to share from Assisi ... all the beautiful spiritual places, and my cooking class, of course!

Blessings and light!

Choirs, a Tree Lighting and a Singing Monk ~ December in Assisi

I had arrived in Assisi the previous afternoon, and already I had had an amazing time in Assisi, with the Christmas Festa going on. Now, I was now off to a concert at Santa Maria degli Angeli, with my new friends Franca and Edna. 

Franca took us down to the basilica, in her car. Normally, they are pretty strict about not taking pictures inside but with a concert about to start, they were not enforcing that. Woohoo!!!

Until this trip, I'd never heard of this singing friar that we were about to see, but I was getting the idea that he was pretty popular around there. His name, as you can see below, is Friar Alessandro Giacomo Brustenghi. 

The friar would be singing with a choir in front of the Porziuncola, which is that little chapel you see, inside of the big church. 

This is an incredibly important and sacred place, because it was given to Francis in 1208 to re-build, and it became the first home of his followers. Just to the right of the little chapel, a few yards away, is where Francis let go of his suffering body, and died in October of 1226.

It's quite tiny inside the small chapel (5.5 x 3.2 m.) and on a normal day, people wait to go inside to sit and pray. I took my parents there in 2010 and it was one of my mom's favorite places. You really can imagine being back in time ... one of his followers, praying before the beautiful icon of the Annunciation. It's quite moving and a wonderful place to say a prayer. It really feels sacred and is filled with an energy that is difficult to explain.

The Porziuncola was much too small to handle the throngs of pilgrims, pretty early on, so thus Santa Maria degli Angeli was commissioned. It was built to house all the many visitors and protect the Porziuncola inside.

The concert began and Friar Alessandro's voice was beautiful and his enthusiasm infectious. You can see him in the photo below... He's in front of the choir, just to the right of center, in front of the opening of the Porziuncola. 

I found him on Youtube and this is one of the songs he sang ... one of my favorites! (Much easier for you to see him!) And, you get to see lovely views around Assisi! :)

Here he is talking about the song, and he is so darling! Is that something you can say about a friar? Anyway, you will see what I mean!

Who are the happiest, richest people you know?
... These are the people who are living joyful, enthusiastic lives, 
regardless of their possessions
or lack of possessions.
These people possess something more precious than material goods.
They possess a spark of God
that radiates in all they do.
~Shoni Labowitz in Miraculous Living

Franca, on the left, and Edna, at the concert.

I've never been especially moved by Oh Tannenbaum, but for some reason when the choir starting singing it, I was nearly overcome with emotion. I got that sting in the back of my throat that you get when you're trying not to cry. I thought of my family and wished so badly that they could all be there with me, to experience it all ... the music, the place ... everything. 

We went back up the hill into Assisi and Edna and I headed to the Basilica of San Francesco. It was funny because when we first approached the basilica, I thought, what are all those people doing on the lawn?!

Turns out it was a life sized Nativity!

Nativity scenes and creches are an especially big deal in this area because, as the story goes, Saint Francis is thought to be the first person to create a living nativity. He did this in a town, in the Rieti Valley, called Greccio, that I visited with my parents in 2010. 

I explained some of the art history, inside the basilica, to Edna. My art history class was fresh in my mind at that point, and I explained about the cycle of Frescoes, done by Giotto and his school, that told of the most significant moments in the life of Saint Francis.

Edna was then off to have tagliatelle ai funghi with Franca. (They had gone mushroom picking that morning.) As delicious as that sounded, I didn't want to miss the tree lighting! 

The tree was below the upper basilica, near the entrance of the older, lower basilica, and there was a woman conducting a choir of school children.

I went below and stood with the locals, many being the parents of the school children.

The man, below, in the pink beanie (A bishop? Archbishop? No idea, since I'm not Catholic) told the story of Francis, the nativity in Greccio, and little baby Gesù. I strained my brain to understand the Italian, of which I caught little bits and pieces.

And then ... they lit the tree ...

And the children continued to sing. When they sang John Lennon's "Happy Christmas War is Over," ... 

... like magic ...

... snow flurries ..

It was one of the most magical moments of my life.

There had been a snow flake here and there but it was as if, right on cue ... Christmas had come and flurries surrounded us, glowing with all the lights ... 

As I walked up the hill, away from the basilica, I heard two young ladies speaking English. American English. Turns out they were Americans, living in Rome, but had come to Assisi for the day. (It's about two hours by train.) I ended up having a lovely dinner with them at a little restaurant on Via San Francesco, before heading back to the hotel. 

Charming shops, closed up for the night ...

I passed the big Festa tent in the piazza again and headed to my room. 

I called my parents and tried to explain to them how magical it had all been, and that I hoped we could all go there together for the Festa someday, and how there had been a singing friar, and snow flurries and children singing ... I'm sure I sounded like a 5 year describing their first trip to Disneyland. I was quite beside myself.

It all felt like being in a dream.

Here's one more song by

Friar Alessandro, singing Pater Noster.

He has an CD, and of course I bought it. It was in one of the little shops in the main piazza. It's on Amazon, here. You can also find more of him on YouTube, if you are interested.

To see my posts of Greccio, where Francis created the first living nativity, click here and here

To read and see more about the Porziuncola and Santa Maria degli Angeli, click here for the Sacred Destinations' site.

Enthusiasm is the greatest power.

For one endowed with enthusiasm 

noting in this world is impossible.

~The Ramayana

Blessings and light!