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Assisi, Umbria, Italy |
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| Upon waking up next morning - early morning, I stood at the balcony of my room awhile. I glanced over and saw this gentle rolling green hills of Umbria before my eyes. It was very quiet, and only birds were singing like they were greeting me. |
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| After I took breakfast, I of course headed straight for Basilica Papale di San Francesco, the Papal Basilica of San Francesco through the Piazza. | The Basilica, built in honor of San Francesco in the 13th century, comprises two churches; the Upper Church and the Lower Church. | I first entered the Lower Church. There was a board at the entrance that showed the word of "peace" in 14 languages. |
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| It has several chapels with ribbed vaults and arches. | And it is decorated with beautiful frescoes representing the stories of Jesus and San Francesco. | I walked down the stairs to the crypt to find the tomb of San Francesco. |
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Inside of the Upper Church was entirely covered with frescoes "La Vita di San Francesco" that describe the life of San Francesco painted by Giotto (1266 - 1337). It was a great pity that taking photos was not allowed in there. But those frescoes were really amazing! |
I glanced over at the Basilica from the PAX lawn and the Umbrian Valley stretching out as far as the eye/I could see! | As the darkness fell, I came back to the Basilica just to see what it would look like at night. It looked even more magnificent with illuminated colonnade, standing out on the clear night. |
