Assisi, Umbria, Italy

The Cattedrale (Duomo) di San Rufino, the Cathedral of Saint Rufino stands near the steep path to the Rocca Maggiore. This is the place where San Francesco and Santa Chiara were baptized.

The façade of the Cathedral was very beautiful with three rose windows.

San Francesco began his preaching here.

The Cathedral was newly built on the old church of 11th-century in 1228. Near its entrance, I found the spot of the glass floor so the old church's ruins in the underground could be seen under my feet.

Back from the Eremo delle Carceri, I stopped by the Chiesa Nuovo. Despite its name, Chiesa Nuovo, "New Church," it was built in 1615 over the site where San Francesco was said to have been born.

The foundation stone of the church was brought from the Cattedrale (Duomo) di San Rufino. No wonder both churches were made of beautiful pink and white stones.

The statue of the parents of San Francesco, Pietro di Bernardone and Mona Pica Bernardone, stands on the Piazza of the Chiesa Nuova right in front of the church.

Notice his mother Mona Pica holds in her hands the chains from which she had released San Francesco while his father Pietro holds the clothes that San Francesco discarded when he subsequently renounced his inheritance and Pietro kept his son chained up to punish him for his charitable instincts living his life in imitation of Jesus Christ.

And before I went back to my hotel for the day, I just popped in to this church out of my curiosity without really knowing what it was called.

It was the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore and turned out to be Assisi's first cathedral. Its façade was very simple, with an inscription from 1163.

I made my way toward the altar, looked up Jesus Christ on the cross, and prayed.

Right next to the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore was the Palazzo Vescovile in which the bishops resided.

The bronze statue of San Francesco right in front of the palace looked familiar to me. It was actually a copy of the statue that I had seen at the Cattedrale di San Rufino.