Assisi? I see.

OK, one last post documenting our Christmas trip to Italy, and then I promise to go back to talking about funny signs and LOLcats. We spent the last day of our most recent Italian vacation driving through a freak snowstorm to the Florence airport; we spent the second-to-last day exploring Assisi on a warm, sunny day.

Assisi is an old, brick, hill-top Umbrian town that is smaller and cuter than Perugia. We easily filled a day there doing little more than wandering the winding streets, taking photos, and poking our heads into the odd shop. Oh, and of course eating.

Lunch was at the very popular and delicious Trattoria Pellotta, which is just off the main square. My mixed antipasti was one of the best dishes of the whole trip.

Assisi is probably most famous for its two big saints, Francis and Clare, and it has the body parts stuffed in reliquaries to prove it. We ended the day at the Basilica of Saint Francis, where we were greeted by a very big nativity scene.

Up close, the life-sized figures were, well… would you want this guy coming to adore your newborn? And is that leprosy on his hands?

We picked up some uninspired audioguides and went inside the basilica with the rest of the tourists to gape at the Giotto frescoes depicting scenes from Saint Francis’s life. Every few minutes an Italian monk’s voice boomed over the loud speaker, warning the crowd to be quiet.

The lower part of the basilica contained yet another nativity scene. The crowds thinned as the sun went down and the chill rose in the air. It was time for us to go back to Perugia for one last dinner in Italy.

Tags: Assisi, Europe, food, Italy, restaurants, travel, Umbria

A small taste of Perugia

After ringing in the new year in Positano, we drove back to Rome to deposit our friends at the airport and then continued on for a couple more days of Italy. Since I had found cheap return flights out of Florence, we decided to explore someplace between there and Rome next. That left us still with way too many choices, but at the last minute we decided on Umbria.

We stayed at a forgettable but convenient hotel just outside of Perugia. Usually we prefer to stay in the middle of all the fun, but given logistics and our desire to explore by car, it was easier to sleep out of town. Perugia is one of Umbria’s many charming hilltop cities. For tourists, the best bet is to park at one of the many lots at the bottom of the hill and then take a combination of stairs and outside escalators up to the city. The escalators we took rose up through the ruins of a monastery, making for an interesting ride.

The town was bustling with people out for their evening stroll, and the Christmas lights above the streets lent a festive feel to the scene. We poked our heads into a couple art exhibits, which seemed to be popular places to warm up from the cold outside. Dinner was at the elegant La Taverna, where we fell in love with the eggplant, potato, and zucchini parmigiana and the fresh ravioli with truffles and pepper.

The second evening we dined at a cavernous trattoria full of exposed brick, low ceilings, and locals. The food was simple and well-priced, and of course quite tasty. (I can’t find the name of it in my notes, unfortunately.)

It was a quick visit that definitely left me yearning to spend more time in Umbria. But then again, ever part of Italy makes me feel that way about it.

Tags: Europe, Italy, Perugia, restaurants, travel, Umbria