After breakfast we packed the bus for the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi. It included a magnificent chapel inside with an amazing fresco of the Annunciation. St Francis is buried there as he completed the majority of the work there. Amazingly, near the end of the tour there was a statue of St Francis, inside a corridor, holding a nest with live white doves and chicks!
We returned by taxis to Assisi for a guided tour of st Francis’ Hermitage. The Hermitage of the Prisons is the place where St. Francis of Assisi and his followers retreated to pray and meditate.Located 4 km from Assisi, 791 meters above sea level on the slopes of Mount Subasio, the Carceri Hermitage is located near some natural caves, visited by as early as the early Christian hermits. This concluded with a beautiful outdoor mass within the lush oak forest. The church has a nave with a small apse decorated with murals depicting San Damiano, San Rufino, Mary and Jesus, and a wooden choir from the fourteenth century. At the top of the arc that forms the apse is an original copy of the Crucifix of San Damiano, now preserved in the basilica of Santa Chiara. After some more sight seeing, our bus left at 6pm to return to Roma.
HorwoodRome2019 