The crucifix that spoke to Francis
Assisi, a medieval town of pink and white stone from Monte Subasio, clinging to the slopes of the mountain above the green Umbrian valley, is the town of Saint Francis and Saint Clare, and one of the most spiritual and enchanting places in Italy. Its lanes, stairways, arches and flowered balconies lead to the Piazza del Comune, the heart of the town, where the Temple of Minerva, a Roman temple of the first century BC with its intact columned façade, admired by Goethe, now a church, stands alongside medieval palaces and the Torre del Popolo.
At the eastern end of the town stands the Basilica of Santa Chiara, built between 1257 and 1265 to house the tomb of Clare, the young noblewoman of Assisi who followed Francis and founded the order of the Poor Clares. With its façade of alternating bands of white and pink stone, a large rose window and the massive flying buttresses on the side, it overlooks a panoramic square. Inside, the crypt keeps the body of the saint, and a chapel preserves the Crucifix of San Damiano, a painted crucifix of the twelfth century in front of which, according to tradition, the young Francis heard Christ speak to him: "Francis, go and repair my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruin". Francis took the words literally and began to restore the small church of San Damiano, below the town, among olive groves, where Clare later lived for forty years with her sisters, and which can still be visited, with its simple, moving cloister.
Tip: walk down to San Damiano among the olive trees, about twenty minutes; the town is magical in the evening, when the day-trippers leave.
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