A view over the Umbrian valley
On the top of the hill that dominates Assisi, at about 500 metres, the Rocca Maggiore is a massive medieval fortress that offers one of the most beautiful views in Umbria: from its walls, the gaze sweeps over the roofs, bell towers and domes of the town below, the Basilica of San Francesco, Santa Maria degli Angeli in the plain and the whole Valle Umbra, the wide green valley dotted with villages, olive groves and fields, from Perugia to Spello, Foligno, Montefalco and the mountains of the Apennines. On the other side, Monte Subasio rises behind.
A castle stood here already in the twelfth century, under the imperial domination, and it is said that the young Frederick II of Swabia, the future emperor, spent part of his childhood here. In 1198 the people of Assisi, rebelling against the emperor, destroyed it, and among the rebels there may have been the young Francis. The present fortress was rebuilt in 1367 by the papal legate, Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, who reorganised the defences of the Papal States, and was later strengthened by the popes in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with a tall polygonal tower and a long walkway that connects the main keep to a second tower. Inside, the rooms and walkways can be visited, with exhibitions on medieval life, weapons and costumes, and you can climb the tower and walk along the covered patrol walkway. From the fortress, a path leads down to the Rocca Minore and the town walls.
Tip: climb at sunset for the best light on the valley; the walk from Piazza del Comune takes about fifteen minutes, uphill.
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