ITALY/FRANCE--Assisi and the Hill Towns

"This looks just like Iowa, except with vineyards, hilltop towns, and red-roofed homes," David mused, as we drove through the Tuscan countryside. "Well," I replied, "it's the vineyards, hilltop towns, and red-roofed houses that make this countryside quaint and memorable" (No offense to Iowa).

We had a wide choice of hill towns to visit.

We spent our morning wandering through Pienza and Montepulciano, two charming villages. They were exactly what I imagined Romeo and Julie's hometowns to look like.

Pope Pius II remodeled his birthplace, Pienza, in the Renaissance style during the 1400s, as a monument to himself. In Pienza, we admired not only the picturesque architecture, but the Pecorino cheese, made from sheep's milk. It is the town specialty.

We also admired old men in caps...

the narrow streets and the heavy town wall...

the sturdy doors and quaint doorknobs...

and the clock tower rising above the narrow streets.

The views from the town wall past the cedars and across the hills were breathtaking.

Montepulciano produces distinctive wine, but also has memorable churches, towers, and plazas.

We wandered through the local church, admiring the carved stone tombs...the wooden sculptures...

and the stained glass windows.

We even lit a candle or two.

And of course there were the cops.

Down the hill was the San Biaglo Church--Renaissance perfection.

St. Francis of Assisi, who lived during the 1200s, is beloved worldwide for his humility and simple love of people and animals. We drove an hour or more to Umbria, where the town of Assisi perches on a mountainside, crowned with the basilica where St. Francis is buried.

"Peace," or "Pax" in Latin, is spelled out in the lawn in front of the church. We could imagine gentle monks wandering the abbey.

The St. Francis Basilica had an upper chapel with priceless frescoes by the first great Renaissance painter, Giotto.

and a lower chapel, equally ornate, but with low ceilings.

In the lowest, simplest level, humble St. Francis was buried.