Live Webcam from ASSISI in Umbria, Italyhttp://www.eurometeo.com/english/webcam/jump_06250HISTORYAssisi is the famous city of San Francesco, symbol of the peace around the world. The city was one of the ancient Umbrian centres, fighting with the nearby Etruscan cities; it was Roman municipium named "Asisium". Infact, there are monuments of that period such as the "Temple of Minerva", the ruins of the "Amphitheatre" and of the "Theatre". The city was a Free Town during the XII century, and it was in this period (1182) that Giovanni di Bernardone (San Francesco) was born. He influenced life, religion and culture of Assisi and later of the entire world.At the beginning of the XVI century Assisi was included in the Papal State until it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy (1860).
Wines of Umbria
Umbrian landscape and climate make the cultivation of vineyards easier than in other parts of Italy. Clay ground and rich spring-waters have been the base of high quality wines since the time of antiquity. A wide range of wines are produced in Umbria including several special DOC and DOCG wines.Orvieto - Since Etruscan times, this wine has been produced and preserved in tufa caves. Today it is an excellent dry sweet white wine.Torgiano - This recent production area is specialised in rosé, red wines and spumante.Montefalco - This wine was produced during Roman Times under the name of "Itriola". Later it was replaced by "Sagrantino" a world famous wine. A dry red and a "Passito" (raisin wine) is also produced here.Assisi - Also this area (Perugia, Assisi, Spello) is good for producing red, white and rosé wines. Famous are "Grechetto" and the "Novello". - Trasimeno - This is a special area of Umbria. Lake Trasimeno, with its climate and hills exposed to the sun, facilitates the production of red and white wines.Colli Perugini - This area was exploited by the Etruscans and the Romans. The zone continued on the right side of the Tevere, south of Perugia.
Olive Oil
Olive oil production, as wine production, has been an important economic resource since Etruscan Times. The Umbrian region with its hills, grounds, and climate allow the olive trees to grow and produce superior quality olives with low acidity. The extra virgin olive oil from this region suits the simple genuine and delicious Umbrian gastronomy.The olive oil from Assisi, Spoleto, Colli Martani, Colli Amerini, Colli del Trasimeno and Colli Orvietani carries the "Umbria" label.Additionally there is also an interesting museum of olive civilisation in the city of Trevi, showcasing ancient tools.
Saint Francis of Assisi (1182 – October 3, 1226) Founded the Franciscan Order or "Friars Minor".
Francis was born to Pietro di Bernardone, a prominent businessman, and his wife Pica Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was originally from France. He was one of seven children. Pietro was in
France on business when Francis was born, and Pica had him baptized as Giovanni di Bernardone in honour of Saint
John the Evangelist, in the hope he would grow to be a great religious leader. When his father returned to Assisi, he was furious about this, as he did not want his son to be a man of the Church. Pietro decided to call him Francesco (Francis), in honor of the child's maternal heritage.
Rebellious toward his father's business and pursuit of wealth, Francis spent most of his youth lost in books (ironically, his father's wealth did afford his son an excellent education, and he became fluent in reading several languages including
Latin). He was also known for drinking and enjoying the company of his many friends, who were usually the sons of nobles. His displays of disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him became evident fairly early, one of which is shown in the story of the beggar. In this account, he found himself out having fun with his friends one day when a beggar came along and asked for
alms. While his friends ignored the beggar's cries, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for his stupidity, and when he got home, his father scolded him in a rage.
In 1201 he joined a military expedition against
Perugia, was taken prisoner at
Collestrada, and spent a year as a captive. It is probable that his conversion to more serious thoughts was a gradual process relating to this experience. After his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis recommenced his carefree life. But in 1204 a serious illness started a spiritual crisis. In 1205 Francis left for
Puglia to enlist in the army of
Gualtiero di Brienne. But on his way, in
Spoleto, a strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his spiritual crisis.
It is said that when he began to avoid the
sports and the feasts of his former companions, and they asked him laughingly if he was thinking of marrying, he answered "yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen" – meaning his "lady
poverty", as he afterward used to say. He spent much time in lonely places, asking God for
enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most repulsive victims in the
lazar houses near
Assisi. After a
pilgrimage to
Rome, where he begged at the church doors for the poor, he claimed to have had a mystical experience in the Church of
San Damiano just outside of Assisi, in which the
Icon of Christ Crucified came alive and said to him three times, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He thought this to mean the very ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so sold his horse together with some cloth from his father's store, to assist the priest there for this purpose.
Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to bring him to his senses, first with threats and then with corporal chastisement. After a final interview in the presence of the
bishop, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he had received from him. For the next couple of months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the town where he spent two years this time, he restored several ruined churches, among them the
Porziuncola, little
chapel of
St Mary of the Angels, just outside the town, which later became his favorite abode.
At the end of this period (according to
Jordanus, on February 24,
1209), Francis heard a
sermon that changed his life. The sermon was about
Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the
Kingdom of Heaven was upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself wholly to a life of poverty.
Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance. He was soon joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, the jurist
Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. Many other companions joined Francis, and reached the number of eleven within a year. Francis chose never to be ordained a priest, and the community lived as "fratres minores", in Latin, "lesser brothers". The Franciscans are sometimes called
Friars Minor, a term derived from "fratres", in Latin, "brothers".
The brothers lived a
simple life in the deserted lazar house of
Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of
Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression on their hearers by their earnest exhortations.
In 1209 Francis led his first 11 followers to Rome to seek permission from
Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order. At first his attempt to speak with the Pope was refused; but the following night, according to accounts, Innocent saw in a dream the church was crumbling apart and a poor man appearing to hold it up. The next morning, recalling the poor man he had refused the day before, he recognized him as the man he saw in his dream, and decided to change his verdict the following day.
Later lifeFrom then on his new order grew quickly with new vocations. When hearing Francis preaching in the church of
San Rufino in Assisi in 1209,
Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and she realized her calling. Her brother Rufino also joined the new order.
On
Palm Sunday,
28 March 1211 Francis received Clare at the Porziuncola and hereby established the Order of Poor Dames, later called
Poor Clares. In the same year, Francis left for Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked by a storm on the
Dalmatian coast, forcing him to return to Italy.
On
8 May 1213 he received the mountain of
Verna as a gift from the count
Orlando di Chiusi. This mountain would become one of his favorite retreats for prayer. In the same year, Francis sailed for
Morocco, but this time an illness forced him to break off his journey in
Spain. Back in Assisi, several noblemen (among them
Tommaso da Celano, who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some well-educated men joined his order.
In 1215 Francis went again to Rome for the
Fourth Lateran Council. During this time, he probably met
Dominic de Guzman.
In 1216 Francis received from the new pope
Honorius III the confirmation of the indulgence of the Porziuncola, now better known as the Pardon of Assisi : which the Pope decreed to be a complete remission of their sins for all those who prayed in the Porziuncola.
In 1217 the growing congregation of friars was divided in provinces and groups were sent to France,
Germany,
Hungary, Spain and to the East.
In 1219 Francis left, together with a few companions, on a pilgrimage of non-violence to
Egypt. Crossing the lines between the sultan and the
Crusaders in
Damietta, he was received by the sultan
Melek-el-Kamel. Francis challenged the Muslim scholars to a test of true religion by fire; but they retreated. When Francis proposed to enter the fire first and, if he left the fire unharmed, the sultan would have to recognize Christ as the true God, the sultan was so impressed that he allowed him to preach to his subjects. Though he didn't succeed in converting the sultan, the last words of the sultan to Francis of Assisi were, according to Jacques de Vitry, bishop of
Acre in his book "Historia occidentalis, De Ordine et praedicatione Fratrum Minorum (1221)" : “Pray for me that God may deign to reveal to me that law and faith which is most pleasing to him.” This was a fine example of dialogue with the enemy and respect for a different culture. But when Francis went back to Crusaders, he was declared a heretic and they wanted his head. Ironically, it was finally the (Muslim) sultan who prevented the (Christian) Crusaders from killing him.
At
Saint Jean d'Acre, the capital of what remained of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, he rejoined the brothers Elia and
Pietro Cattini. Francis then most probably visited the holy places in
Palestine in 1220.
Around 1220 St Francis of Assisi celebrated Christmas by setting up the first presepio or crèche in the town of Greccio near Assisi. He used real animals to create a living scene so that the worshippers could contemplate the birth of the child Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight.
When receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco, he returned to Italy via
Venice. Cardinal
Ugolino di Conti was then nominated by the Pope as the protector of the order. When problems arose in the order, a detailed rule became necessary. On
29 September 1220 Francis handed over the governance of the order to brother Pietro Cattini at the Porziuncola. However, brother Cattini died on
10 March 1221. He was buried in the Porziuncola. But when numerous miracles were attributed to the late Pietro Cattini, people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the daily life of the Franciscans. Francis then prayed, asking Pietro to stop the miracles and obey in death as he had obeyed him during his life. The report of miracles ceased. Brother Pietro was succeeded by brother Elia as vicar of Francis.
During 1221 and 1222 Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as
Catania in Sicily and afterwards as far north as
Bologna.
On
29 November 1223 the final rule of the order (in 12 chapters) was approved by Pope Honorius III.
While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty day fast for Lent, Francis was reported to have received the
Stigmata on
13 September 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ." This is the first known account of the stigmata. However, no one knew about this occurrence until after his death, when Thomas told a crowd of Franciscans that he had witnessed this account.
Suffering from these Stigmata and from an eye disease, he had been receiving care in several cities (
Siena,
Cortona,
Nocera) to no avail. In the end he was brought back to the Porziuncola. He was brought to the transito, the hut for infirm friars, next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of
3 October 1226 singing
Psalm 141. His feast day is observed
4 October.
On
16 July 1228 he was pronounced a saint by the next pope
Gregory IX, the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend and protector of St. Francis. The next day, the pope laid the foundation stone for the
Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.
Many of the stories that surround the life of St Francis deal with his love for animals. Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint’s humility towards nature is recounted in the Vigina (The Little Flowers), a collection of legends and folk-lore that sprang up after the saint’s death. It is said that one day while Francis was traveling with some companions they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to “wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds.” The birds surrounded him, drawn by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. Francis spoke to them: “My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in everyplace give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you…you neither sow nor reap, and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst, and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests. And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses you abundantly. Therefore… always seek to praise God.”
Another legend from the
Fioretti tells us that in the city of
Gubbio, where Francis lived for some time, there was a wolf “terrifying and ferocious, who devoured men as well as animals.” Francis had compassion upon the townsfolk, and went up into the hills to find the wolf. Soon fear of the animal had caused all his companions to flee, but the saint pressed on and when he found the wolf he made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one. Miraculously the wolf closed his jaws and lay down at the feet of St. Francis. “Brother Wolf, you do much harm in these parts and you have done great evil…” said Francis. “All these people accuse you and curse you…But brother wolf, I would like to make peace between you and the people.” Then Francis led the wolf into the town, and surrounded by startled citizens he made a pact between them and the wolf. Because the wolf had “done evil out of hunger” the townsfolk were to feed the wolf regularly, and in return, the wolf would no longer prey upon them or their flocks. In this manner Gubbio was freed from the menace of the predator. Francis, ever the lover of animals, even makes a pact on behalf of the town dogs, that they will not bother the wolf again.
These legends exemplify the Franciscan mode of charity and poverty as well as the saint's love of the natural world. Part of his appreciation of the environment is expressed in his
Canticle of the Sun, a poem written in Umbrian Italian in perhaps 1224 which expresses a love and appreciation of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mother Earth, Brother Fire, etc. and all of God's creations personified in their fundamental forms.
However, the academic establishment agrees that Francis actually had a rather conventional attitude towards his worldly environment. He did believe that the external world was inherently good as a sign and revelation of God's providence and goodness, its purpose being to inspire our respect and love, but this was not an unusual philosophy in the thirteenth century. More remarkable is his belief in the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God.
