Handpicked experience · Florence
Florence, Italy
A cathedral built to shelter one tiny chapel, frescoes rebuilt from three hundred thousand fragments, and a peaceful lake where an army disappeared.
A guided walk through Assisi taking in its principal churches
Admissions covered at all three churches on the route
A panoramic photo stop above Lake Trasimeno
An unguided afternoon in Cortona to explore at your own speed
Eleven hours from Florence into Umbria and back: a guided walk through Assisi with admission to its main churches included, a photo stop on Lake Trasimeno, and an afternoon of your own in the hill town of Cortona.
You travel by coach with a multilingual escort, and someone qualified walks you round Assisi. Nothing needs paying at any church door. The Cortona stop is unguided, so the afternoon is yours to spend on the streets, the views or a long lunch.
Below Assisi stands a very large church that exists for one reason: to shelter a tiny stone chapel standing inside it, under the dome. That chapel is where Francis founded his order and where he died in 1226. Rather than replace it, they built a cathedral over the top and left it untouched in the middle, so you walk into a vast baroque interior and find a rough little building sitting in the nave like a boat in a shipyard.
Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, and when his father took him to court over money he had given away, he stripped in the public square and returned the clothes he was wearing along with it. The bishop covered him with his own cloak. Everything the order became follows from that afternoon in 1206, and the square is still there.
Two earthquakes struck on the same September morning while officials were inspecting damage from the first. Part of the upper basilica's ceiling collapsed on film, killing four people. The frescoes above shattered into something like three hundred thousand fragments, which were swept up, sorted, and reassembled over the following decade by hand. Some panels came back almost complete. Others are a grey blank where the pieces were too small to place.
Trasimeno looks entirely peaceful, and in 217 BC Hannibal used its morning fog to trap a Roman army against the shore and destroy it in a few hours. Around fifteen thousand men died. Two villages nearby still carry names meaning the place of bones and the bloody stream, which is a long memory for a lakeside with a good view.
The town sits behind walls whose lower courses are Etruscan, laid before Rome was anything much, and the streets inside climb steeply enough that the main square feels like a landing. It is small enough to cover in an afternoon and steep enough that you will feel you have.
Shoulders and knees must be covered in the churches, and the rule is enforced at the door. The day runs eleven hours, most of it not in a coach but the driving is real. Cortona's lanes are cobbled and uphill. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
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Return coach travel with a multilingual escort, a professional guide for Assisi on foot, admission to the three churches, a photo stop on Lake Trasimeno and free time in Cortona.
Because the tiny stone chapel under the dome is where Francis founded his order and died in 1226. Rather than replace it, they built a basilica over the top and left it standing untouched in the nave.
Francis, son of a wealthy cloth merchant, was taken to court by his father over money he had given away. He stripped in public and handed back the clothes he was wearing, and the bishop covered him with his own cloak.
Two earthquakes struck on the same September morning, and part of the upper church's vault collapsed during an inspection, killing four people. The frescoes broke into roughly three hundred thousand fragments and were reassembled by hand over a decade.
The view is the reason for stopping, but the water is also where Hannibal destroyed a Roman army in 217 BC. Two nearby villages still carry names meaning the place of bones and the bloody stream.
Older than Rome by its own reckoning — the lower courses of its walls are Etruscan. The streets inside are steep, and the town is small enough to cover in an afternoon.
Yes. Shoulders and knees must be covered for the churches, and it is checked at the door rather than left to goodwill.