Un Evento ad Assisi...

Il 30 settembre

Assisi
 

It's already 9:00 pm on Sunday and there's a bit of rain in the air. I just watched the weather forecast and autumn temperatures and precipitation are on their way in. October is generally a beautiful month in Italy. Although the weather can change within moments in Assisi and one needs to dress in layers and always carry “un ombrello”, there are lots of sunny hours when the sky is clear and the air is brisk and refreshing after the hot summer days...and there were many of those this year.

My charming friend, Pietro Mariottini has a lovely art store in town and this evening he hosted “un evento” to showcase a local artist and introduce a new perfume, created for the event. He invited me to the gathering and also asked if I would help translate for any English speakers who didn't speak/understand Italian. Quite a number of people visited the gallery, which is filled with an eclectic and wonderfully creative collection of religious art, primarily. Afterwards, we were all treated to an aperitivo at the “bar” across the street. A lovely time was had and, yes, I did get to use my translating skills for one woman who bought a bottle of perfume.

www.batassisi.it

This week is La Festa di San Francesco so there will be lots going on – a once yearly open air market held in the center of town, religious processions and services, concerts, and a general feeling of celebration amongst the throngs of visitors who come especially at this time. Walking today meant navigating through groups of tourists, their headsets hanging down their necks and their guides holding up signs and checking to see if all were accounted for. It's great for the local businesses and I am always happy to see my friends thriving, but then I'm even happier when calm reigns again...

 

Assisi...My Home Away from Home...

Il 28 settembre 2012

Assisi

As I sit in my Assisi apartment sipping un espresso and eating biscotti, I am reminded of the joy I receive from the simple pleasures. It's those particular moments in life when I am especially “present” that my gratitude is the most abundant...that I wonder if my life could get any better. I arrived back in Assisi a week ago and, within no time, my “home” away from home became my home once again. This is the 5^th time I've been here in the last two years and I already have my next two visits on the calendar. So what keeps calling me back to Assisi when the rest of Italy beckons me to visit...

There are the unique friendships, the favorite markets and restaurants and shops, the special quiet of the morning before the city takes on its personal vibrancy, the splendid views of the Umbrian countryside that I never tire of...but most of all, it is that inexplicable feeling of “la pace” of peace that envelops my soul when I am here. And so...I keep coming back.

Each time I get off the train from Rome and walk out the door of the station, I experience a “deja vu” moment...but then the adventure begins again and each day brings something new. I walk the same streets, but it is not the same because I am a little older and, hopefully, a little wiser about who I am and what is important in my life. I do believe we create our personal environment; our thoughts translate into our reality, but I also know that I am blessed.

Assisi is one of those places that, although modernized with wifi connections and a 21^st century life style, still is, in certain ways, a city of the past. Everywhere one looks, there is a reminder of a history that goes back many hundreds of years; beyond that if we think about Assisi, the Roman city, or much further back to the time of the Etruscans. For most people who come to visit, it is the life of San Francesco that resonates here and the splendid basilica that bears his name.
 

Italians tell me that the spirit of San Francesco lives in Assisi and that is why this is a magical place. I can't speak for that; only for what I know to be true for me. And for me, this is a place unlike any other that I have spent time in. I have been embraced by the “locals” I meet and warmly greeted wherever I go. I never cease to be enthralled when walking the streets and feeling history unfold before me. Maybe there is something in the air here; whatever it is...it feels just right...