Assisi

After visiting Porziuncola we drove up the mountain to Assisi. There we visited the church of Santa Chiara, who was St. Francis' former lover and the founder of the female Francescan order. We walked downstairs into her crypt where she rests under a few layers of wax (this is where painting in encaustic started) and also saw a few relics of St. Francis.
We then hiked to the other side of the little town to the Bascilica of St. Francis where he is buried.
Assisi was gorgeous, and it was just such a nice day. The town was surrounded by olive trees and farms; we could see for miles from the courtyards infront the churches and steep cobblestone paths up the mountain. The architecture and colours were so different from other places we have visited. The stone and marble they used to build their houses were white (in Venice stone was stained with red pigment, in Sienna stone is more yellow, and here in Florence buildings are a warm ochre colour).