In the Town.—The public garden on the slope of the hill above the Via Metastasio is a delightful place. It was the ilex wood of the Cappucine convent until the present garden was laid out in 1882 by Sig. Alfonso Brizzi, when the friars' convent became a home for the aged poor.
From Porta S. Giacomo.—(a) A new idea of Assisi is obtained by following the mountain track from the Campo Santo round by the quarries and below the Castle to Porta Perlici. Looking across the ravine of the Tescio and up the valley of Gualdo and Nocera is a vision of Umbrian country in its austerest mood. Even if the whole of this walk cannot be taken we recommend all to follow the broad smooth road leading to the Campo Santo for a little, as the view of San Francesco and the valley beyond is very beautiful. (b) By taking the Via di Fontanella (see [map]), straight down the hillside, the picturesque bridge of S. Croce is reached in about twenty minutes. M. Sabatier recommends the ascent of Col Caprile just opposite for the fine view of Assisi, but those who do not care for an hour's climb would do well, having seen the old bridge and its charming surroundings, to retrace their steps, and after about two minutes turn off to the right through the fields along a narrow footpath leading to a bridge over the Tescio and a farmhouse. Following the right bank of the torrent we reach the Ponte S. Vittorino (see [map]), and return to the town by the old road skirting the walls of the franciscan convent and emerging opposite the Porta S. Francesco. Want of space prevents more being said than to urge all visitors to go this walk, which is little known and will be found one of the loveliest they have ever seen. Every step brings something new; banks of orchis and cyclamen, glimpses of crimson and yellow rock in the brushwood by the hillside, the soft blue distance of the valley beyond, and above all, innumerable views of San Francesco, seen now with a bridge in the foreground, now framed in by the curved and spreading branches of an oak, and at every turn carrying our thoughts away to valleys of Southern France and fortress-churches crowning the wooded hills (see illustrations, pp. [215], [220]). To realise the variety of scenery to be found in Umbria we must come to Assisi and hunt out her hidden lanes and byways.
From Porta Perlici.—(a) Out of this gate, turning to the left by the city walls, is one of the roads leading to the Castle; the others are clearly marked on the map. (b) The carriage road to Gualdo and Nocera goes for some miles along the valley, but is not completed.
From Porta Cappucini.—(a) The Rocca Minore is reached by a grass path going up the hill just inside the walls. A fine view of the eastern slope of Assisi is obtained (see illustration, p. [10]). (b) The Carceri is about an hour's walk from this gate, donkeys are to be had in the town for the excursion, or a small carriage drawn by a horse and a pair of oxen can get there, but it is the least pleasant way of going.
From Porta Nuova.—(a) A pleasant though not the shortest way back to the town, is the one which skirts round the hill inside the mediæval walls from this gate to Porta Mojano, and then outside the walls through the fields past the Portaccia to the carriage road just below Porta S. Pietro. (b) The ascent of Monte Subasio occupies about two hours and a half, though quick walkers will do it in less time. There are several paths which anyone will indicate to the traveller. The easiest, though the longest (about four hours), is the one mentioned by M. Sabatier, the road to Gabbiano and Satriano, which branches off to the left from the Foligno road not far from the Porta Nuova. After walking along the Gabbiano road for an hour, a lane leads up the hill for another hour to the ruined abbey of San Benedetto (p. [82]). The path skirts the mountain to Sasso Rosso, three quarters of an hour, the site of the fortress of the family of St. Clare, and then one hour and a half brings us to the southern slope of Mount Subasio called the Civitelle, where the craters of the extinct volcano are to be seen. The highest point (1290 metres), is reached in another half hour. The view is very fine; Nocera and Gualdo lie to the north, Monte Amiata to the west, a range of snowy mountains to the south, Mount Terminillo, the Sabine Appenines and the mountains of the Abruzzi, and Mount Sibella to the east. The return to Assisi, without passing the Carceri, takes two hours. (c) The road to San Damiano is marked on the map; it is good but very steep, requiring oxen to draw the carriage up the hill on the return. On foot it is only a quarter of an hour from the gate. (d) A long day's drive will take the traveller to Spello, Foligno and Montefalco, but it is a tiring excursion and only a faint idea can be obtained of these beautiful Umbrian towns. It is better, if possible, to give a day to each, and to see Bevagna, with her two exquisite romanesque buildings, on the way to Montefalco.
From Porta Mojano.—(a) To follow the path taken by St. Francis, when carried from the bishop's palace to the Portiuncula (p. [111]), just before his death, we must take the road leading from the gateway to a small chapel, and turn to the right down a lane marked Valecchio on the map. St. Francis either passed through Porta Mojano or the Portaccia (now closed), but from here we follow in his footsteps straight down the hill to the hamlet of Valecchio, set so charmingly on a grass plot among the walnut trees, with part of its watch tower still standing (p. [104]). In the plain we come to cross roads; the one on the left leads to San Damiano in about forty minutes, that to the right to the leper hospital (now known as S. Agostino), whence St. Francis blessed Assisi for the last time (p. [111]). (b) From the gate a few minutes brings us to a path crossing the fields to the left, to the old church of S. Masseo built in 1081 by Lupone Count of Assisi to serve as a chapel to the monastery, now the dwelling place of peasant families. (c) From Porta Mojano a lane leads straight down to the plain, and just before reaching the high road where it crosses the railway at right angles, the chapel of S. Rufino d'Arce—the real Rivo-Torto—is seen in the fields to the left (see pp. [93]-[95]). By the side of the lane close to the railway line is the chapel of Sta. Maria Maddalena (see pp. [93]-[95]). This is about half an hour's walk.
From Porta S. Francesco.—There are several drives. (a) Perugia. (b) Bastia, the first station on the railway between Assisi and Perugia, possessing a triptych by Niccolò da Foligno. A beautiful view of the river Chiaggio is obtained at the bridge of Bastiola. (c) A road from the Angeli branches off to Torre d'Andrea, where there is a picture by a scholar of Pinturicchio. But more delightful is the chapel of S. Simone a little further on, built right in the midst of the cornfields, whose walls are covered with frescoes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. (d) A beautiful drive is to the Rocca di Petrignano, a hill-set village above the Chiaggio. To fully recount its story, the picturesqueness of its rock-cut streets and the charm of the chapel upon the heights, whose walls are covered from floor to roof with votive Madonnas and saints, would need a chapter to itself. It has been enthusiastically described by M. Broussolle in his Pélerinages Ombriens, but it may be well to remark that he calls the Rocca di Petrignano, for some unknown reason, the Rocca d'Assisi. (e) It is an hour and a half's walk to the church of S. Fortunato, across the bridge of S. Vittorino, recommended by M. Sabatier in his list of excursions. The way side chapel of S. Bartolo, with its interesting apse is passed on the way.
It would be well to get the Italian military map, Fo. 123 (either at Seeber, Via Tornabuoni, Florence, or at D. Terese, Perugia), if the pilgrim to Assisi wishes to explore the country round Assisi.
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