I had been in Italy a few days when my daughter informed me that the next day she would be busy and that I would be on my own for the day.  She suggested that I take a trip up to Assisi and we went down to the bus station to check departure time for the bus to Assisi.  The woman behind the glass informed us that there was only one bus a day and that it left at 10 am.  So the next morning I made my way to the bus station, arriving fifteen minutes early.  It was then that the same woman we had spoken to the day before informed me that the bus to Assisi actually left from the train station five miles away.  Realizing that reaching the bus in time was extremely unlikely it was time to rethink the plan.

The obvious solution was found at the nearby car rental agency, where I soon found myself behind the wheel of generic Fiat.  I had been warned many times about driving in Italy.  The drivers had a reputation for being crazy, but I figured I was little crazy too so I should fit right in.  The drive up was delightful as I motored through the bucolic Tuscan countryside and up into the Umbrian hills surrounding Assisi.  As I approached I could see Assisi from a distance, nestled on a hilltop gleaming white in the morning sun.  The traffic was light and mostly consist of farm vehicles, so I made good time and arrived about lunch time.

After lunch I embarked on a walking tour of the town.  A major earthquake had hit Assisi a couple of years before and there were still repairing the damage.  Tall cranes dotted the skyline towering over the domes and the tile roofs as I made my way up the Via San Francesco toward the basilica.  The basilica is a massive edifice of white stone that stands on the spot where St. Francis had built a humble church centuries ago.  Within the cavernous interior is a massive altar under which St. Francis is said to be buried.  I wondered what he would think of all this.

Nearby is the ruins of the old fort.  It had suffered extensive damage in the earthquake, but part of it was still intact and open to the public.  In side their was a modern metal spiral staircase which rose three stories up to the parapets.  At the second story landing there is a long arched passageway that leads to another spiral staircase, illuminated only by the small gun ports on either side.  The passageway was so narrow that my shoulders would scrape on the sides and I had to keep my head bowed to keep from bumping it on the rough stones above.  The staircase led upward through an open hatch.  Emerging I found myself atop a tower that offered a stunning 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside.  Stunned by the view, I found myself shouting “WHOA!” at the top of my lungs.

The sun was setting as I made my way back to Sienna.  It was the oncoming darkness I believe that was the cause of the wrong turn at Perugia.  By the time I  realized I was on the road to Terni it was not feasible to turn around and go back, so I found my way to the autostrada and headed back north.  The autostrada, for those who haven’t experienced it, can best be described as I-5 on meth.  As I drove north, keeping to the speed limit I would come up behind trucks lumbering along in the slow lane.  As I would move into the left lane to pass it the Ferrari that was at least a kilometer behind when I signaled was suddenly right on my tail, flashing him brights and wanting to know what the hell I was doing in his lane.   So dodging and darting through the night I made my way back to Sienna and the conclusion of my adventure in Assisi.