Today marks a full day for us on this Saturday since we have 3 different activities that we’re doing today. Saverio said he’d be by to pick us up at 8am to take us to the train station Passignano sul Trasimeno so that we could take the train to Assisi for the Assisi: Walking Tour with St. Francis Basilica Visit. It was a cloudy start to the day and a bit chilly out. Since we were departing from a different station we got to see a different part of town on the way there; this place (Umbria) is truly beautiful.

We didn’t have to wait long for the train and it was a nice ride to Assisi. Thankfully by the time we arrived we stopped at the station cafe there and then transferred onto an overly crowded bus where we met Susan OMally who was a God-send helping us communicate with the bus driver. From Hawaii and at 72 years old, she said she would be in Assisi for a month and that she was an artist that specialized in paper sculptures. She showed us a nice cafe over by the Basilica and said that they had really good pizza and food so I got a spinach and cheese flatbread and had some wine before the tour began.

Back at the stop where we got off at we ran into our tour guide Alessandra and boy, did we learn a lot from her on our tour. I’m glad that she also along with showing us the Basilica showed us around the Assisi area. She explained that Assisi is on a hill because in the past it was easier to defend themselves being high up and down on flat land malaria was prevalent and they wanted to be away from that. We learned that San Francisco, CA is the sister city to Assisi here in Umbria.

We got a chance to stand where gladiators used to fight and see different styles of architecture ranging from Medieval to Roman to Gothic. We stood on old Roman streets and went inside different churches to marvel at the painted ceilings. Did you know there are 40 churches in Assisi and Assisi is only but so big? There are 4 cardinal virtues: Justice, Fortitude, Prudence and Temperance. The 3 theological virtues are Faith, Charity and Hope.

We stopped in a couple of shops and did some souvenir shopping and even went inside the Basilica of Saint Chiara (who followed Saint Lawrence) where her actual body lays and can be seen with wax over it (this holds more reference if you’re Catholic (I am not)). The city center in Assisi was busy today with kids, pets, adults and seniors and it was lively throughout the streets. Much like Perugia, shops were scattered around along the side and down the streets leading to/from the city center along with homes that people live in.

Alessandra was a great host and really gave us a personalized experience from start to finish. We immediately went from that tour to our next one “Lunch and tasting 5 wines + walk in the panoramic vineyards” with SAIO Wine Shop. I have tried some interesting combinations while here but never thought to pair cheese with fig or jelly (it was good). The bread and olive oil with cheese and wine pairing was well done to the point there was nothing left on the plate. After sampling the white wine with that, we began with the red wines along with prosciutto, salami and pork. A lentil soup, torta bread and chocolate chip cookies were given as well. You can’t say we didn’t eat good and now we were full.

Next up was the not so apparent self guided vineyard tour across the street so we went across, took a look, took some photos and were ready to go. We (I) wanted to go back up by the city center to look around some more. I personally wanted to get a handpainted Italian mug (and I got one) because I love fixing my hot drinks at home and have been using the same mug for about 5 years now. We had some time to look around before the cooking class so we (I) did this until then.

Our last activity for the evening was the “Assisi: Pasta Making Class with Momma Eleonora in which we made fettuccine noodles and a spinach and cheese ravioli from scratch (Eleonara said it’s best to use yellow flour versus white). Let me tell you, you may think it’s easy to form a circle with some dough, flatten it out enough and smash/stretch it into a nice big circle but it takes time (all the while sprinkling yellow flour over it continuosly so it doesn’t get sticky). We then folded the pasta from each side equally, cut it the short way across and then unraveled them. When you pick it up you have fettuccine noodles.

Making the spinach and cheese ravioli was a lot easy as we used circle stencils to make the dough a precise circle and because Eleonara already pre-mixed the spinach and cheese we just grabbed some and packed it in and secured each shell with a fork at the ends (leaving the classic ravioli imprint). She asked what we wanted to eat there and what we wanted to take home (she only had one pot so it was either or). I figured since you really just boil the spinach and cheese ravioli that we should eat the fettuccine there which we did and packed the ravioli to-go.

I thought our fettuccine noodles would eventually become fettuccine alfredo but instead of adding alfredo sauce she added a bolognese sauce making it more like spaghetti (which was fine). We sat down and had a bowl of pasta along with some wine and sparkling water (we have really just eaten and have drank our way through the day). I had a feeling we would have plenty of food so we did end up taking the rest of the fettuccine bolognese home with us but we honestly not have enough food until we leave Monday.

We thanked Eleonara and made our way to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Assisi station. There definitely weren’t as many people out now as it was past 8pm but people were still present along the streets. Once our bus arrived we hopped on and got off at the train station. Our train arrived on time and it was about an hour ride back to where our Airbnb is. We arrived a little early at the station Passignano sul Trasimeno and just waited for Saverio (and he got there shortly after we did).

We thanked him as he dropped us off at the house and tried to coordinate about the one activity we had the next day. The problem is no taxis are near our Airbnb area and the bus doesn’t run on the weekends. By way of train the shortest amount of time to get there would be about 2hrs and 45mins yet by car it takes about 35 minutes as it’s only 15 miles away. We decided to follow-up on it later. My mom and I were both tired by now as it had been a long day. Our last full day here is tommorow (today)

SAIO Vineyard