Italy Adventures - Assisi and Verona

Happy Italy Tuesday! Thank you for joining me as I re-cap our trip to Italy. After we left the southern coastal region of Italy, we headed northeast towards Venice. We stopped for the night in the town of Assisi in the Central Umbria region of Italy.

As you drive through Italy, you'll see a bunch of villages/towns located on hilltops like Assisi (above). I guess having the advantage of being "on higher ground" really does matter when you are defending a city. Being from a "young" country like the US, I didn't much think of things like this. 

While in Assisi we visited the Basilica of San Francesco D'Assisi, including the Assisi Cathedral. The most impressive thing about visiting this Basilica is that there is no talking (or photography) allowed while inside. The rule itself wasn't the most impressive part...this rule applied while visiting Cathedrals and Basilicas throughout Italy. But, the "no talking" rule was rarely enforced. In this Basilica, the Franciscan Friars themselves strongly enforced the rules.  I have to admit, it was hard to talk anyway as I was in awe of the beauty and history that surrounded me.

After finishing our tour, we walked through the Piazza Inferiore de San Francesco.

...and admired some local architecture! 

After our Assisi visit, we were whisked off to our hotel for the night where dinner, a colorful sunset sunset and dreamland awaited.

We hit the road early the next morning to make the long trek north to

Venice Along the way, we made a stop for lunch in the romance capitol of Italy (and the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), 

 Verona!

Porta Borsari, one of the most well preserved gates of Verona. It was built in the first century AD. The whole trip it repeatedly amazed me to be walking in such historic areas.

The Arena di Verona is another one of Italy's well preserved colosseums. Built in 30AD it is older than Rome's colosseum and 

is still in use today as an Arena for Opera and classical performances. 

Historic Verona is surrounded on three sides by the scenic Adige River.

Again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the architecture was just amazing.

We ate lunch right behind the Torre dei Lamberti, built in 1172. The arches, the staircase, the stone...just wow!

More architecture, and more than a few doors can be found below in the video I put together this week:

I do appreciate your reading (and watching the videos) and virtually tagging along with us!

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the 

Happy Tuesday Blog Hop this week!