Assisi

The Umbrian town, sits softly on Mount Subasio, is the place where Francesco was born and spent his youth, carefree and mundane. Child of a wealthy cloth merchant Pietro di Bernar, Francis was educated in Latin and French for the "trade lucrative business." In 1202 participated in the war between Assisi and Perugia, and was taken prisoner for more than a year. Returning to Assisi, he began, coinciding with a long and mysterious illness, a period of inner turmoil and deep meditation that leads to a radical break with the past, lived "in games, in refinement, it 'nice sayings, songs , in flowing robes and luxurious. "The conversion is performed, which finds its highest expression and most people know, in Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, on which stands the Bishop's Palace of Assisi. Francesco gets rid of the clothes in front of his father and the Bishop. The prelate, struck by the fortitude and courage of the young man, embraces him and covers him with his own mantle. It 'a witness to an act inspired by God to his servant. After the renunciation of material goods, Francis left to Gubbio, Assisi city linked by strong bonds of friendship. At Gubbio, knows the family sword, said Spadalonga, trading in cloth in a shop in Market Square. In particular, Francesco is a friend of Federico with whom he shared the years of captivity in Perugia. In order not to arouse the wrath of his father, the holy stops in Gubbio for a few months. Before leaving to head Assisi to Gubbio, passing through Porta San Giacomo as Francesco in March 1207, the pilgrims of today can not fail to visit some places symbol of Franciscan spirituality throughout the world.