A day of emotion

This morning we woke up at our Hotel in Assisi and were taken to the original town where the Friar now known as St Francis of Assisi lived and is entombed. The Basilica of St Francis of Assisi is another one of the great buildings that we found important to visit.

Mass was just starting shortly after we arrived and being a Wednesday morning we were able to take our tour quietly through the lower Basilica part. The upper Basilica is above, and in between these two levels is a secret room spanning the entire level of this building. The Pope attends mass only in the upper Basilica which is the only time this part is used.

During World War 2 when the Germans occupied Italy after the overthrow of Mussolini, the Jews who lived or came to Assisi were hidden in this middle area between the upper and lower Basilica while forged papers were made for them to identify them as Italians. Approximated 300 Jews were saved here, not one person was caught by the Germans in Assisi.

St Francis is entombed in this church and we were able to go downstairs to view this, St Francis started the Order of Franciscan Monks, dedicated to help the poor and peace. The current Catholic Pope, Pope Francis took his name from St Francis of Assisi. This Basilica was something to see,

Afterwards we headed on the bus for our next town, Sorrento, but along the way our tour guide took us to what she likes to call another hidden treasure. The war memorial and cemetery at Cassino, Italy. First we were told to look up at the Monastery build high up on a mountain.

 In 1943 the Allied Troops including Barb's dad were in Southern Italy working their way up to remove the German Army, This Monastery was taken over by the German and became the site of one of the fiercest fights in Italy with so many soldiers lost. We don't think her Dad was involved at this site.

What struck Barb and I and our Australian travellers was that most of those buried in this cemetery were from Canada and we saw nobody over the age of 25 buried here. It brought tears to both of us. We cannot imagine what we will see when we visit Normandy before we come home, but today's visit at this location was unexpected.

We next arrived in Sorrento for dinner and our hotel for the evening.  It is wild here, very busy and very narrow streets that wind up and down the mountain side where this city is located.

And right there across from our Hotel is Mount Vesuvius complete with its volcanic crater in full view  This was the volcano that erupted and buried the city of Pompeii back in 79AD. Tomorrow we will visit this archaeological site where the city has been uncovered.  Should be really interesting.