Simple words from a simple man spoken eight centuries ago, yet they are familiar to most living this very day. Had he been born in these times, calling the sun “brother” and the moon his sister, living in harmony with nature and seeing God in everything and everyone, Francesco, or St Francis, might simply have been labelled a new-age hippy! However, his utter devotion and love of the Divine Lord led even the Pope of his time to reflect on the position of the catholic church in relation to Christ’s teachings in the gospels, and to this day people glorify that humble man who dressed in rags.

St Francis has always been my favourite saint, ever since I saw Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna (“Brother Sun, Sister Moon”), the 1972 film directed by Franco Zeffirelli. I was about eight or so years old when I watched it, and I was thoroughly impressed by the whole story. The part that impressed me most was when he threw out family possessions from the window of his wealthy cloth merchant father’s house, finally removing his clothes in an expression of renunciation, while what touched me was his special way with nature and animals. In 1989, another film, Francesco, with Mickey Rourke playing a most untypical role, gave a slightly different perspective of the life of St Francis, who was born in Assisi in 1182. As more and more people were inspired by his perspective of spiritual life, he established the rule of the friars, since he refused to adopt any of the existing ones. He conceived a religious order intended as a fraternity and rooted in the gospel, based on individual and communal poverty intending the friars to be itinerant and open to all apostolic initiatives. He died in 1226, aged 44, leaving the Order of the Franciscans that we know today.

Back in the days of my earliest memories of coming in contact with St Francis of Assisi, we still did not enjoy the luxury of cable television or satellite dishes. I am grateful that proximity meant Italian television provided an enticing alternative to the single Maltese channel broadcasting at the time, not only because I had the opportunity to enjoy the film in its original language, but also because such viewing from a young age taught me the Italian language. It comes very handy when travelling in Italy, as I recently discovered during my first ever trip to the boot-shaped country, since a surprising number of Italians still have no command of the English language. They found it very amusing that I had learned their language from watching cartoons such as Goldrake and Heidi in Italian!

Assisi was one of the highlights of my trip through central and northern Italy. The city of St Francis, with its 25,000 inhabitants, is found bang in the heart of Italy, in the Umbria region. Umbria is the only region in the whole of the Italian peninsula that has no coastline. It is divided into two provinces, Perugia and Terni, with Assisi found in Perugia province, standing on a point of the Subasio mountain chain, at approximately 400 metres above sea level. Umbria is marked by a hilly and mountainous landscape, boasting tiny and remote villages that can easily consist of just five families and several sheep living about fifty kilometres along mountain roads from the nearest town. Many of these mainly deserted villages are now turning into summertime get-aways for city folk seeking peace and quiet for a few weeks.

During just a day trip, I was able to appreciate the spirit of Assisi and its main attractions, although the feeling it gave me invited me to prolong my stay, had circumstances allowed. Not only does a walk through Assisi’s narrow, winding alleyways and cobbled streets feel more like a journey into the past, as it stands proudly with its fortified walls built of white stone, but it certainly seems to retain much of the spiritual air associated with the saint and the saint’s life and mission. The St Francis Basilica crowns the city, a monument to the message of St Francis, and friars roam the streets, as do pilgrims and tourists of all sorts, attempting to pay their respects or catch a glimpse of that message.

The Basilica itself is a wonder. Its roof collapsed during an earthquake in September 1997, and it is currently still undergoing restoration, although it would be hard to tell that much of it had been destroyed and reconstructed. At the other end, into the yard, stairs lead down to what may appear to be a basement, but is full of treasures. The main reason for pilgrimage is that the tombs of St Francis and some of his close associates can be found here, along with a number of relics. These include his original tunic or ashen habit, the Franciscan Rule and the Blessing to Brother Leo in St Francis’ own handwriting, with the prayer known as “Praises to the Most High God” on the reverse side. Other relics include the chalice and paten that Fr Maccabius gave to St Francis since he had, in his humility, never been ordained a priest, and the ivory horn presented to him by the Sultan Melek-El-Kamel of Egypt during his travels as an itinerant. Jacoba Settesoli was a noblewoman who gave gifts of a white tunic and some embroidered handkerchiefs to St Francis, wiping the sweat from his brow during his final hours. Despite her class, she chose to be buried close to his tomb, where she still rests. Finally, as a reminder of the stigmata that St Francis endured in the final years of his life, are the slippers he wore to relieve him while walking, and the soft piece of leather he would place directly on his wounds to cushion the pain. During the period of April to October, the Basilica remains open from dawn until sunset, and although it offers a very complete experience, the churches of St Clare and St Peter are also worth a visit.

At 800 metres above sea level, up the slope of Mount Subasio, there is a hermitage named Eremo delle Carceri. “Eremo” means solitary and “Carceri” refers to an isolated place or prison. Access to this place involved a steep walk, and people rarely made the trip unless for a specific reason, which guaranteed the solitary meditation the monks were seeking. Nowadays, pilgrims walk the road leading to this hermitage as a penance. St Francis would spend long periods of time in a cave here, meditating and praying, and some followed in his footsteps, so that eventually a hermitage was built into and over the original caves, with the cliff walls still forming part of the main building. One can view the tiny cells and the refectory which are still used to this day. One extraordinary thing is that the doors and windows are extremely small, and the friar residing there explained that the reason for this was to reduce the amount of heat lost to the exterior during the cold months at the top of the mountain. Winding through some extremely narrow corridors one arrives at the cave of St Francis, where one can observe the exact place where he lay down to sleep. In his time, the cave was open and high up on the cliff face, sometimes a dangerous place to be due to the rain waters gushing down the mountain side.