Best of Assisi

I (Mike) visited Assisi when I was in college and loved it. I worked remotely from Italy for a couple weeks after I got married and we stayed for a week, and then went back for another week because we loved it so much.

It feels like a second home to my wife and I.

These last two summers we decided to spend two months in Italy and settled on doing effectively all of the trip in Assisi. We "lived" there in the sense that we didn't do touristy things the whole time and largely lived as we would back home, with the exception of going out to eat as a couple way more.

Here's our guide to live as a family in Assisi.

 

Our Biases

Here are our biases so you can pick which advice you should ignore the most!

  • We love food, more than the average person. We don't mind going out of our way to walk to a great restaurant and enjoy things like hunting down a beautiful family run Frantoio more than most people would.
  • We don't like most traditional American food. Some of our friends who visit Italy miss peanut butter, American breakfasts, cocktails, etc. These are not things we really enjoy that much.
  • We don't care about "fancy" things: hotels, restaurants, etc. Rustic is better for us and we enjoy the minimalistic vibe. If I could choose to live in a tiny house, I would.
  • Our four kids came with us and they are all small and do very little screen time, so a lot of our decisions were oriented around what worked for them.
  • One of the reasons we love Assisi is its Catholic heritage, so that was a big part of what we did with our time there.

 

Religious

Most of the religious sites in Assisi are pretty obvious, it’s why the town is full of people.

  • On Friday & Saturday night they re-open San Francesco Basilica for prayer at the crypt.
  • Right near Chiesa Nuova you can visit the original home of St. Francis and the stable where he was born.
  • There is a beautiful procession Saturday night in Santa Maria Degli Angeli at 9pm. It can sometimes go past 10pm. There’s a bus right near the church that you can take back to Assisi.
  • Rivotorto is the town where St. Francis lived for a while with his early brothers. You can see the huts where they lived inside the church. There’s a beautiful walking trail from near the Assisi train station to Rivotorto. It’s a longer walk but worth it if you have the time.
  • Visit the rose garden at the Santa Marie Delgie Angela Basilica. The roses in the garden do not have thorns and I believe it’s the only roses that do not have thorns. The story goes that the thorns went away after St. Francis threw himself into the thorns. Additionally, there’s often two doves inside the hallway near the garden—the legend is two doves have stayed there even since St. Francis died.
  • There’s a benedictine monastery on the edge of the city that has been there before Francis was alive. It’s now mostly a pilgrim house, and it’s not well advertised, but you can visit the chapel inside and walk around the interior. 
  • The hermitage is a 45m hike from the town. It’s a more intense hike, and there’s no bus service. This is a must-see. One lesser-known area of the hermitage are the caves of two friars who came with him. Go up to the bathroom area and walk past it, to the left you’ll see a little path and you can hike down to the caves. If you go to the end of the Bosco trail there’s an outdoor chapel with some seating which is great as well.
  • There’s some lesser-known chapels which never have anyone in them if you need a place to pray in quiet. 
  • St. Agnes is buried in the prayer chapel at Santa Chiara.
  • St. Francis’s first four brothers and Lady Jacoba are buried in the crypt. These are often missed because St. Francis is the primary focus.

I highly recommend reading My God and My All and St. Francis while you are here.


Practical Notes

Here are some other small but useful things to know when staying in Assisi. These don’t always show up in guidebooks, but they definitely matter!

  • Bathrooms are hard to find. There’s a public free one near Chiesa Nuova.
  • There’s public water fountains everywhere with great water.
  • Italians don’t start dinner until 7pm.
  • Restaurants charge for water.
  • Tips are appreciated, but very much not required.
  • Most places close down at 1pm for lunch for 1-2 hours.
  • Cell phones don't work well indoors because of the thick building materials that are used.
  • AC generally is terrible. If a hotel specifies that it has AC, it may not lower the temp more than 5 degrees.
  • Most places do not have tubs and the showers are very small.
  • Most places generally do not have a dryer.
  • Fridges are generally in between a mini-fridge and a standard american fridge.
  • Italians don’t put ice in water and there are no ice makers in apartments.
  • Moka pots are the way Italians make their morning coffee.
  • Grocery stores close early on Sundays and they close pretty early during the week (7-8pm).

 

Working & WiFi

There are no coworking places in Assisi, and most Italian cities, and you can’t pop open your laptop in a coffee shop. Additionally, since buildings are made of solid stone, cell phone signal really doesn’t work in most buildings, which makes it hard to just pop-in to a coffee shop or some other place and do a work call (no free WiFi).

However, cell phone plans are weirdly cheap ($10 for 150gb). I’d highly recommend getting a WindTre plan if you are staying for a while (more info on this below).

I also highly recommend getting a Starlink. This eliminates the need to really worry about getting stuck with a bad internet connection. 

Here are the places you can get some work done in Assisi:

  • Digipass Santa Marie Del Angelie. This is a public-funding coworking place. You have to contact them a day ahead of time to make a reservation.
  • Bibliotech (library). Has great (for Italian standards) internet speed and great AC (unlike basically everywhere else). You need an Italian phone number in order to get wifi access. No one is ever in the library, so you will most likely be able to get an entire section of the library to yourself and can do calls, etc without an issue. I had a full mobile work setup in the library without an issue.
  • McDonalds has great AC and free WiFi. It operates like an American restaurant, so no one will care if you pop open a laptop and there are no waiters.

 

Restaurants

We went to dinner nearly every night for a total of four months. We tried most restaurants in the city, except some that looked so tourist-focused or expensive we couldn't bring ourselves to give them a shot.

  • Agriturismo Malvarina. This is the best food I've ever had in my life and the entire dinner is $35/person. I can't recommend this place enough. You have to have a car to get there though (taxi is $30-50 round trip). They make up a new menu each night. The atmosphere is truly amazing.
  • Ristorante L'Ulivo. Second best food experience in the area. Each plate is not as good as Malvarina, but there are a ton of plates. It's effectively an all-you-can-eat Italian food experience. They just keep bringing out more plates until you can't eat anymore. The whole place is run by a family—the son & daughter of the head of the place served us the whole time. It's also super cheap: $30 (includes wine). You need a car to get here, 30m+ from Assisi. Not as great of a vibe compared to Malvarina.
  • La Stalla. It's a walk from the town (15-30m), but this is our second favorite place. The food is amazing and the vibe is great: everyone is hanging out on the patio eating for hours on the weekend. It takes forever to get in on the weekends, but it's worth it. Awesome park nearby for kids too. Walk up to the hermitage, put your name in for lunch at 1pm on the way down, hang out at the park, and eat lunch from 2-5pm. It's the best weekend vibe. Appetizers aren't amazing here. Pastas + meat + dessert is incredible. Get any of the pastas, the sausage, and the tiramisu + chocolate sausage for dessert. Top it off with the Norcino amaro after your after-dinner caffe. Thank me later.
  • La Rocca. Best bang for your buck inside the city walls. It's not the best food in Assisi, but it is the cheapest for the quantity of food you get. It has one of the best views in the city as well: an awesome terrace looking out over the hills behind the city. The torta al testo, gnocchi, and carbonara are great. The desert isn't as great here. On the weekends, it is best to make a reservation in advance if you want to sit on the patio.
  • Ristorante Pizzeria Il Menestrello. Best pizza in the town. Pretty cheap too. Diavola is amazing. Any of the pizza is really great. They have a variety of “yellow tomato sauce” pizzas too!
  • Trattoria Da Erminio. Got a Michelin star years ago. Great apps, lasagna is amazing. Overall just a stellar place and the staff is just really fun.
  • La Pallotta. Amazing pastas. Sparkling wine here is great. Get the veal ragu, truffle pasta, canolloni, or really any of the first plates. The apps and dessert are not great. Right near the city center. Great vibes.
  • Osteria del Mulino. Restaurant right near the Bosco trail. There's an awesome garden. Food is great, but more expensive than other places, which is a bit confusing since it's very out of the way. Great place to go if you head down to the Bosco trail (which you should).
  • Lecca paletta. Best gelato within the walled city. However, you'll end up not going here that much because of...
  • Gelateria Artigianale Vinti. This is in Santa Maria Delgi Angeli. It's a walk from the city of Assisi, but it's so good you won't be able to have another gelato in Italy without being disappointed.
  • Bar La Selva. Best view of all of the bars (coffee shops) in Assisi.
  • Bar Sensi. On the weekends, they have this awesome cheese bread (torta di formaggio). It's expensive bread, but it's amazing and I recommend getting it one weekend. They also have a maritoso con panna which is a cream-filled pastry. They have two locations within the city walls. It's a great place to grab a coffee or pastry with the kids.

We tried a bunch (20 or so) other places—I've only included the places we really enjoyed above.

 

Adventure

Some things you can do around the city:

  • Castle. The tour is great, but it's also great just to walk around the outside and picnic. Awesome view of the city and great place for the kids to run around.
  • Path outside of the city. There's a walking trail that starts near the St. Pietro piazza and goes down to Santa Maria Delgi Angeli. It's awesome.
  • Running along the farms at the bottom of the Assisi hills. Great place to go for a run if you get here before summer hits. Once summer hits it's so hot you won't want to exercise (so don't come between June-August).
  • Hermitage. It's a 45m hike (sans kids, add another 30m or so if you are pushing the kids in a stroller).
  • Park at La Stalla. Stop here on the way back from the hermitage.
  • Bosco trail. It’s perfect to take a peaceful walk in. There’s also an old mill and a little church, and the cool Terzo Paradiso olive tree “art” at the end that you can check out.
  • The walk down to San Maria Del Angeli is amazing.
  • There’s an underground tour you can do of the roman ruins of Assisi. If you’ve done this sort of thing in Rome, it’s not worth doing, but if you haven’t it’s a pretty amazing experience. The best part in my view is seeing where the old temple to Minerva was and how the new Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was built on top of the old temple.
  • There’s some great olive groves on the way to San Domiano that you can picnic in.

Overrated

  • Nun Spa. Went for the day, not as cool as it sounds. Beautiful place, but not our thing. They are trying too hard to be a touristy high-end place.
  • Fancier/pricier restaurants. Unless you are going for the vibe, it's not worth it. Fancy vibe is not the same as great food.
  • Most gelato in the city isn’t great. 

 

Groceries

  • Tigre. The best supermarket close to Assisi center.
  • Carrefour. Farther outside the center, has a bit more selection than Tigre, but about the same price.

In San Maria del Angeli there's a lot more options:

  • EMI. This has some unique things that other stores don’t (lots of legumes, for instance).
  • EuroSpin. This is the cheapest. Probably 20% cheaper than the Tigre up the hill of Assisi. Also pretty wide selection.
  • Carrefour
  • Oasi

 

Parking

Having a car in Assisi isn't helpful if you just want to stay in the city or see things around the local area. Actually, it will make your life worse: ZTL zones will result in tickets and parking is a massive pain.

However, Assisi is a great location for exploring a lot of neat cities in Italy:

  • Siena
  • Loreto (right near an awesome beach)
  • La Verna. Huge national park. Another St. Francis spot.
  • Michelangelo’s Birth Place. Really neat little hill top town with a castle, amazing restaurant with an epic view + Michelin star.
  • Lago Trasimeno. Huge beautiful lake.
  • Gubbio
  • Perugia

If you decide you want a car:

 

Bus

The bus is the best way to get around in Assisi.

  • Assisi "internal". This is a small bus that will take you around the Assisi town and to some locations in "New Assisi" (the houses + apartments outside the city wall).
  • Assisi => Santa Maria Delgie Angeli. There is a pickup location as either end of the city (Santa )
  • Assisi => Perugia airport. This is not the same system as the urban bus system and therefore has a separate ticket.
  • You can buy a 10 pack of tickets for the urban buses for $11 which is a great deal. You need to buy these in cash from the little tobacco + lottery ticket shops scattered around the town.

The bus times are pretty random. They kinda follow the schedule, but I wouldn't rely on it. Always leave a lot of buffer if you are relying on the bus to catch a train, airplane, etc.

 

Trains

The train system is awesome in Italy.

  • Get the trenitalia app. It's so much better than using the ticket machines.
  • You can't buy regional train tickets 5m before the train leaves. However, if you buy the ticket for the next regional train it is valid on the previous regional train. There is effectively a multi-hour grace period for the same route.

 

Taxi

There is no Uber, Lyft, or Freenow. Back in the dark ages, folks.

The way you get a taxi outside the major cities (and honestly, even in the major cities most of the time) is to call a number, explain where you are, and then a taxi—with a specific number—will be dispatched.

Some things I noticed:

  • There are taxi pickup locations scattered around most big-ish or touristy cities. It's better to just grab a taxi from one of these locations instead of calling. If you call, then start billing you from wherever they start driving from—which can be expensive.
  • Getting a taxi is one of the few things that felt weirdly expensive in Italy. Most things feel inefficient but still cheaper. Taxis are the worst of both worlds and you don't really know what you are getting: will you get a big taxi? Small taxi? A surprise $20 bill since the taxi was farther away? Who knows!
  • Popular routes have a fixed rate. Popular routes are pretty much exclusively limited to airport runs as far as I could tell.
  • Each town/area seemed to have a slightly different taxi service with different numbers.
  • The taxi service uses an Italian phone number.

Here are the taxis you can call in the area:

  • Tourist Taxi Assisi: Call +39 3349148595 or check their website at Tourist Taxi Assisi.
  • Radio Taxi Assisi: Call +39 075 813100 or visit their website at Radio Taxi Assisi.
  • TONOLEGGI ASSISI: Cell. 338 6111440. Mentions hermitage taxis specifically.
  • itTaxi Assisi (+39 075 99 30 007

 

Rental Car

  • Sometimes the pricing is very dependent on the pickup/dropoff times.
  • Always seems bad to reserve at the last minute, way more expensive.
    • This is interesting from a game theory perspective, since you think they would drop prices to sell off unused inventory.
  • Seemed like there were weekend deals. If you are staying in a single place for a while, finding a weekend deal is the best move.
  • The bus schedule at the PEG airport is limited. Last bus to Assisi is 6:45, so schedule your car pickup/dropoff around that or pay a $35 taxi fee from PEG to Assisi.
  • I could not get the non-self-serve gas fill up to work after 7pm. Not sure if it was my card or whatever, but it would just not operate.

 

Flights

Helpful to understand when the last flight comes in. If there are no late flights for the day, they'll probably just close the airport.

 

Payments

The Schwab Checking Account is really handy because it offers unlimited ATM reimbursements. I easily racked up $30/month in ATM fees, which were fully refunded by Schwab. Highly recommend grabbing the account.

Additionally, it's helpful to always have ~$50 in your wallet. There's still a decent number of things that run on cash, unlike the US.

 

Phone

If you are visiting Italy, or any country, for a week or two I found Airalo to be great. Very easy + fast to buy SIMs for any country and the costs were relatively low compared to international data on my american phone plan.

If you are in Italy for longer than a week or two I would get an Italian phone number. You can get one as a foreigner and they are cheap ($10 for 150GB, some international texting/calling, and unlimited voice). The neat thing is this line can stay active as long as you use it for a single month every twelve months.

The biggest benefit is you get an Italian phone number that is useful in all sorts of situations such as logging into public WiFi, which requires SMS verification.

You have to visit a Wintre physical store location. As with most things in Italy, these stores are in no rush. It took us ~hour to get three separate phone lines. And there was no one in front of us at the store, they just typed our information into the computer very slowly.

Once you pay at the Windtre store you must top up your account. However, they do not accept American credit cards, but they do accept PayPal. So make sure you have a PayPal account so you can top up your account with money from your American credit card.

Some other details:

  • They will give you a little card with your SIM information on it. Take a photo of this card.
  • They lock eSIMs by default. You'll need to unlock the eSIM to avoid having to remember your SIM password in order to use it.
  • Phone plan worked with great with Hotspots.
  • Generally good service throughout Italy.
  • The Italian phone ring sound is similar to the busy sound in the US. This was confusing to me at first.
  • There's a Windtre iOS app that you can use to top off your phone account.