Assisi and Siena

[Irenaeus]

I've scheduled a trip for September and October 2026 to Italy including lots of time in Assisi and Sienna. I've read a biography of St. Francis (St. Bonaventure's The Life of St. Francis of Assisi), of St. Clare (Fra' Tommaso da Celano's The Life of St. Clare Virgin), and, according to my Kindle reader app, I am 18% through a biography of St. Catherine of Siena (Bl. Raymond of Capua's The Life of Saint Catherine of Siena). Those are all contemporary or nearly contemporary accounts of their subjects as I recall. I do have another biography of St. Francis published in 2012 that I've not started (Francis of Assisi: A New Biography by Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P.)

YouTube videos and various guide books give lots of very helpful advice. But I would like to hear from the good folks here who have visited Assisi or Siena about their experiences and what suggestions they offer.

[Irenaeus]

Oops! I also read G. K. Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi which, to me, is fantastic but a very abstract view of St. Francis, very much like Chesterton's biography of St. Thomas Aquinas.

[Irenaeus]

St. Francis, St. Clare, and St. Catherine all practiced great austerities. They gave up good things to become closer to God. I have been reminding myself lately there are some bad things I need to give up to become closer to God, but that shouldn't be as hard as giving up good things.

[aussie_aussie_oi_oi]

I spent 5 days in Assisi. The presence of God and peace I felt was way beyond anything I have experienced in a town. It was a place to go to daily Mass in the Basilicas, San Damiano or small churches in the town. I suggest to take it very easy and be refreshed.

[anawim]

I've been to Assisi twice. Peace just oozes up out of the cobblestones!

In addition to the 'lower' city where the Portiuncula is, and the 'upper' city where St. Francis Basilica and his home is, there is San Damiano, where he first heard the voice of Jesus.
Then there is the town of Gubbio, about 30 miles away where St. Francis went for his personal retreats, and where it was reported that he spoke to a wolf.
While it was not on our itinerary, there is a field located in Piandarca, near the town of Cannara in the Spoleto Valley of Italy, which is 20 miles from Assisi. This is where St. Francis preached to the birds.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Oops! I also read G. K. Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi which, to me, is fantastic but a very abstract view of St. Francis, very much like Chesterton's biography of St. Thomas Aquinas.

It's very frustrating if you don't know the outline of the story already. He mentions incidents in passing and discusses their significance.

The one by Fr. Augustine Thompson is worth reading. I thought he went a little too far with historical criticism of the sources, but it was still one of the most informative books on St. Francis that I've read.

[Irenaeus]

Cool. I look forward to reading Fr. Thompson's biography of St. Francis.

I'm very impressed by St. Clare and how influential she was. I'm struck also by how St. Francis was out and about - he was a Crusader who walked to the Holy Land and back to the Italian peninsula - whereas Clare hardly ever left her convent. I suppose Medieval women were at greater risk from evildoers.

[zeno]

I recommend Lois de Wohl's The Joyful Beggar.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

He's also got a book on St. Catherine.

[anawim]

And St. Thomas aquinas

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

The one about St. Thomas has the problem that St. Thomas never did anything all that dramatic, so it's mostly about people around him.