During this Day tour excursion from Rome you will have the chance to travel to real Italy, far away from the modern highways and large cities, in the heart of the Umbrian countryside, where small ancient villages are waiting to be discovered. One of them is Assisi, an oasis of art, architecture and spirituality and the home of Saint Francis, one of Italy's most beloved saints.

.Leaving Rome in a northerly direction, you will cross the valley of the Tevere, passing by typical medieval villages such as Deruta, Todi e Perugia before arriving in Assisi. Here you will start your walk through the narrow streets of the village to see the church of Santa Chiara, containing the remains of Saint Clare, a follower of Saint Francis and founder of the Order of Poor Ladies, and then on to see the house where St. Francis was born and spent the first years of his life.

All roads will take you to the Basilica of San Francesco. This grandiose and gorgeously embellished Basilica is a rather incongruous memorial to a man who preached and lived a simple life of poverty, abstinence, and renunciation of worldly goods in search of greater spirituality. It is however, one of the world's most wonderful encounters between religion and art. Unique paintings by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Giotto, have made the Basilica of St. Francis a fundamental reference point for the development of Italian and European art and architecture.

Free time for lunch at a local restaurant on your own.

Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli where you can see the Porziuncola Chapel, the place from where the Franciscan movement started, and the site where St. Francis died in 1226. Driving back to your hotel, revel in the memory of the day coming to its end.