Never been, would you recommend it? How about hotels?

<<Never been, would you recommend it?>>

Yes.

<<How about hotels?>>

Umbra and Fontebella are two, for starters.

Maybe search "Assisi" here? - - only about fifty posts mentioning Assisi here in the past six weeks, for example.

Best wishes,

Rex

I think Assisi is a great place for a day trip, but it's so tacky and touristy that I really would have no desire to stay for any length of time. That is unless you are incredibly fond of a multitude of souvenier stands selling Che Guavera underware and rosary beads--a really weird mix.

Good to know. Thanks!

Assisi was wonderful, but my sister and I agreed that we would have been happier staying one night rather than two.


Best parts of our visit were 10:00 a.m. Mass at the lower Basilica with great choir, next part was our wonderful room with a spectacular view at Hotel Umbra.

This (tacky, touristy) sounds like a bit of a change from my two visits there, in 1999 and in 2001, so maybe the most <i>current</i> info you an get will be the best.

In 2001, we arrived on a Saturday afternoon, stayed two nights, went to mass Sunday morning, and had enjoyable dinners both nights. Visited the Hermitage briefly on our departure on a Monday morning. It was intentionally slow-paced (we were with with four other older travelers, my wife's parents, aunt and uncle).

I did think Assisi was slightly more &quot;trash-plagued&quot; in 2001 (not tacky; physical <i>trash</i - - but I understood that there had been a concert or festival or something in the main square on Friday night (they were removing bleachers). So it did seem a little less magical.

It IS destined to be (become?) a tourism-only &quot;museum town&quot;. It must be a terrible challenge to know how to deal with this problem in many population-limited, millenia-old, (world) heritage destinations in Europe.

It's been a year since I have been there, but &quot;tacky, touristy&quot; is not at all a good description. Every hill town (to some degree) will have a shop with &quot;trashy type souvenirs&quot;, but most of Assisi's shops are similar to other hill towns of its size.
While there are a lots of tourists (true again of most hill towns),most of them are gone by evening.I especially love Assisi in the evening.
It's easily one of my favorite towns and I've been to a number of them.
If Assisi is &quot;tacky&quot;, so is San Gim., Orvieto, Montepulciano,etc.
The difference of opinion may be that some only like the much smaller towns ,but they (Montalcino,Cortona,etc.)can have many tourists and their share of &quot;tacky &quot;merchandise. By the way, I can't really remember any &quot;stands&quot; in Assisi.

We were in Assisi two months ago. We spent a day there but I would have preferred to spend the night for at least two full days. If you appreciate Giotto you will love this town. I am not especially religious but I found a spiritual climate in the churches that is magical. Yes there are tourists but everyone seemed polite, I would not describe it as ?touristy ? in the Orlando sense of the word. I would definitely take the time to see this unique town.

I?ll go along with the ?tacky? brigade, my 1999 diary records:

?We drove down the coast to Ravenna and then up into the hills to Assisi. Once more this was rip off land, in this case the faithful was being ripped off. The Cathedral of St. Francis, dating from the 13th century, was being repaired following the earthquake of some years ago. It was an Italian dream, the International community restoring it and being ripped off at the same time. The Cathedral was built above his grave ? that makes the third place that he has been buried!

What I wanted was beer and more beer. What I got was an expensive thimble full.

This was seriously stark but nice country, we will come back. But, for today we have to push on to Rome. The eternal city, the eternal traffic jam.?

Wow, I am truly shocked at the descriptions here. Assisi was the highlight of our honeymoon, and we are religious at all. It as quaint, the people were wonderful and the atmosphere fantastic. I didnt see a speck of trash. To each their own I guess.

In the many years that I have been participating in this Fodor's Forum this is the first post ever where I have read Assissi described as tacky by somebody. In my opinion, Assisi is a beautifully charming medieval town, with incredible history and definitely worth a visit. In Assisi we stayed at Hotel Dei Priori, strongly recommend the hotel and their restaurant.

&gt;&gt; Once more this was rip off land, in this case the faithful was being ripped off. The Cathedral of St. Francis, dating from the 13th century, was being repaired following the earthquake of some years ago.&lt;&lt;

Well, shame on Assisi for allowing an earthquake to happen and then to fix the church. What a ripoff!! I just hope that Italy figures out that earthquakes shouldn't be allowed, it could mess up tourists' plans!

What a moron!!!!

Yes, Assisi had its share of souvenier shops, but it's also one of the most frequently visited spots in Italy. There is something for everyone in Assisi religious or not. Its a beautiful town with wonderful historic sites. I found the people of Assisi to be very spiritual (how could they not be?)and they seemed to be so proud of their beautiful little town, I thought it was charming. I wish could remember the hotel we stayed in because it was lovely, claw footed bathtub to boot! The best memory I have is standing in the piazza overlooking the town when it started to snow. Che bella! Bottom line, touristy or not, don't miss Assisi. Also just a short drive away is Deruta where they have great prices on their famous pottery that costs a mint here in the states!

If you're only in Assisi during the day, I'm not surprised you might find it &quot;tacky and tourisy.&quot; It can be crammed with day-trip tourists. Still, I've always loved it. I just got back from an Italy/Poland trip with my parents and husband, and finally spent a night in Assisi, which I'd been longing to do. Assisi is truly magical after dusk. We stayed at Hotel Umbra--great location, friendly staff, and nice rooms. We had dinner at Buca San Francesco, and I would definitely recommend it. Don't bypass Assisi--it's wonderful!

Assisi is a beautiful place. A few weeks ago, we stayed for two nights at a lovely agriturismo called Alla Madonna del Piatto in the mountains above Assisi. It was actually about 4 miles from the town. This farmhouse was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. The views from our room were breathtaking. One morning after breakfast, we saw a shepherd herding his sheep through the hills below. The distant tinkling of the sheep's bells was positively hypnotic. Our time there was so enjoyable and restful. To me, that is the true Assisi. I would definitely go back in a heartbeat.

Assisi is not one of my favorite towns. In Umbria, we liked Orvieto and Spoleto much better, and in Tuscany we liked Siena and San Gimignano much more too. The Basilica is worth seeing and the town certainly has unified, beautiful architecture, but we spent two nights and wished we had stayed only one night. I think I've mentioned this previously, but the shops were very tacky - lots of cheap, plastic knick-knacks (certainly tackier than other 'touristy' towns, where knick knacks may have been made in China, but they were at least not plastic). SHopping was non-existent - other places we visited had some worthwhile, unique shops mingled between the touristy ones. Maybe because many travellers come for religious purposes and not for hedonistic purposes, we found the food less &quot;inspiring' than in other Umbrian towns. Additionally, the number of tourists outnumbered the number of locals, even in the evenings. It also did not help that there were 9 cranes in this tiny town - still repairing damage done by the earthquake years before. This is not a town where you see Italians doing the passagiata and having a glass of wine and 'little foods' before dinner.

This is just my opinion (for example, one of my best friends loved Assisi). Would I recommend it? Depends on your priorities and what you are eliminating from your itinerary to visit it.