Can you visit Assisi without focusing only on the sacred monuments? After spending two days in the Umbrian gem, we can say yes, and an alternative tour of the city of San Francesco is possible.
“It’s part of our effort,” he explains Giulio Proietti Bocchini, the person responsible for the promotion of tourism in Assisi, «are aiming both to eliminate the seasonality of the offer and to tell Assisi with a non-religious story that remains essential. In 2023, the village was visited by 1.3 million tourists who came here not only for the churches.”
That is why, after consulting with those who live in Assisi every day, we decided to develop a small worldly guide – eight addresses including museums, theaters, hotels, and restaurants – valid both for a visit during these holidays – the days of the year when the city is more beautiful than ever, decorated like a nativity scene and in the evening brought to life by lights and video mapping demonstrations on monuments – and in 2024. Here are our recommendations.
An exhibition you don’t expect
Trattoria in the center (with a cheap and elegant alternative)
One name above all: Pallotta. This trattoria is right in the center, right in front of the Temple of Minerva, but its location – in the Vicolo della Porta Pinta, behind the small loggia to which the people of Assisi are very attached – hides it from the eyes of the busiest. tourist. The management is family and you can feel it: they serve dishes (very tasty and rich) of Umbrian tradition, from strangozzi – tagliatelle served al dente and seasoned with mushrooms and black olives (but too much oil!) or truffles – to green bean soup from Trasimeno.
You can eat àla carte or opt for a tasting menu with samples of starter, first course, second course, and dessert. If you’re looking for something cheaper and faster, it’s available just a few hundred meters away at Bio Piadina, a gastronomic boutique that serves piadinas mixed with organic flour and filled with farm products that use biodynamic cultivation. Small gourmet restaurants as an alternative to classic restaurants are gaining ground in Assisi: a sign of the town’s tourist growth.
