A test

I think I may have found a work-around to fix the photo problem. It involves using code, though, at which I am pretty much a novice. So let's hope this works.



If I did that right, this should be an image of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in the valley below the medieval center of Assisi. It's a really interesting church--a combination of neo-Baroque and neo-Classical architecture, which makes it fairly restrained, as Italian churches go. The side chapels have frescoes, but the central nave is white and unadorned. It uses natural light beautifully; the interior is almost bright.

But what makes it really unusual is that there's another church inside it. The 10th-11th century Porziuncola Chapel, the birthplace of the Franciscan order, is under the dome. It's small, maybe the size of a portable classroom, and--apart from the typically medieval gilt art behind the altar--humble and rough. The threshold bears the legend "Hic locus sanctus est." People approach it with real reverence, too. There have been posted pleas for silence at every cathedral and church I've visited, but here they were unnecessary.

Postcript: Okay, that posted a photo, but not the one I was hoping to post. This may take some work.