We were in Assisi, Umbria – home of the famous religious patron St. Francis. He is the founding father of the Etruscan religious movement and millions of his followers (to this date) have made a pilgrimage to visit this city. Each day thousands of people flock from all over the world to get a glimpse of this grand cathedral built in his honor (where he is still buried inside). As expected, all of us were in awe by the size and beauty of this church. The walls were decorated with breath-taking fresco art that depicted the life of St. Francis and you couldn’t help but to be mesmerized the sheer size of the place. We were not allowed to take photos inside but I managed to grab a couple so I can share how big this church is with you guys.

Outside the building of San Francis of Assisi Cathedral Umbria, Italy

Inside the building of San Francis of Assisi Cathedral Umbria, Italy

After our visit, Max had another “surprise” (one of many) for us. We walked through small offbeat pathways in the town of Assisi and were led to a small simple-looking stone building surrounded by fig trees. Max told us that this is one of the oldest church in Assisi (circa 1150-1200 A.D.) called Santo Stefano (St. Stephen – the first martyr in Christian history). This church was a drastic contrast to the previous cathedral we had just visited. Simple walls with very little decoration and small in size. Max told us that this is where St. Francis probably used to attend mass while he lived here (the cathedral was built after his death to honor him) and most likely got baptized here as well. Legend also tells us that Santo Stefano’s bells miraculously rang on October 3, 1226, the day St. Francis died. (How neat is that?!) – Also I believe my friend Simon Anderson (Pictage CMO) got married here as well!

Inside the building of Santo Stefano - one of the oldest church in Assisi - Umbria, Italy

Here are the bells of Santo Stefano that rang miraculous on the day he died on Oct. 3, 1226

Inside the building of Santo Stefano - one of the oldest church in Assisi - Umbria, Italy

Inside the building of Santo Stefano - one of the oldest church in Assisi - Umbria, Italy

While we were standing outside, we couldn’t help but to hear this beautiful chorus/celtic-like music coming from inside the church. Our immediate thought was: 1) it was a recording that they played constantly or 2) there were group of dedicated nuns/monks having service inside. The sound was so beautiful that we decided to satisfy our curiosity and take a peak inside. To our surprise, we found a group of student choir practicing (Found out later that they were group from Germany). We stood there and watched them in amazement. The acoustic in the room made them sound even more angelic and I thought to myself that this is what choir in heaven must sound like!

German student choir practicing Inside the building of Santo Stefano - Umbria, Italy

Fortunately I had my Canon Mark 5D II (which Canon graciously loaned me for this trip) with me so I immediately flipped on the video so that I could capture their audio and share it with others. I have posted the video of this on Vimeo. Please excuse my video skills (lack of) – you might even want to close your eyes and just listen to them. The video doesn’t do justice to how awesome this experience was but hopefully you will get the idea (1 minute video clip – the clicks you hear are from me trying to adjust the settings):

San Stefano Church in Assisi from Kenny Kim on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoyed this story. Our PhotoVenture Trip to Italy was filled with numerous moments like this. I hope to share more of them with you in person. Delightful surprises waiting around the corner. Good food & conversation. Learning and being inspired by one another and from our surrounding. Rekindling our passion for photography and falling in love again with what we do…and on and on.

I cannot wait for our next PhotoVenture Trip. This time we are going to a different region in the south called Campania Felix (region which includes cities like: Amalfi, Capri, Napoli, Pompeii, Sorrento, plus many more) from Feb 15-22, 2010. I am delighted that my friend & successful wedding photographer & businessmen Kevin Swan is joining us on this trip. We have 2 seats out of 15 available left. We’d love to have you join us. For more information, checkout: http://photoventure.kennykim.com. So what are you waiting for? Andiamo! (Let’s go!)

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