In the medieval hill town of Assisi, visitors engage in an unusual form of encounter: they queue to meet the dead. This striking observation opens a Financial Times travelogue exploring how one of Christianity's most revered pilgrimage sites navigates the intersection of sacred devotion and modern tourism.
The article, titled "Postcard from Assisi: my meeting with a saint," captures the experience of waiting in line to view religious relics in a town where spiritual heritage has become a carefully managed public resource. At the heart of this experience lies the crypt of the church named after St Clare, where the remains of the founder of the Poor Clares are preserved for public viewing.
A Saint's Resting Place as Public Space
St Clare, who established the Poor Clares religious order, rests in the crypt beneath the church that bears her name. The presentation of her remains reflects a centuries-old Catholic tradition of venerating saints through physical relics, now adapted to accommodate the steady flow of contemporary visitors. The queuing system itself speaks to the democratization of access to these sacred objects—a structured approach that ensures pilgrims and tourists alike can experience what was once the exclusive domain of religious communities.
Where Devotion Meets Tourism
The Financial Times piece presents Assisi in travelogue form, capturing the town as both a living religious site and a destination designed for visitor experience. This dual identity raises questions about how communities preserve sacred spaces while making them accessible to a global audience. The church crypt housing St Clare's remains operates within this tension, serving simultaneously as a place of prayer and a stop on tourist itineraries.
The article focuses specifically on the experience of encountering the saint's remains in a setting described as both religious and tourist-oriented. This characterization highlights how Assisi has developed infrastructure to manage the flow of visitors seeking connection with its medieval spiritual legacy, while maintaining the reverence traditionally associated with such sites.
The Economics of Sacred Heritage
By framing the experience through the act of queuing—a mundane, modern ritual—the article implicitly addresses how sacred spaces function within contemporary tourism economies. The orderly lines suggest institutional management, ticketing systems, and the careful choreography required to balance preservation with access. For towns like Assisi, whose economy depends significantly on religious tourism, these relics represent both spiritual treasures and economic assets requiring careful stewardship.
The Poor Clares, the religious order St Clare founded, emphasized poverty and service. The contemporary presentation of their founder's remains in a managed tourist setting creates an ironic contrast with her original values, though it also ensures her legacy reaches far beyond the cloistered communities she established.
Why This Matters:
The Financial Times portrayal of Assisi illuminates broader questions about how societies preserve and present religious heritage in an era of mass tourism. The queuing to view St Clare's remains represents a democratization of access to sacred objects once reserved for religious elites, yet it also transforms pilgrimage into a consumer experience. For communities dependent on religious tourism, this balance affects both economic sustainability and cultural authenticity. The management of such sites involves decisions about who benefits from sacred heritage—whether local communities maintain control and economic returns, or whether tourism infrastructure extracts value while leaving residents with congestion and commercialization. As global tourism continues to grow, Assisi's model of structured access to religious relics offers insights into how public institutions can regulate the intersection of faith, culture, and commerce, ensuring that sacred spaces serve both spiritual seekers and the communities that steward them.