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Comment by simonebrunozzi | Hacker News Reader

This is about "The National Gallery’s St Francis of Assisi (until 30 July)".

Dear Hacker News crowd, I am from Assisi. I was born and raised there. At age ~30 I left Italy and joined a then-small AWS as their first employee in Europe, and ended up living abroad for ~13 years. I now live in Venice, Italy.

If you're curious about Assisi, please ask. I'll do my best to answer.

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As a person born in India, I learned about St. Francis through numerous schools named after him. A lot of those schools were also shelters for animals, that is how I learned about the saint's love and compassion for all living things. His simple life and dedication fascinates me. Anything that helps me learn more about him, his teachings, or historical artifacts / pilgrimage is of interest to me.

Same and that influence held true.

Reading "name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco, I came across references and realized that there is a lot the we don't about his impact on the society.

Really, by now we should know and expect what happened afterwards as explained in the 2nd paragraph - https://povcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/01/st-francis-and-umber...

I am not really religious at all but something about the Basilica at Assisi made me feel something that I never felt anywhere else I have visited. Hard to describe, I sort of felt lighter after visiting. I sense of calm that maybe the closest I've felt was after a long session of guided meditation.

I built the Basilica in Second Life in 2007, eventually getting a job at Amazon [0].

[0]: https://simon.medium.com/2008-how-i-got-hired-by-amazon-com-...

Nice! Since I went to the trouble of finding screenshots over 20 years old online, here's a way to find some for those who might want to see:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080213013852/http://www.secund...

Do you live IN the Venice of tourist photos or outside on dry land?

Assisi was a great stop on my drive through Italy in 2016.

Yes, I do! Very different than most other places on Earth. I like it a lot.

I have a question. Blambla or Bibiano?

I know the guys working at Bibiano, so I'd recommend that one. But both are nice :)

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