Assisi Travel Forum

I will be spending 6 nights in Florence, as many other travellers are, in February and I see that everyone is recommending day trips to the Tuscany area. We do plan on visiting Siena and Pisa, however, should we also plan a day trip to Assisi? Will it take an entire day? What is the best mode of travel - we won't have a car. What are the "must-see" sites or cafes in Assisi?
Thank you for your help.

Assisi is a lovely place, but not the easiest to reach from Florence. The rail station is on the valley floor in the town of Santa Maria degli Angeli. From Florence you would need to change trains in Terontola, and from SM degli Angeli either take a long walk along the highway and then a long uphill climb, or try to figure out the bus. Given the eccentricities of Italian public transport my opinion is that your time could be better spent by staying in Tuscany, and leaving Umbria for another time.
If you go anyway,the Basilica is an unparallelled architectural and artistic monument, and the main reason people go to Assisi. The town is peppered with churches of varying degrees of interest, there's a medieval fortress on the hilltop, and the pastry shops on the street running downhill from the piazza with the Roman temple converted into a church are extraordinary.

6 days will go fast and i would recommend seeing the following -

majors - rome - if you have not been there should see it and can do it in a day
siena is nice- pisa is a maybe - would recommend lucca, cinque terra, and perhaps verona - venice is another major if you have time. make sure you see all there is to see in florence - siena is close - make sure you see monteriggioni on the way