According to poet Dante Alighieri, who is considered the father of Italian language, Assisi should have changed its name. "He who speaks of this place, should not say Ascesi," suggests the poet in the tenth Canto of his Paradise.

"Ascesi" (i.e. Assisi) is a much too short, too limited name. The city should have been called Oriente, since here - as Dante writes - on the hillside of Mount Subasio, the same sun rose that usually rises from the Ganges. And this "new sun" Dante hints at is St. Francis of Assisi.

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Source: http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com