Main attractions :: Assisi
Perugia :: Gubbio
:: Spoleto :: Todi
:: Orvieto :: Montefalco
& Bevagna :: Il lago Trasimeno
In this small hill-town, peacefully spread out on the slopes of Mount Subasio, everything
seems to speak about Saint Francis.
The peace that here reigns, joined to the mystical memories of the Saint and to its artistic
treasuries, make of Assisi one of the most impressive destinations in Italy and the goal
of devout people pilgrimages from every part of the world.
Assisi had a prosperous life at the time of the Romans, then, in the Middle Ages, was an
anti-Pope Commune agitated by fierce inner fights and always in war with Perugia. The communal
age is the historical background of the exemplary life of Saint Francis, the Patron of Italy,
a man with an illustrious parentage who refused his father's wealths to marry Sister Poverty
and to better serve his Lord. Francis created a new order, authorized by the Pope, aiming
to spread in the world a message of peace and fraternity; two years after his death, occurred
in 1226, he was proclaimed Saint.
After the passing of Francis, the city of Assisi took the resolution to raise in his name
a huge Basilica in whose ornament concurred the most popular artists of that age. The Basilica
is visible from far away, supported by a gigantic arched structure built on the rims of
mount Subasio; it is made of two overlapping churches having in common a high apse. The
inferior Church encloses in its crypt the grave of the Saint, a place of undeniable suggestion.
The inside reveals wonderful frescoes painted by Giotto, Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone
Martini. The upper Church, luminous and slender, houses some frescoes by Cimabue and the
world-wide known frescoes representing Saint Francis' life painted by Giotto.
Assisi is an integer medieval city: the oldest nucleus is protected by a defensive apparatus
made of high, circular walls with eight entry gates, all in a still optimal state of conservation,
heading to two castles: the greater one, Rocca Maggiore, rebuilt in 1367, and the smaller
Rocca Minore.
Other beauties not to be missed are Palazzo dei Priori, housing a gallery full of old Umbrian
paintings, Minerva's Temple, erected at the times of the Roman Empire and later transformed
in a church, the splendid late-Romanesque church of S. Damiano, where Francis composed the
Canticle of all Creatures, and the church of S. Chiara, with its imposing flying buttresses
and, on the inside, the wooden Cross who spoke to Francis.
Worth a visit is also the solemn cathedral of Saint Rufino, dedicated to the bishop of
Assisi, built in the 12th century over the remains of an ancient religious temple.
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View of Assisi
The basilica of San Francesco
Night view of the Basilica
Giotto's frescoes
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