Assisi is an Umbrian hill town and hometown of St. Francis and St. Clare. Assisi is a very peaceful place, but especially before 10-11 am when the tour buses arrive from Florence and Rome and after they depart by 6 pm. If you are only doing a day stop and you are a fan of St. Francis, I suggest you set aside 6-8 hours here and in the valley at Santa Maria degli Angeli.
After the death of St. Francis, less than two years passed when Brother Elias, the successor to the command of the Order, received the gift of a plot of land. It was located outside of the western gate of Assisi, a steep rise of Mount Subasio where wrongdoers and criminals were hanged and was therefore called the Hell Hill (Colle dell’Inferno). On that already cursed ground would rise a great church that would receive the remains of the great Saint.
From the Bishop’s palace, where he had been a guest of the Archbishop of Assisi, St. Francis ordered to be brought on a stretcher to the Porziuncola in Santa Maria degli Angeli. He died on the ground of his favorite place. But his companions did not keep the body of St. Francis near the little church even for one day. On the morning of October 4 they brought him back to town, by San Damiano, so Chiara (Clare) and her companions could finally kiss the stigmata. From there he was taken to be buried in the church of San Giorgio, which was located inside the city close to his home. In that little church on July 16, 1228 Pope Gregory IX solemnly proclaimed Francis a Saint. The next day, invited by Brother Elias, the Pope went to Colle dell’Inferno to bless the first stone of the new large building in honor of the saint.
Basilica di San Francesco – The basilica complex is composed of two churches – the lower (1228-1230) which was completed on May 25th 1230 and the body of the St. Francis was brought to rest; and the upper (1230-1253) and a crypt dug in 1818, where the tomb of the Saint Francis lies. The first one can be reached from the lower square, bordered by a 1400 portico. The inside is decorated by the greatest painters of the 1200-1300s. There are beautiful stained glass windows.
The upper church, with one nave, has a simple façade, embellished by a Gothic portal and a beautiful rose window. The Gothic interior, with a nave, lit by large windows is the prototype of the Franciscan churches. And it is adorned by Giotto’s frescos illustrating the life of the saint. The nave at the top was decorated with stories from the Old and New Testaments.
The basilica complex includes a Romanesque bell tower of 1239. The convent houses the Theological Institute, a rich library of codes and sixteenth century manuscipts, the Treasury, exhibited in the Gothic Room, and the Perkins collection consisting of works by Italian masters, especially from Siena and Florence.
Tomb of St. Francis – Excavated between 1818 and 1824 with the mortal remains of the saint held in a rough stone urn built by Assisi architect Giuseppe Brizzi in neoclassical form. Above the altar, in the compartment of the ancient tomb, made of four rough walls, you see the simple stone urn locked by bars of two iron grates, in which was found the body of the saint and which still contains it. In the niches on the corner lie the remains of four companions of St. Francis: Rufino, Angelo, Masseo and Leone. Above is a bronze and alabaster lamp, offered in turn by the Regions of Italy (1939) to the “Holy Chief Patron of the Fatherland.”
Basilica di Santa Chiara (Clare) – In the crypt is preserved a sarcophagus statue with the bones of St. Clare inside (she is not incorrupt). The crypt is beneath the main altar. The stairway down is on the right side of the nave (looking towards the altar), just past the side chapel where hangs the Crucifix which, according to tradition, spoke to St. Francis. This is a one-way stairway, the exit stairway is on the left side of the nave, so please don’t come back up these stairs nor go down the stairs on the left side. During any Mass on the main altar, they lock the side chapel doors, so you will not be able to see the Crucifix during Mass.
Erected 1257 – 1265, on the site of the church of San Giorgio where St. Francis was buried. In Gothic style, according to the Franciscan model, it has a gabled façade, a nave, a polygonal apse and is divided into four bays. There is a magnificent rose window. On the sides there are three large flying buttresses (1351); those of the right side are hidden inside the monastery; others are projected on the square, giving it a distinctive appearance. The interior has frescoes of the Umbrian school of the 13th & 14th centuries. Next to the church is the monumental Proto-Monastery of St. Clare (the cloister is not open to public), built in on a slope between Borgo Aretino and Mojano, among the olive groves. In the cloister the crypt of the ancient Church of San Giorgio can be seen.
Duomo di Assisi (Cathedral of San Rufino) was built for the first time in the 8th century, then rebuilt around the year 1,000. It seems that the place on which arose the Cathedral was the ancient Roman forum Asisium, and specifically the land on which the Bona Mater Temple was located. The Cathedral is in Umbrian Romanesque style, with three rosettes and three portals. The project was commissioned around 1134. During the Renaissance the interior of the basilica underwent several restorations. The original baptismal font remained, which is said to be the one in which St. Francis, St. Clare and Frederick II of Bavarian Swabia were baptized (located at the back entrance on the right side. Another architectural element from that period is the bell tower. From the Cathedral you can also access the crypt (small fee) belonging to the first structure of the Basilica of San Rufino. There also is a small archeological dig taking place. I suggest skipping the dig unless you have plenty of time to do the other sites or if you like to see a bit of ancient ruins.
Tempio di Minerva – In the main town square, where it flattens out coming up the hill from St. Francis Basilica and a short, fairly flat walk to St. Clare’s Basilica. Today it is a Catholic church. It was built during the first century. The façade is well preserved, still in original condition; the six columns are topped by fine and complete Corinthian capitals and rest on plinths that, for lack of space, are placed on the staircase that leads into the vestibule.
In the Middle Ages, the ancient Temple of Minerva was turned into a Christian church. The cella became the residence of the Chief Magistrate, except for a part which was used as a prison. In 1228 the municipality bought some houses in front of the Temple to expand the square. On the same occasion, the vestibule between the columns was released and became the headquarters of public assembly. Only in 1456 the building returned to its earlier religious destination. In 1539 the original plan of the cella with its rectangular plan was destroyed and the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was built and further modified in the Baroque style in the 17th century.
Rocca Maggiore – The fortress stands on a hill that overlooks Assisi: above its walls stands out the ‘Maschio’ tower, from where you can enjoy a magnificent panorama of the city and of the Umbrian Valley, from Perugia to Spoleto. Since ancient times, the location of the fortress was considered sacred and essential to defend the town. You can go inside for a fee which allows access to the towers. The various halls within host reconstructed themes inspired by medieval life.
The first information dates back to 1174, when it was rebuilt after the conquest of Assisi by the imperial troops led by Christian of Mainz (Germany); but it perhaps already existed at the time of the Lombards. It is therefore likely that – on the remains of a pre-existing fortification – the fortress had been reconstructed by the Swabians, as feudal castle: narrations of Frederick Duke of Swabia – the future emperor Frederick II – resided there in his youth, hosted by Corrado Lutzen.
In 1198 the castle was destroyed following a popular riot to prevent it from falling into the hands of a papal governor: not unreasonably, the Assisans saw in it a symbol of the imperial oppression. It was rebuilt in 1365 by Cardinal Egidio Albornoz (then engaged in submission of the main cities of the peninsula) as a lookout: a typical example of medieval military architecture. Since then, the fortress was involved in every attempt to be conquered, in alternation, between the various governments, of the lords of different cities and its defensive role ratcheted in time with changes in the structure and with the construction of towers and bastions. It was enlarged and modified from 1395-98, in 1458, by Pope Pius II (1460), by Sixtus IV (1478), by Paul III (1535). It is tradition that the peak of the hill was occupied by an acropolis since the ancient times, but it was devastated in 545 by the Gothic King Totila. In the 1600s, the fortress was completely abandoned to remain almost intact until the present day.
Interior: The Basilica, a Latin cross structure, is 126 meters long and 65 meters wide. The interior of the basilica, with three naves, has a simple and essential style. This is because of the great emphasis on the fact that it contains the most important work of art: the Porziuncola.
Transit: Also inside the Basilica is a chapel. It was originally the convent infirmary, its fame is due to the fact that, in this place, St. Francis died on 3 October 1226. On the same place, the Umbrian saint finished composing the Canticle of Creatures. To celebrate these events, in 1886, Domenico Bruschi created frescoes depicting the death of St. Francis and his funeral. There are also more frescoes depicting saints and blessed Franciscans, done by a student of Perugino: Giovanni di Pietro, called Spagna. In a reliquary is kept the cord of St. Francis, a gift from Pope Pius IX to brotherhood.
The Rose Garden: In a wing of the Basilica is preserved the rose garden. This place is famous for an incident involving St. Francis: one night, in fact, the Holy One, taken by strong doubts, and from sin’s guilt, he rolled naked in the thorny rose garden. This rose garden, according to tradition, upon contact with the Saint’s body, lost all the thorns so as not to cause him any harm. Even today, the rose bush blooms without thorns.
