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Assisi

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Visit Assisi

Assisi, in the Umbria region of central Italy, is best known as being the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi, but as you will discover there is much else to discover in a visit to the town.

It's no doubt that a visit to Assisi is particularly concentrated around the main monument of the city, the Basilica of St. Francis.(Note: the wide range of artworks in the basilica is such that we have a separate article: art of the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

In the "Town Square", on the northern side, there is the 13th century Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo flanked by the “Torre del Popolo”, also begun in the 13th century and completed in 1305. The nearby Temple of Minerva (first century BC) was converted into “Santa Maria sopra Minerva”; while on the southern side of the square there is the Palazzo dei Priori, built between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Walking along Via San Rufino we reach the Cathedral, dedicated to the bishop, martyr of the third century. The Romanesque façade has three portals, which correspond to the three naves inside, three rose windows, placed symmetrically at the portals, and a triangular pediment, with a large Gothic arch built in the late thirteenth century. Alongside stands the bell tower, built on the ruins of a Roman cistern decorated with blind arches and mullioned windows. The interior has three naves and it was restored in the sixteenth century. Entering the nave to the right, we find the ancient baptismal font, where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized.

In the Piazza Santa Chiara is the Basilica dedicated to the saint, which is an example of Italian Gothic architecture of the thirteenth century, began in 1257 and consecrated in 1265. The exterior is characterized by three large arches of the fourteenth century, by a simple façade with a portal flanked by two lions and surmounted by a rose window and bell tower. The interior has a nave and in the apse there is a painted cross, attributed to Giunta Pisano (active from 1229 to 1254); in the right transept, there is a picture of the "Master of Saint Clare", depicting scenes from his life. In the nave on the right, a door leads to the chapel of St. George, where there are the relics of St. Francis and St. Clare.

We conclude with the church of San Pietro, of the thirteenth century, in Romanesque style. The church, built over an existing place of worship, has a façade with three portals,  three rose windows placed on vertical portals and a bell tower near the apse; the interior has three naves and it contains frescoes from the fourteenth century.

A structure with a different purpose is the so-called called "Major Fortress", built, according to tradition, before the Lombard conquest; the castle was for many years the residence of Frederick II of Swabia (1194-12509. Destroyed at the end of the twelfth century by a popular uprising, it was rebuilt in the middle of the fourteenth century for the Papal Legate Cardinal Albornoz (1310-1367), and it was further strengthened by Ugolino Montemarte.

It is usually said that "Green Umbria", with its mystic landscapes, invites to meditation and contemplation. The Umbrian landscape is all this, and today it is also strewn with a lot of local restaurants where we can taste the recipes of the best traditional Umbrian cuisine, pasta, biscuits, quiches, homemade jams and dishes dressed with refined oil from Umbria, which are accompanied by fine local wines, like the “Assisi white and pink”.

See also history of Assisi