Assisi City Overview Tour
Tour by car.
The spiritual capital of Umbria, Assisi, is a tiny town that has scaled a steep, if not the highest, hill. You can guess why it has become one of the world’s leading religious centres simply by its name: it was here that St Francis of Assisi was born in 1182.
Francis of Assisi founded three monastic orders (one of which, the Order of the Sisters of Clara, in 1212, for Chiara di Favarone di Offreduccio, a girl of noble birth from Assisi). He died in 1226 in the chapel of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Porciuncola), and was canonised two years after his death. The very next day, Pope Gregory IX laid the foundation stone for the church and convent that Fra Elia, an associate of Francis, wanted to erect. Clara was also canonised two years after her death, in 1253.
According to historians and locals, Assisi today is preserved in much the same condition as it was during the saint’s life.
Besides its status as the small homeland of Francis of Assisi, the city is famous for the first monastery of the Franciscan order, Sacro Convento, which was founded here. The Gothic Monastery Church (begun in the year of St Francis’ death and canonisation in 1228 and completed in 1253) is a World Heritage Site, a revered shrine and the main attraction of Assisi. Today, the body of St Francis rests in the casket, and today all the faithful are allowed to enter the church by climbing down one of the two staircases in the middle of the nave.
Special attention should be paid to the magnificent decoration of the cathedral: there are magnificent paintings from the medieval school, many of which are by Cimabue and Giotto.
From Roman antiquity, Assisi has preserved the magnificent portico of the Temple of Minerva, as well as the ruins and remains of the aqueduct and Etruscan city walls. Medieval fortifications date from the 14th century.
In addition, the town and the surrounding countryside are home to many other fine churches:
The 13th-century Santa Chiara, with the tomb of St Clara of Assisi;
The 12th-century Romanesque cathedral of St Rufinus;
The church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, 3km from Assisi in the town of the same name (the same town where the nearest railway station to the “spiritual centre of Umbria” is located). This church was built in 1569; later, a strong earthquake caused a large part of the church to collapse, but it was rebuilt as it was. Today the Cathedral of Santa Maria degli Angeli attracts thousands of pilgrims, as it is also home to the tiny but very famous Church of Porziuncola, the cradle of the Franciscan monastic order.
