Assisi

No other city in Europe has been so thoroughly identified with it's Saint as Assisi has been identified with Saint Francis.

Like most towns in Umbria,Assisi was built on the hill top,so that it could be easily defended from the invaders,which surged across the Italian Peninsula after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Assisi is located at the slopes of Mount Subasio part of the Appenine chain.

Before Italy's unification in 1870 Assisi was part of the Duchy of Spoleto.

St. Francis’s Basilica

Two years after the death of St. Francis on 3rd October 1226, Simone Pucciarelli donated to Brother Elias a piece of land on the western slope of Mount Subasio. At the time the hill was known locally as “Hill of Hell” because the death sentences were carried out here.

On 22nd July 1228 Pope Gregory IV laid the corner stone for the church and the abbey. On 25th May 1230 the body of Saint Francis was transferred from the chapel of St.Giorgio to the newly built church and the hill was renamed the “Hill of Paradise”.

The lower basilica is of Romanesque design and contains the sarcophagus of St.Francis,the upper basilica is of Gothic design with frescoes by Giotto & Cimabue,depicting scenes from the life of St. Francis,the upper basilica was completed in 1236 & consecrated by Pope Innocent V.

St. Francis was buried under the altar of the lower church, access to the tomb was through a tunnel. Pope Sixtus IV in 1476 ordered the tomb to be completely enclosed,and it remained closed for 412 years, until Pope Pius VII in 1888 ordered the entrance to the tunnel to be re-open

During the earthquake on Sept 1997 part of the roof of the Upper Basilica collapsed and several paintings from Giotto & Cimabue were destroyed. After extensive restoration the basilica was re-opened to the public on the evening on 21 November 1999.