Assisi (Umbria): what to see in 1 day


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What to see in Assisi, one-day itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Basilica of San Francesco, the Archaeological Museum, the Temple of Minerva, the Rocca Maggiore and the Church of San Rufino.


Tourist information

Located on the western slopes of Mount Subasio in the province of Perugia, Assisi is a city witnessing the Franciscan spirituality, as Saint Francis and Saint Clare were born, lived and died here.

The precious religious heritage of Assisi is also flanked by great artistic treasures, which is why the city has been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.


About history, Assisi was inhabited by the Umbrians and then by the Romans, whose domain remains interesting vestiges.

In the Archaeological Museum, material from the Etruscan and Roman periods is preserved, also, through a corridor, you enter a monumental area corresponding to the forum of the Roman city.

Another monument of the Roman era is the Temple of Minerva, built in the first century BC, only the facade of the Roman era remained, in 1539 the Church of Santa Maria Minerva was built inside, remodeled in the following century in Baroque style .


The city is dominated by the Rocca Maggiore, in an ideal position to admire the panorama of the city and the surrounding landscape.

The fortress was built as a citadel of Germanic feudalism, was rebuilt in the second half of the fourteenth century at the behest of Cardinal Albornoz in defense of Assisi, later it belonged to the lordships that gained power over the city.

The heart of Assisi and the fulcrum of the Franciscan message is the Basilica of San Francesco, composed of a lower and an upper part, whose entrances are independent.


Construction began in 1228 immediately after Francis' canonization.

The Upper Basilica, in Italian Gothic style, is famous for the frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto.

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The Lower Basilica of Romanesque origin also has valuable frescoes, works by various artists, but in particular by Giotto and his school and Simone Martini.

In the middle of the central nave there are two stairs that go down to the Crypt where the body of San Francesco is placed.

Via San Francesco is the main street of Assisi, which with the presence of numerous small artisan shops and typical clubs represents a meeting and walking point for the inhabitants and tourists.

The Church of Santa Chiara was built between 1255 and 1265 in the place where the Church of San Giorgio was located, which until 1230 had kept the mortal remains of San Francesco.

The Church is in Italian Gothic style, inside there is the Chapel of the Crucifix, where the 12th century Crucifix which spoke to San Francesco in San Damiano is kept.

The body of Santa Chiara is placed under the nave in a crypt.

In the presbytery you can admire the frescoes inspired by the life of this Franciscan Saint.


What see

The Church of San Rufino is the Cathedral of Assisi, it was built around 1140 on a project by Giovanni da Gubbio.

Built at the bottom of the rectangular square of the same name, the Church has a magnificent Romanesque-Umbrian facade.

The church is dedicated to San Rufino, who was bishop and martyr preached the gospel in Assisi in the first half of the third century.

It is the third church dedicated to San Rufino, the first dating back to the eighth century, the second erected around 1030 the bell tower and the crypt have been preserved.

In the baptismal font Francesco, Chiara and Federico II of Svevia were baptized, raised in the Imperial Rocca of Assisi, called Rocca Maggiore.

At the behest of Pope San Pio V, construction of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli began in 1569, whose work ended about a century later, in 1679.


This large church was built in order to welcome the many pilgrims and to preserve the places made sacred by the memory of San Francesco, here are in fact the chapels of the Porziuncola, the transit and the rose garden.

The Porziuncola is a small church which, reduced to a state of neglect for a long time, was restored by San Francesco.

It is the center of Franciscanism, the place where Francis clearly understood his vocation and where he founded the order of the Friars Minor, in 1209.

Il Transito, a stone room where the infirmary of the primitive convent was located, is the place where San Francesco spent the last days of his life, dying there on 3 October 1226, laid completely naked on the earth.

In an area of ​​the Sanctuary there is the rose garden without thorns.

According to a tradition, San Francesco one night when he was assaulted by doubt and temptation he threw himself into a thorn bush that was near his cell.

At his contact the thorns turned into thornless roses.

Even today these roses continue to bloom at the Porziuncola.

The Church of San Damiano is a 12th century Romanesque church, the place where San Francesco, while praying in front of the Crucifix, received the call to work for the Church and where later, now physically tired and sick, he composed the Canticle of the creatures.

Here Santa Chiara lived between 1211 and 1253, founding the order of the cloistered nuns, and this building was also a witness of some miracles of the consecrated to God.

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