Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi 
The Basilica di San Francesco in late afternoon. Photo
Aaron Logan.Many more photos in our Basilica di San Francesco Photo Gallery.
Side view of the Basilica on the hill. Photo © Paradoxplace.com.
View of the Upper Church of San Francesco. Photo
Federico. 
The elegant facade of the Basilica of St. Francis. Photo: Fred Lopes.
Entrance to the lower church; frescoed interior of the upper church.
Photos: Francesca and Fred Lopes.
The frescoed interior of the lower church. Photo: Francesco Remolo.
Francis marries Poverty in a fresco by Giotto. Source: Web Gallery of Art
Francis preaches to the birds. Source: Web Gallery of Art.
The grandiose, gorgeously embellished Basilica di San Francesco (Basilica of St. Francis) in Assisi is a rather incongruous memorial to a man who preached and lived a simple life of poverty, abstinence, and renunciation of worldly goods in search of greater spirituality.
But the bi-level basilica is one of the world's focal points of both high art and intense spirituality. Still a major place of pilgrimage, the Basilica of St. Francis is a powerful place for the devout and art-lovers alike.
History
The Basilica di San Francesco was built in 1230 by St. Francis' disciple and fellow-worker Brother Elia. For all his spiritual devotion, Elia remained much more worldly than Francis, and the popularity and staying power of the Franciscan order is credited in part to his marketing skills.
Brother Elia hid St. Francis' remains under the crypt in the new basilica to keep the rival Perugians from stealing the saintly relics. They were not rediscovered until the 19th century.
Much of the very impressive artwork inside the basilica was done by Cimabue around 1277 (Upper Church) and Giotto and his assistants in the 1300s (Lower Church).
Earthquakes in September 1997 rocked Umbria, damaging several churches in Assisi. The Basilica of St. Francis was the worst hit — part of the upper church ceiling in the upper church collapsed, killing four people, destroying frescoes by Cimabue and his followers, and damaging Giotto's Life of St. Francis frescoes — but it was also the first to be thoroughly restored, as it is owned by the Vatican.
What to See
Entered through a Gothic portal under a Renaissance porch on Piazza Inferiore di San Francesco (the lower of the two squares abutting the church), the basilica's bottom half is a low-ceilinged, dim cryptlike church.
The poorly-lit room is full of masterpieces of the early Sienese school of painting depicting St. Francis' life. Most of the light comes from beautiful, but unfortunately not very transparent, stained-glass windows, many of which are as old as the church itself.
Halfway up the nave on either side are stairs descending to the crypt containing the venerated stone coffin of St. Francis surrounded by the graves of four of his followers. This crypt was lost until the 19th century, sealed up by canny Brother Elia to keep rival Perugians from stealing the saintly remains.
A doorway in the right transept opens onto the chapter house, housing a 1340 Crucifixion by Puccio Capanna and a horde of relics. The many relics of St. Francis include a patchwork moth-eaten tunic, shirts and slippers, one of only two surviving letters signed by the saint, the rock on which his head rested in his coffin, a staff presented to him by the Sultan of Egypt (after Francis impressed the Sultan by walking over hot coals), and the "Rule of the Franciscans" sent to Francis by Pope Honorius II in 1223.
The tall, light-filled Gothic interior of the upper church is a striking contrast to its downstairs neighbor. Though its best to start with the lower church, so you can view the art chronologically, you could also enter via the upper church. Its plain medieval facade with a double portal (common in pilgrimage churches) and large rose window overlooks a small grassy park called Piazza Superiore di San Francesco.
The lower register of the upper church's nave, with 28 scenes of the Life of St. Francis, is what most art aficionados have traveled here to see: the beautiful frescoes of Giotto. The scenes were selected from the 97 described by St. Bonaventure as an example to the faithful.
The life story begins in the fourth bay of the north wall with the Homage of a Simple Man, and ends with the Liberation of the Heretic Peter, a miracle ascribed to St. Francis after his death. Giotto did not paint scenes 26-28 and some of the other scenes include work by his assistants.
| Names: | Basilica di San Francesco; Basilica of St. Francis |
| Date: | 1230 |
| Location: | Piazza Superiore (Inferiore) di San Francesco |
| Phone: | 075-819-001 |
| Hours: | Lower church daily 6am-7pm; upper church daily 8:30am-7pm (until 6pm in winter). Treasury and Perkins Collection Easter-Oct Mon-Sat 9:30am-7pm. |
| Mass: | Sun morning before 2pm |
| Cost: | Free |
| Dress: | No shorts, miniskirts, or bare shoulders |
| Photos: | Not allowed in Upper Church |
Location Map
Below is a location map and aerial view of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. Using the buttons on the left, zoom in for a closer look or zoom out to get your bearings. Click and drag the map to move around. For a larger view, see our Assisi Map or get our free Google Earth download.
Travel Planning Links
- Assisi Hotels - Venere
- Assisi Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor
- Assisi Travel Forum - TripAdvisor
- Car Rentals in Italy - Auto Europe
- Italy Rail Passes and Tickets - Rail Europe
- Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi – Official Website
- Traveler Review of Basilica di San Francesco - TripAdvisor
- Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and other Franciscan sites - UNESCO World Heritage List
- St. Francis of Assisi – Catholic Encyclopedia
