Basilica di San Francesco

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About Basilica di San Francesco

The Basilica di San Francesco began to be built in 1228, two years after Francis's death and in the same year he was proclaimed a saint. It stands at the western tip of Assisi, on the slope formerly called Colle dell'Inferno, where condemned prisoners were executed, and which came to be called Colle del Paradiso. Together with the Sacro Convento, the complex forms the city's façade as seen from the valley.

There are two churches, one above the other. The Basilica Inferiore, lower and darker, houses chapels painted by Cimabue, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti. From it you descend to the crypt with the tomb of St. Francis, a place of prayer and silence, beside the tombs of some of his first companions.

The Basilica Superiore is tall and luminous, in Italian Gothic. Along the nave, 28 scenes tell the life of Francis: renouncing his goods in front of his father, preaching to the birds, the stigmata. The authorship is traditionally attributed to Giotto and his workshop, a subject still debated by scholars. In the transept are frescoes by Cimabue.

The basilica has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, together with other Franciscan sites in Assisi. It remains an active sanctuary, cared for by the Conventual Franciscan friars, and welcomes pilgrims from around the world, especially on October 4th, the feast of St. Francis, patron saint of Italy.