Assisi: Basilica di San Francesco
La Basilica di San Francesco d’Assisi (UNESCO 2000) è il monumento fondativo dell’arte italiana medievale — il ciclo di Giotto delle 28 scene della Leggenda di San Francesco nella Chiesa Superiore (c.1295–1300 CE) è il primo ciclo narrativo pittorico coerente della storia occidentale in cui le figure mostrano emozioni realistiche, prospettiva spaziale e peso fisico, inaugurando la transizione dall’icona medievale alla narrazione rinascimentale che avrà il suo culmine con Masaccio e Piero della Francesca 150 anni dopo.
At a glance
Assisi Basilica (the most precisely Assisi zone Assisi Umbria Italy 43.0744 N 12.6051 E UNESCO WHS 2000 reference 990: the 2-level structure (the Basilica of San Francesco is actually 2 separate churches built on top of each other: the Chiesa Inferiore (lower church; the original; completed c.1230 CE; consecrated by Pope Gregory IX on 25 May 1230 CE, 2 years after the canonization of Francis; the crypt (where the tomb of St Francis is located; the grave was lost for 600 years (hidden in 1449 CE during a period of civil conflict; rediscovered 1818 CE during excavation work); the Lorenzetti frescoes (Pietro Lorenzetti, c.1315–20 CE: the Passion cycle in the left transept; the Simone Martini frescoes (c.1317–20 CE): the Chapel of St Martin; the earliest surviving work of Simone Martini; 10 scenes from the life of St Martin of Tours; each scene approximately 2.5 m × 2.5 m); and the Chiesa Superiore (upper church; begun c.1239 CE; completed c.1253 CE; the Gothic nave (58 m long × 13.5 m wide × 21 m high; a single nave with 4 bays + apse; one of the earliest Gothic buildings in Italy); the 28-scene Giotto cycle of the Legend of St Francis (the nave walls, lower register: 28 scenes from the Legenda Maior of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1263 CE); each scene approximately 2.7 m × 2.3 m; set above the 2 upper registers of Old and New Testament scenes by the “Roman workshop” (c.1278–95 CE: Cimabue (verified in the apse and transepts), Jacopo Torriti, and other unnamed Tuscan and Roman masters))); the earthquake of 1997 (26 September 1997 CE: the Umbria-Marche earthquake (magnitude 5.7 + 6.1 aftershock within 9 hours; the campanile and upper church vault collapsed; the frescoes of the Cimabue vault (the Angels and St Jerome) fell in 3,000–4,000 fragments; 4 people died (including 2 friars and 2 journalists who had entered the upper church after the first quake to report on the damage); the restoration (the fallen fresco fragments (1.2 tonnes of painted plaster) were individually recovered, catalogued, and reconstituted over 10 years (1997–2006 CE) using computer-vision pattern-matching software (the same technique used later in virtual reconstruction of the Palmyra Arch); the restored vault (approximately 70% of the original surface was recovered and repositioned))).
Key facts
- The 28-scene Giotto cycle in the Upper Church and why it is the pivotal moment in Western art history: the attribution (the 28 scenes of the Life of St Francis in the nave of the upper church are attributed to Giotto di Bondone (c.1267–1337 CE); the attribution is the most debated in Western art history; Giorgio Vasari (1550 CE) attributed them to Giotto; Heinrich Wölfflin (1899 CE) attributed them to a different workshop; the current consensus (since approximately 1975 CE, following detailed technical analysis by Bellosi and Zanardi) is that Giotto painted the scenes in a workshop organization typical of the period (approximately 8–12 painters working simultaneously, with Giotto designing and executing the key figures personally)); the innovation (the specific novelties in the Giotto cycle compared to all preceding Western painting: (1) real spatial architecture (the buildings in scenes 6, 13, and 16 are painted as if they have depth and interior volume; no previous Western painter had painted a believable architectural interior space); (2) facial expression (the mourning friars in scene 20 (the Death of Francis) show genuine grief; the earlier Byzantine tradition showed grief through formal gestures (raised hands, torn garments) not facial distortion; Giotto’s mourners compress their mouths and furrow their brows in ways only found in his work at this date); (3) foreshortening (scene 15 (Francis preaching to the birds): the birds are shown from the front, from the side, and from partial rear angles in the same image — the first convincing multi-angle animal foreshortening in Western art); (4) weight and mass (the figures have physical presence; they cast shadows; they wear garments that fall with gravity; this contrasts with Byzantine figures that float on gold grounds with formulaic drapery folds))
- GPS (Basilica di San Francesco): 43.0744° N, 12.6051° E
History
Da Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone alla canonizzazione alla costruzione della basilica all’UNESCO 2000 (the most precisely Assisi zone history: the life of Francis (c.1181/1182–1226 CE: the merchant’s son (Pietro di Bernardone, a cloth merchant) who renounced his inheritance (the precise scene reconstructed from the Legenda Maior: Francis stood before Bishop Guido of Assisi in the piazza, removed all his clothes, and said “until now I called you my father, but now I can freely say: Our Father who art in heaven”; his father took the clothes and disowned him; Bishop Guido covered Francis with his own cloak); the Franciscan Order (1209 CE: Pope Innocent III gave oral approval to Francis’s rule for a brotherhood of 12 friars; the specific oral approval (Innocent III is described in the sources as hesitant: the rule was considered too severe (the total poverty demanded) and too similar to the existing Humiliati and Waldensians who had been condemned as heretics; the crucial difference: Francis explicitly demanded absolute obedience to the Pope, which distinguished his movement from the heretical poverty movements); the stigmata (1224 CE: on 17 September 1224 CE, at La Verna (a mountain hermitage in Tuscany), Francis received the stigmata (the wounds of Christ: nail wounds in hands and feet, spear wound in the side) — the first documented stigmatization in Christian history; Francis kept the wounds hidden until his death; the friars who washed his body attested to the wounds); the canonization (1228 CE: Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228 CE in Assisi, 2 years after his death; the day after the canonization, Gregory laid the first stone of the Basilica)); 2000 CE UNESCO inscription reference 990.
What you see
La cripta con la tomba di Francesco, la Chiesa Inferiore (Lorenzetti e Martini), e la Chiesa Superiore (Giotto) (the most precisely Assisi zone visit (2–3 hours): dress code (the basilica requires covered shoulders and knees for both men and women; the Franciscan friars at the entrance provide coverings; the code is strictly enforced — no exceptions are made); the recommended sequence: (1) Chiesa Inferiore (the lower church entrance is on the right side of the facade at piazza level; the specific visual order: (a) the Chapel of St Martin (Simone Martini, c.1317–20 CE; the first chapel on the left entering from the door: the 10 scenes of St Martin’s life; the specific observation (Martini’s color palette in Assisi is different from his Siena work: the blues are more vivid (a specifically Franciscan blue pigment (azurite + lapislazuli) used in the workshop)); (b) the Lorenzetti Passion cycle (left transept; Pietro Lorenzetti, c.1315–20 CE; the Crucifixion and Deposition: the finest expressionist religious painting in 14th-century Italy before the Black Death); (c) the crypt access stairs (the staircase descending from the central nave; the tomb: the gray stone sarcophagus of Francis (9th century CE reliquary container) on a stone bier in a Romanesque stone setting; the 4 Companions (Rufino, Angelo, Masseo, Leo: the earliest Franciscan companions, buried in the 4 niches at the corners of the crypt); the atmosphere (the crypt is always crowded on feast days; the best time for quiet reflection is 9:30–10:30 AM before the tour groups arrive)); (2) Chiesa Superiore (the entrance is the main portal on the facade; the orientation: the Giotto cycle begins on the right wall, third bay from the west, and continues clockwise around the nave; scene 1 (Francis giving his cloak to a poor knight) is the starting point; scene 28 (the canonization of Francis) is at the entrance wall; the viewing distance: the optimal distance for reading the facial expressions in the Giotto scenes is approximately 8–10 m from the wall; too close and the individual brushwork is visible but the scene is unreadable; the reading direction is left-to-right within each scene and left-to-right around the nave)).
Practical information
- Getting to Assisi and combining with the other UNESCO sites in Umbria: transport (train (the Assisi station is 4 km below the hill town; bus service (the APM bus from the station to Porta San Pietro: 15 min; €1.30; runs every 30 min); or taxi (€12 from the station); from Perugia: Trenitalia (35 min; €4.10; 8 trains/day); from Rome: Trenitalia to Foligno (2h) then change for Assisi (15 min) or direct Intercity (2h30; €19.90); from Florence: Trenitalia (2h30; €17.90; change at Terontola); the Umbria combined tour (the classic Umbrian UNESCO circuit: Assisi (Basilica San Francesco) + Perugia (Palazzo dei Priori, Fontana Maggiore, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria) + Spello (Roman walls + Pinturicchio frescoes in the Cappella Baglioni, 1501 CE) + Spoleto (the Duomo (Filippo Lippi Dormition fresco, 1467–69 CE) + Ponte delle Torri (the 14th-century CE aqueduct bridge: 82 m high, 230 m long, 10 arches) + the UNESCO Longobard church of San Salvatore (6th century CE))); the Giotto crowd management (the peak crowd times in the upper church are: 10 AM–12 PM (tour groups from Rome and Florence arriving via coach); 2–4 PM (same groups returning from lunch); the best times: 9–10 AM (before the large groups) or 4:30–6 PM (last hour before closing; the light from the west windows illuminates the Giotto cycle at a different angle from the morning light)))
Getting there
Trenitalia da Perugia (35 min, €4.10); da Roma via Foligno (2h15); da Firenze (2h30, €17.90). Bus APM dalla stazione al centro (15 min, €1.30). Ingresso gratuito. Apertura 6am-7pm. GPS: 43.0744, 12.6051.
Nearby
- Perugia: Centro Storico — 25 km ovest (Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria (Piero della Francesca Polittico di Sant’Antonio; Perugino); Fontana Maggiore (Nicola Pisano 1277); Trenitalia da Assisi 35 min €4.10)
- Spoleto: Duomo e Ponte delle Torri — 45 km sud (Filippo Lippi Dormizione 1467-69; Ponte delle Torri 82m/10 archi 14 sec.; Longobard San Salvatore UNESCO 2011; Trenitalia da Assisi via Foligno 1h €6.80)
Gallery
Sources
- Wikipedia, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi; Francis of Assisi; Giotto di Bondone, accessed June 2026
- UNESCO, Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites, WHS reference 990, inscribed 2000
- Bellosi, Luciano. La pecora di Giotto. Torino: Einaudi, 1985 (the monograph establishing the Giotto attribution for the Assisi cycle)
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