Two churches stacked one above the other hold the tomb of Saint Francis and one of the most consequential fresco cycles in Italian art. Giotto’s narrative scenes in the Upper Basilica changed how painters handled space, weight and gesture for generations that followed.
At a glance
The Basilica of Saint Francis stands in Assisi, in the province of Perugia, and forms the centrepiece of a wider group of Franciscan sites recognised together by UNESCO: the basilica itself, the adjoining Sacro Convento friary, the Rocca Maggiore castle above the town, the Eremo delle Carceri hermitage, the Basilica di Santa Chiara, the Cathedral of San Rufino, and the Sanctuary of Rivotorto.
The building is really two churches, one set above the other into the hillside. The Lower Basilica, begun in 1228, holds the crypt with the tomb of Francis and fresco cycles by Cimabue and Simone Martini. The Upper Basilica above it is built in a fully Gothic style, with ribbed vaults, pointed arches and flying buttresses brought into Italy by the master builder Filippo da Campello, and its nave carries Giotto’s fresco cycle on the Life of Saint Francis.
Key facts
- Location: Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria
- Built: 1228–1253, consecrated 1253
- Principal artists: Cimabue (c.1280), Giotto (c.1295–1300), Simone Martini (c.1322–1326)
- Commissioned by: Pope Gregory IX, 1228
- Recognition: part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing ‘Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites’ (reference 990, inscribed 2000)
- Coordinates: 43.0744° N, 12.6035° E
History
Francis was born in Assisi to the merchant Pietro di Bernardone, who gave him the name Francesco after his trading ties with France. His conversion, traditionally dated around 1204, followed an experience in the ruined church of San Damiano and his decision to embrace lepers. In 1209 Pope Innocent III confirmed the Franciscan rule, a decision that brought the wider poverty movement of the age into the mainstream Church rather than allowing it to drift, as the Waldensians had, toward schism. In September 1224, on La Verna, Francis is said to have received the stigmata, the wounds corresponding to those of Christ, an episode Franciscan tradition treats as the central event of his life.
Pope Gregory IX arrived in Assisi two days after Francis’s canonisation on 16 July 1228 and laid the foundation stone of the basilica that same day, intending it as a monument that would make Assisi a major pilgrimage centre alongside Rome and Santiago de Compostela. Cimabue painted the Madonna in Majesty in the apse of the Lower Basilica around 1280, a work that already shows naturalistic tendencies within the Byzantine tradition it inherited. On 26 September 1997 an earthquake struck Assisi and brought down part of the vault of the Upper Basilica, destroying the Cimabue frescoes of the Evangelists that had been painted there and killing two people documenting the damage. Around eighty thousand fragments were later recovered and used to reconstruct part of what was lost. The basilica and its associated Franciscan sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000, under reference 990.
What you see
The Lower Basilica holds the tomb of Francis in a crypt beneath its floor, reached by a separate staircase; the tomb was rediscovered in 1818 and the sarcophagus, a plain block of pink Assisi stone with no ornament, is visible through iron screens, in keeping with the Franciscan ideal of poverty. Its vaults and walls carry frescoes by Cimabue and, in the Life of Saint Martin of Tours cycle, by Simone Martini, one of the most complete surviving fresco cycles of the early fourteenth century.
The Upper Basilica’s nave is given over almost entirely to Giotto’s cycle on the Life of Saint Francis, twenty-eight scenes arranged in two registers along the south, north and west walls, read clockwise. The cycle broke with the preceding Byzantine and Sienese traditions in several ways: buildings are shown in three-quarter perspective to create real depth, figures stand with visible weight on the ground and cast shadows, drapery responds to gravity, and bystanders react individually to what they witness rather than repeating a single formula. One scene, the Presepio di Greccio, shows a church interior with the congregation visible inside it, an early instance of interior perspective in Western painting. The west facade of the Upper Basilica carries a rose window cut by Cosmati workmen, its stone matrix inlaid with porphyry and cipollino marble in geometric patterns, the only surviving example of this technique applied to a window in central Italian church architecture.
Practical information
- Dress code: shoulders and legs must be covered; shorts are not permitted, and coverings are available at the entrance for visitors without them
- Photography: allowed in the Lower Basilica but not in the Upper Basilica, a rule introduced in 2004 following a dispute over commercial use of images of the Giotto frescoes
- Access to the tomb: the crypt is reached via a separate staircase from the Lower Basilica; check the basilica’s own visitor information for current arrangements
- Suggested visit: the Lower Basilica, the crypt, the Cimabue apse, the Upper Basilica and the adjoining Sacro Convento together are best allowed a full day
Getting there
The basilica stands within the historic centre of Assisi, in Umbria, and is reached on foot through the town; visitors should consult the basilica’s own official channels for current transport and access information.
Nearby
- Sacro Convento — the Franciscan friary adjoining the basilica
- Rocca Maggiore — the medieval castle overlooking the town
- Eremo delle Carceri — a hermitage in the forests above Assisi
- Basilica di Santa Chiara and Cathedral of San Rufino — the other major Franciscan-era churches within Assisi, part of the same World Heritage listing
Sources
- UNESCO
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