Assisi is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Italy and one of the country's most visited cities by tourists. All this thanks to St. Francis and related monuments such as the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels with the Portiuncula Chapel or the Basilica of St. Francis .
The medieval buildings of Assisi have survived to our times in excellent condition, thanks to which it was entered on the UNESCO list. It consists of Gothic and Baroque churches, the Rocca Maggiore castle , numerous stone houses and remains of the city's fortifications. An additional attraction of Assisi is its location on the slopes of the hill, overlooking the beautiful Umbrian landscapes.
Although the monuments of Assisi are among the most magnificent in this part of Italy, what primarily attracts crowds of pilgrims and tourists here are the figures of St. Francis and St. Clara. In the thirteenth century, they revolutionized the approach to religion and the rules of religious life, and today the Franciscan orders are among the most important in the world.
In Assisi, it is impossible to ignore the places associated with the lives of both saints, from their birthplaces to their tombs. The most important place associated with St. Francis is the Basilica of St. Francis, consisting of the Lower Church with the Crypt of St. Francis , the Upper Church and the adjoining Sacro Convento monastery. The frescoes decorating both basilicas come from different epochs and were made by eminent Italian masters, led by Giotto.
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels is of no less importance, in which there is the Porcjuncula chapel built by St. Francis. An important place associated with the saint is also the Hermitage in Carceri on the slope of Mount Subasio. This place was given to Francis by the Benedictines, and he often prayed in the local grotto.
The 13th-century St. Clare hides a crypt with her relics and is decorated with medieval frescoes. Among other monuments of Assisi, one can mention, for example, the Romanesque cathedral of St. Rufina , Town Hall Square with the Roman temple of Minerva , which was turned into the Church of Our Lady, and the Church of St. Damian , where the first monastery of Poor Clares was located.
