Looking up from the Umbrian plain, the first thing visitors notice is not a church spire, but a long row of pink stone arches marching along the hillside, supporting the massive friary above like a multi-tiered arcaded rampart. Climbing up to the site reveals two plazas set at two different levels: the lower court is framed by stone colonnades leading into the Lower Church, while the upper court opens onto a grassy lawn before a simple gabled facade pierced by a rose window. Inside the Lower Church, the vaults are low and dim, and visitors instinctively lower their voices.
This is the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (Basilica di San Francesco) in the town of Assisi, Umbria, the burial church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Francesco d'Assisi), founder of the Franciscan Order and patron saint of Italy. In a country with thousands of historic churches, this sanctuary stands as a singular landmark because the saint resting beneath its altar is cherished by Italians as a figure belonging to the entire nation.
ISaint Francis and the Path of Evangelical Poverty
Saint Francis was the son of a cloth merchant in Assisi who renounced his patrimony to live in Gospel poverty, gathering around himself a brotherhood that grew into the Order of Friars Minor, widely known as the Franciscans. He died in 1226. Less than two years later, on July 16, 1228, Pope Gregory IX traveled in person to Assisi to canonize him, and on the very next day laid the foundation stone of the basilica.
Today the basilica and its adjoining friary, called the Sacred Convent (Sacro Convento), are entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (Frati Minori Conventuali), one of the three main branches of the Franciscan family. Like St. Peter's Basilica, this sanctuary holds the rank of a Papal Basilica. The difference is that St. Peter's stands over the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles at the center of the universal Church, whereas Assisi guards the tomb of a friar who founded a movement of radical poverty.
Franciscan spirituality centers on poverty, understood not as mere ascetic deprivation, but as a way of following Jesus Christ, who according to the Gospels was born in a manger and died stripped on the cross. Franciscans address all creatures as brothers and sisters, and Saint Francis's Canticle of the Sun, composed in the Umbrian vernacular, is regarded as one of the earliest literary works in the Italian language. Catholic tradition also venerates his reception of the Stigmata, the five wounds of the crucified Christ that appeared on his body two years before his death.
According to Key to Umbria, the man entrusted with overseeing construction was Brother Elias of Cortona, who led the Order after the death of Saint Francis. The plot of land chosen for the church lay just outside the town walls on a promontory formerly known as the Hill of Hell (Collis Inferni), donated by two citizens of Assisi, Simone di Pucciarello and Monaldo di Leonardo. By 1230, the papal bull Is qui ecclesiam of Pope Gregory IX had renamed the site the Hill of Paradise (Collis Paradisi) and declared the church the head and mother (caput et mater) of the entire Franciscan Order. On May 25, 1230, the saint's body was translated in solemn procession from the church of San Giorgio inside the town to the new basilica.
Many visitors assume Saint Francis died on the spot where this basilica stands. He did not. He passed away down on the plain at the small chapel of the Porziuncola, now enclosed within another papal basilica, and the evening service of the Transitus on October 3 commemorates that exact hour. The basilica on the hill is his burial place. For nearly six centuries, his body lay sealed deep within the rock beneath the high altar of the Lower Church, hidden from view. The underground crypt visited by pilgrims today was excavated only in 1818 and remodeled in the 1920s by the architect Ugo Tarchi. Behind the crypt altar rest the tombs of four of his closest companions: Brothers Rufino, Angelo, Masseo, and Leo.
IITwenty-Five Years to Build Two Churches
The pace of construction was remarkably swift compared with other great European churches of the Middle Ages. The Lower Church was ready in just two years to receive the saint's relics, and the Upper Church was completed within twenty-five years. Throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, the foremost painters of Italy came one after another to cover its walls with frescoes, turning the sanctuary into a living gallery of early Italian painting prior to the Renaissance.
- 1228Canonization and foundation stoneOn April 29 Pope Gregory IX issues the bull Recolentes qualiter announcing the project. On July 16 he canonizes Saint Francis in Assisi, and on July 17 he lays the foundation stone.
- 1230Lower Church completed, translation of relicsOn May 25 the saint's body is brought from the church of San Giorgio and interred beneath the high altar of the Lower Church.
- 1239Bell tower completedKey to Umbria records that the campanile was finished by 1239, when its first bells were cast. Its tall pointed spire had to be demolished in the 16th century.
- 1253Consecration of both high altarsOn May 25, Pope Innocent IV consecrates the high altars of both the Lower and Upper Churches.
- Late 13th to 14th centuriesFresco cyclesThe Master of Saint Francis, Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, and Puccio Capanna successively paint the walls and vaults of both churches.
- 1818Excavation of the cryptAn underground crypt is opened beneath the Lower Church so the faithful can approach the saint's tomb, later remodeled by architect Ugo Tarchi in the 1920s.
- 1997 to 1999Earthquake and restorationOn September 26, 1997, earthquakes cause sections of the Upper Church vault to collapse, killing four people and shattering about 200 square meters of frescoes. The Upper Church reopens on November 28, 1999.
- 2000UNESCO World Heritage SiteAssisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites are inscribed under cultural criteria i, ii, iii, iv, and vi.
On the foundation date, UNESCO records only the year 1228 without specifying a day. Key to Umbria and the regional tourism portal of Umbria give July 17, one day after the canonization ceremony, and Key to Umbria notes that Pope Gregory IX had already announced his intention to build the church in the bull Recolentes qualiter of April 29, 1228.
On the authorship of the 28 scenes from the Life of Saint Francis in the Upper Church, the official tourism portal of Assisi attributes the cycle directly to Giotto, which remains the customary attribution. Art historians, however, continue to debate how much was painted by Giotto himself and how much by other masters and workshops. The library therefore describes the cycle as attributed to Giotto to reflect the scholarly consensus accurately.
Following the 1997 earthquake, according to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, roughly 300,000 fresco fragments were painstakingly collected, of which 220,000 were returned to their places by twenty professional restorers, while the remaining 80,000 fragments were catalogued and preserved.
IIIA Romanesque Lower Church and a Gothic Upper Church
The sanctuary consists of two churches built one atop the other (the Basilica Inferiore and Basilica Superiore) from pale pink limestone quarried on Mount Subasio behind the town. The Lower Church follows the Romanesque style, with low groin vaults, thick walls, and subdued light suited to a burial shrine and space of quiet prayer. The Upper Church follows the Italian Gothic style, with a single tall, luminous nave, stained-glass windows, and broad wall surfaces designed for narrative painting. The two levels express two distinct moods: quiet contemplation beside the tomb below, and a visual proclamation of the saint's life above.
The facade of the Upper Church is austere, featuring a triangular gable, a double portal, and a central rose window framed by the symbols of the Four Evangelists. According to Key to Umbria, the commune donated land in front of the two churches in 1246, the upper piazza was leveled in 1278, and the staircase and colonnaded portico of the lower piazza were expanded starting in 1474 under Pope Sixtus IV.
A comparable arrangement in which a church and monastic complex are fused onto a steep promontory can be seen at Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, although that sanctuary belongs to the Benedictine tradition rather than the Franciscan family.
Basilica Inferiore, completed in 1230 on a Latin cross plan with a semicircular apse. Its walls and vaults are covered with frescoes by Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, and Puccio Capanna.
Basilica Superiore, built from 1230 to 1253 in the Italian Gothic style with a polygonal apse. Along both walls of the nave runs the 28-scene cycle of the Life of Saint Francis attributed to Giotto, while the apse and transept hold frescoes by Cimabue.
Excavated in 1818 and remodeled in neo-Gothic forms in the 1920s, housing the stone sarcophagus of Saint Francis alongside the tombs of his four close companions, Rufino, Angelo, Masseo, and Leo.
Sacro Convento, the monastic complex built alongside the basilica during the time of Brother Elias, resting upon the long row of pink stone arches along the hillside.
Completed before 1239, its original pointed spire was removed in the 16th century.
| Feature | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation stone laid | July 17, 1228 | keytoumbria, umbriatourism, UNESCO lists year only |
| Lower Church completed | 1230 | visit-assisi |
| Consecration of both high altars | May 25, 1253 | keytoumbria |
| Upper piazza | Land donated 1246, leveled 1278 | keytoumbria |
| Lower piazza portico and stairs | From 1474 | keytoumbria, visit-assisi |
| Crypt | 1818, remodeled 1920s | visit-assisi |
IVLandform and Orientation
This section presents a reading foreign to Catholicism: the Catholic Church does not teach geomancy, and the builders of 1228 did not consult any such system. Their rule was liturgical orientation. Notably, Assisi departs from the medieval norm: as Key to Umbria observes, both levels of the basilica place their apse at the western end, while the facade of the Upper Church faces east toward the town. The practical reason lies in the terrain: the basilica stands at the western tip of the hill spur, so its doors had to open eastward toward approaching townspeople and pilgrims. The library offers the notes below through the lens of traditional Vietnamese geomancy so readers familiar with that tradition have a point of comparison, not as part of the basilica's own historical record.
In traditional Vietnamese terms, the first feature is the mountain vein. The town of Assisi clings to the western slope of Mount Subasio, and the basilica sits at the very tip of a ridge descending from the mountain. Classical geomantic texts call the terminus of a mountain spur, where the ridge halts before dropping into the plain, a spot where vital energy gathers, and favor placing sanctuaries there.
Second is the bright hall (minh đường). Below the hill to the west and south stretches the broad, flat Umbrian plain. Looking down from the arcades of the Sacred Convent, the valley opens out to the horizon like a vast bright hall. Yet the sanctuary apse turns its back to that plain, creating a posture of backing onto the open valley while facing the town, the reverse of traditional Vietnamese temples that open their front gates toward the expanse.
Third is the transformation of the name. Townsfolk renamed the Hill of Hell the Hill of Paradise once the saint's tomb was placed here. Vietnamese tradition speaks of land made auspicious by virtuous people, where an grim site becomes sacred ground because a revered figure rests within it. We note this parallel as a meeting point between two cultural sensibilities, without claiming one explains the other.
VThe Transitus and the Feast of Saint Francis
The basilica follows the Roman liturgical calendar on the Gregorian system, supplemented by the proper calendar of the Franciscan Order. The culmination of the year falls on two consecutive days in early October: the vigil on the evening of October 3 commemorating the hour of the saint's passing, and the solemnity on October 4, which is also observed across Italy as the feast of the nation's patron saint. Each year on October 4, a different region of Italy takes turns offering the olive oil that feeds the votive lamp burning continuously beside the saint's tomb. The table below lists dates only, without hours.
| Date | Calendar | Observance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 3 (evening) | Franciscan calendar, Gregorian | Transitus of Saint Francis | Liturgy commemorating the hour of Saint Francis's death in 1226. |
| October 4 | Roman liturgical calendar | Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi | Principal feast of the basilica and feast of the patron saint of Italy, featuring the annual offering of oil for the tomb's votive lamp by an Italian region. |
| September 17 | Franciscan calendar | Feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis | Commemorates the imprinting of the five wounds of Christ on the saint, observed across the Franciscan family. |
| May 25 | Gregorian calendar | Anniversary of Translation and Consecration | Marks two historical milestones of the basilica: the translation of the saint's relics in 1230 and the consecration of both high altars in 1253. |
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Piazza Inferiore di San Francesco 2, 06081 Assisi (PG), Umbria
- Getting there
- Assisi lies in the Umbria region of central Italy. The railway station is located down on the plain at Santa Maria degli Angeli, from which regular buses run up to the hill town, where the basilica stands at the western end of Assisi.
- Coordinates
- 43.075, 12.6054
The basilica is a place of prayer beside a saint's tomb, and silence is strictly observed: inside the Lower Church and the crypt, friars regularly remind visitors to remain quiet. Photography is prohibited inside the churches. Shoulders and knees must be covered. While Mass is being celebrated, visitors viewing the frescoes should stay toward the rear or wait outside in the piazza.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
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Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Vương cung thánh đường Thánh Phanxicô, AssisiEveryone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
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?Quick Questions
Who is venerated at the Basilica of Assisi
It is the burial sanctuary of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order and patron saint of Italy. His body was brought here on May 25, 1230, and rests today in the crypt beneath the Lower Church alongside his four close companions, Brothers Rufino, Angelo, Masseo, and Leo. The sanctuary is entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual.
When was the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi built
Pope Gregory IX laid the foundation stone on July 17, 1228, one day after canonizing Saint Francis. The Lower Church was finished in 1230, and the Upper Church was built between 1230 and 1253, with both high altars consecrated on May 25, 1253. UNESCO lists only the founding year 1228.
What are the Giotto frescoes in Assisi
They form a cycle of 28 scenes from the Life of Saint Francis painted along both walls of the nave in the Upper Church, as noted by the Assisi tourism portal. While traditionally attributed to Giotto, art historians continue to debate the exact share painted by Giotto himself versus other masters and workshops. The basilica also preserves frescoes by Cimabue, Simone Martini, and Pietro Lorenzetti.
What damage did the 1997 earthquake cause in Assisi
On September 26, 1997, earthquakes caused sections of the Upper Church vault to collapse, killing four people and shattering roughly 200 square meters of frescoes. About 300,000 fragments were recovered, and 220,000 were placed back on the vaults by restorers. The Upper Church reopened on November 28, 1999.
When is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi celebrated
On October 4 according to the Roman liturgical calendar, which is also celebrated as the feast of the patron saint of Italy. On the preceding evening, October 3, the Franciscan family celebrates the Transitus to commemorate the hour of his passing in 1226. These two days are the largest annual observances at the basilica.