This photo journal features the Umbrian hill town of Assisi, located 100 miles north of Rome. With its Roman ruins, winding medieval streets & sacred shrines, Assisi has been a major Catholic pilgrimage center for centuries & is today one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy. Although Assisi proper has only about 3,000 inhabitants, 4 to 5 million pilgrims & tourists throng the small town each year. The town may have lost a bit of its hill-town charm & become rather touristy, but its many great sites make it a worthy stop.

Assisi is ideally placed on the rise to Mt Subasio & watched over by the medieval Rocco Maggiore (Great Fortress). Assisi is forever linked in legend to its native son St Francis, the gentle saint who founded the Franciscan order in 1208, & shares honors with St Catherine of Siena as the patron saint of Italy. (Curiously, Assisi was made very rich by St. Francis, the apostle of poverty.) But he is remembered by many, even non-Christians, as a lover of nature - his preaching to an audience of birds is one of the legends of his life. St Francis put Assisi on the map, & making a pilgrimage here is one of the highlights of a visit to Umbria. But even without St Francis, the pretty hill town deserves a visit just for its sights, architecture, & quaint charm. In fact, UNESCO collectively designated the major monuments & urban fabric of Assisi as a World Heritage Site in 2000.

Assisi's main attraction, of course, is the 13th-century Basilica di San Francesco, which contains the sacred relics of St Francis & beautiful frescoes of his life. There are at least seven other churches well worth visiting for their history, beauty, & connection with Francis or his friend Clare. Although Assisi was hit by the devastating earthquakes that shook Umbria in 1997, recovery & restoration has been remarkable, although much remains to be done. Massive damage was done to many historical sites, but the Basilica di San Francesco reopened less than 2 years later in time to greet visitors for their Jubilee in 1999.

More info here: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/assisi.htm

or here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisi

THE BASILICA OF SAN FRANCESCO:

The Basilica of San Francesco is the burial place of St Francis & the mother church of the Franciscan Order which he founded in 1212. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site & one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy. After being closed in the aftermath of the 1997 earthquakes in the Umbria region, the basilica was reopened to the public in 1999. The major restoration effort involved some of Europe’s greatest craftsmen.

The basilica complex, built into the side of a hill, is a distinctive landmark in Assisi. The complex comprises a lower church (1228-30) & an upper church (1230-53), & an adjoining friary (monastery), with the lofty arcades of the friary supporting & buttressing the church in its seemingly precarious position on the hillside. In structural terms, the lower church was basically designed as a large crypt to support the upper church. The architecture of the complex, a blend of Romanesque & Gothic styles, established many of the typical characteristics of what was later called Italian Gothic architecture.

The church interiors: As is characteristic of Italian church architecture, the main decorative feature & the main medium used for conveying the Church's message is fresco rather than stained glass. The work involved numerous artists, some renowned, but many no longer known by name. The earliest frescoes in this complex are in the lower church, but the most important frescoes are the series of 28 frescoes along the lower part of the nave in the upper church ascribed to a young Giotto. The paintings are so vivid, it’s as if Giotto had been a witness to these events. Photography of the interior is not allowed, but there are some wonderful photos in this gallery: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/assisi-basilica-san-francesco-pictures/index.htm

Upper church: The bright & spacious upper church has a single nave with four ribbed vaults, a transept, & a polygonal apse. The apse has 102 carved wood choir stalls, & the papal cathedra (throne) is on a raised platform in the center of the apse. The upper part of the church on both sides of the nave, badly damaged by the earthquakes of 1997, is decorated with 32 scenes from the Old Testament. The series of 28 important frescoes, ascribed to Giotto, are along the lower part of the nave.

Lower church: The Lower Church was built entirely in the Romanesque style, but the space was greatly extended with a number of chapels that were added between 1350 & 1400. This church was designed as an enormous crypt with ribbed vaults, much like the huge sepulchers out of hard rock in Syria. It has a central nave with several side chapels. The oldest frescoes in the complex are here in the lower church. They feature five scenes from the Passion of Christ on one side, & five scenes from the Life of St. Francis on the other.

The remains of the Saint Francis are interred in a crypt under the lower church. The crypt was built after his remains were rediscovered beneath the floor of the lower church in 1818 (they had been hidden to prevent the spread of his relics in medieval Europe).

Friary: The friary (Sacro Convento), which stands next to the basilica, towers over the valley below giving the impression of a fortress. It has imposing walls with 53 Romanesque arches, & powerful buttresses that support the whole complex. It was built with pink & white stone from Mount Subasio. (See below for more information about the Franciscans & this friary.)

SACRO CONVENTO:

This Franciscan friary (monastery), which is adjacent to the basilica, is the spiritual center of the order of Conventual Franciscans* who consider Assisi as the mother town. The cornerstone for the basilica & friary was laid on 17 July 1228, the day after the canonization of Saint Francis. Two years later, in 1230, the lower church was ready to receive the bones of Saint Francis from the church of San Gregorio, where they had been kept after he died in 1226. (San Gregorio church later became the Basilica di Santa Chiara, after St Clare's death.)

The church & monastery complex were completed by 1253. The original part of the Sacro Convento consisted of a refectory, dormitory, chapter hall, papal hall, & a manuscript library that rivaled the Sorbonne & Avignon for the first 200 years of its existence. In the 15th century, the Sacro Convento was extensively enlarged & used as a summer residence of the popes. In the 17th century, the kings of Spain endowed the Sacro Convento with a larger hospice so that the friars could better provide for the many infirm pilgrims. In 1971, it became a theological institute to meet the academic needs of international students from all three branches of the Order plus several Franciscan sister communities & the Benedictines. It also became the theological training center for diocese seminarians, as well as for lay women & men seeking advanced degrees in Religious Studies.

*[When the Order began moving into the cities to work with the poor, the resulting controversy split the Order into two factions - those who desired a life of solitary meditation in rural areas, and those who desired to live together in friaries & work among the urban poor. This latter group was first known as the "Friars of the Community", then were later referred to as “Fratres Conventuales” (Conventual Friars) - a generic term to describe those religious who lived in a stable house (conventus in Latin). However, the official title remained “Fratres Minores” until the division of 1517, when these followers of Saint Francis became definitively known as Fratres Minores Conventuales - "Friars Minor Conventual".]

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacro_Convento

TEMPLE TO MINERVA:

Santa Maria sopra Minerva, like the church of the same name in Rome, is a church dedicated to Mary built over a Roman Temple to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. Parts of the Roman temple, which dates from the time of Augustus (63 BC-AD 14), still remain. In Roman times, the piazza in front of the temple was the main city center, & some early Christian martyrs were likely executed here.

By the late 4th & 5th centuries, paganism was basically outlawed & the Temple to Minerva was abandoned, although not destroyed. Sometime in the late 6th century, Benedictine monks restored the temple, divided the interior into two floors, & created a living area on the upper level & the church of San Donato on the lower level. In the 13th century, the monks leased the temple to the newly-formed Comune of Assisi, which made the temple its headquarters from 1215 to 1270. In fact, the Temple of Minerva/San Donato was used as the municipal jail until the 15th century.

In 1456, the temple returned to sacred use & the church of San Donato was reopened. In the meantime, the Italian Renaissance inspired a newfound appreciation for classical art & architecture. So in the years 1527-1530, the magistrates of Assisi ordered restoration projects to be undertaken. In 1539, Pope Paolo III made a visit to Assisi & ordered the complete restoration of the Temple to Minerva to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary, queen of true wisdom. The temple then took the name of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (St. Mary over Minerva). In 1613, the bishop of Assisi donated Santa Maria sopra Minerva to the friars of the Third Regular Order of St. Francis, who conducted regular services & undertook several restorations. (Unfortunately, It is said that the expectations raised by the perfect classical facade are not met by the interior with its thorough Baroque assault in the 17th century.)

A detailed history is available here: http://www.franciscanum.it/English/temple.html