Assisi

Assisi Ascesi
Comune
Comune di Assisi
Assisi
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Assisi
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	06081
Dialing code	075
Patron saint	St. Rufinus of Assisi
Saint day	12 August
Website	www.comune.assisi.pg.it
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites
Includes	San Damiano, Eremo delle Carceri, Santuario di Rivotorto, Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli and Palazzo del Capitano del Perdono
Criteria	Cultural: i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Reference	990
Inscription	2000 (24th Session)
Area	14,563.25 ha
Buffer zone	4,086.7 ha

Assisi (

The Augustan age poet Propertius is considered to have been born in what is now the city of Assisi.

In 238 AD Assisi was converted to Christianity by bishop Rufino, who was martyred at Costano. According to tradition, his remains rest in the Cathedral Church of San Rufino in Assisi.

The Ostrogoths of king Totila destroyed most of the town in 545. Assisi then came under the rule of the Lombards as part of the Lombard and then Frankish Duchy of Spoleto.

The thriving

The city, which had remained within the confines of the Roman walls, began to expand outside these walls in the 13th century. In this period the city was under papal jurisdiction. The Rocca Maggiore, the imperial fortress on top of the hill above the city, which had been plundered by the people in 1189, was rebuilt in 1367 on orders of the papal legate, cardinal Gil de Albornoz.

In the beginning, Assisi fell under the rule of Perugia and later under several despots, such as the soldier of fortune Biordo Michelotti, Gian Galeazzo Visconti and his successor Francesco I Sforza, dukes of Milan, Jacopo Piccinino and Federico II da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino. The city went into a deep decline through the plague of the Black Death in 1348.

The city came again under papal jurisdiction under the rule of Pope Pius II (1458–1464).

In 1569 construction was started of the

Now the site of many a pilgrimage, Assisi is linked in legend with its native son, St. Francis. The gentle saint founded the Franciscan order and shares honours with St. Catherine of Siena as the patron saint of Italy. 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).

During

Assisi was hit by two devastating earthquakes that shook Umbria in September 1997. But the recovery and restoration have been remarkable, although much remains to be done. Massive damage was caused to many historical sites, but the major attraction, the Basilica di San Francesco, reopened less than 2 years later.

Main sights

UNESCO collectively designated the Franciscan structures of Assisi as a World Heritage Site in 2000.

Churches

• Giotto; the upper church houses frescoes of scenes in the life of St. Francis previously ascribed to Giotto, but now thought to be by artists of the circle of Pietro Cavallini
  from Rome. The Basilica was badly damaged by a 5.5 earthquake on 26 September 1997, during which part of the vault collapsed, killing four people inside the church and carrying with it a fresco by Cimabue. The edifice was closed for two years for restoration.
• Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary the Greater): earliest extant church in Assisi.
• Roman era
  .
• namesake saint
  .
• Porziuncola
  .
• Chiesa Nuova
  : church built over the presumed parental home of St. Francis
• Santo Stefano
  : one of the oldest churches of Assisi.
• Eremo delle Carceri: a small monastery with a church at a canyon above the town, where St. Francis retreated and preached to birds
• rose windows
  ; the Gothic chapel of the Holy Sacrament houses a triptych by Matteo di Gualdo.
• Church of San Damiano is where Saint Clare and the Poor Clares lived and is the location of Saint Francis' conversion.

Other landmarks

The town is dominated by two medieval

Other sights include:

• the Roman
  amphitheater, built in the early 1st century AD. Its elliptical plan is identifiable from the medieval houses built around it, and from an arch of travertine cunei. The arena now houses a garden.^[11]
• the Piazza del Comune ("Communal Square"), with the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (mid-13th century, featuring a series of merlons added in 1927), the adjoining Torre del Popolo ("People's Tower", 1305) the Palazzo dei Priori ("Palace of the Priors", 1275–1493). The fountains with three lions on the southern side date from the 16th century.
• The
  Temple of Minerva
  , also facing the Piazza del Comune
• The abbey of St. Benedict, founded in the 10th century on the Monte Subasio. Remains include the crypt (late 11th century), the apse and the external walls.

Art

See also Art in Assisi

Assisi has had a rich tradition of art through the centuries and is now home to a number of well-known artistic works.^[12]

Artists

The Calendimaggio Festival takes place on the first four days of May ending on a Saturday. The festival is a re-enactment of medieval and Renaissance life in the form of a challenge between the upper faction (parte de sopra) with a blue flag and the lower faction of the town (parte de sotto) with a red flag. It includes processions, theatrical presentations, choirs, crossbow, flag-waving and dancing contests.

Assisi Embroidery is a form of counted-thread embroidery which has been practised in Assisi since the 13th century.

Today many groups gather in Assisi for a variety of cultural and religious activities. One such group^[

Assisi was the home of several saints, including:

• Agnes of Assisi
• Clare of Assisi
• Francis of Assisi
• Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
• Rufinus of Assisi
• Vitalis of Assisi
• Sylvester of Assisi

Transport

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Assisi is

Others

The two

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Assisi.

• Official website
• Assisi travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Asisium" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 762.