Ascend to Assisi: Italy’s Medieval Birthplace of the Franciscan Order
St. Francis was born to a privileged family in Assisi in 1182. A wild and restless youth, he suddenly abandoned his rowdy lifestyle and elaborate dreams at the age of 19 after having been taken prisoner of war in nearby Perugia. He then became a deeply religious mystic and, after experiencing several overpowering visions, founded the famous Franciscan Order in 1210. He and the humble friars of his order, through the very unassuming, simple life and the philosophy they lived, were to become an affront to the decadent Papacy of that period. The Franciscan Order soon enjoyed enormous popularity throughout all of Europe and came to be seen as a symbol against hypocrisy and corruption within the Church.
Assisi’s Basilica of San Francesco, finished in 1253 (St. Francis was canonized in 1228), is one Italy’s best-loved monuments. Pilgrims have been flocking to Assisi and its Basilica since the mid 1400’s from all over Europe. And they keep arriving here to this very day; it now being among one of the most visited of all Christian shrines. But art lovers are also among the many pilgrims who come to visit the Basilica. The so-called lower church (Basilica inferiore) has gorgeous frescos by the late-medieval artists Cimabue and Giotto. There are frescos of scenes of St. Francis’ life in the upper church (Basilica superiore) by Giotto, as well, as are some of the most famous late Gothic paintings done by artists like Ambrogio, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti.
And it is even believed that Assisi was considered to be a sacred place long before the Franciscan era. No one knows much about the founding of the town, but one legend has it that Etruscans settled here because of a holy spring, roughly 500 years BC. And roughly around 100 BC a temple was constructed at this spring to honor the Roman goddess Minerva. It was destroyed during the early Christian era and a series of churches were built at this location, this process reaching its culmination with the construction of the Basilica of San Francesco. The city was struck by an earthquake in 1997 and the Basilica was badly damaged, needing two years of restoration work before being able to open to the public again.
Assisi offers its visitors an excellent view of the surrounding Umbrian countryside. It is a relatively small town, having only about 6,000 inhabitants in the city proper. It is nevertheless packed all year round do to the unrelenting stream of curious tourists and pilgrims. There are plenty of places to eat and drink in Assisi, as is the case everywhere else in Italy. The local specialty is pasta, but the local truffles and olive oil are also of very high quality. If you don’t care missing the most obvious tourist options, walk a distance away from the Basilica. You can’t miss the signs pointing down narrow lanes or the Via San Francesco that will direct you to Assisi’s many smaller restaurants and pizzerias in the central part of town.
And should you be one of the few visitors who is not interested in either religion or culture, Assisi is also an ideal place to do some hiking. Views from the Basilica and its piazza are incomparable, and it is said that the air here is some of the freshest in Italy.
Yes, Assisi has something for everyone, for every one of its visitors who chooses to walk along its sun baked stonework. Spend a pleasant day wandering through the streets of Assisi – or take a trip back through time down Asisium’s medieval and ancient past.
