Page 361 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

UMBRIA  359

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST 2 Assisi
Practical Information Perugia. * 25,000. V @ n Piazza
Piazza San Francesco. del Comune 22 (075 813 86 80).
Tel 075 81 90 01. Open 6am– ( Sat. ∑ umbriatourism.it
6pm daily (Upper Church: from
8:30am). Longer hours Sun & This beautiful medieval town,
summer. 5 7 with its geranium-hung streets,
∑ sanfrancescoassisi.org
lovely views and fountain-
Transport splashed piazzas, is heir to
@ V the legacy of St Francis (c.1181–
1226), who is buried in the
Upper Church Basilica di San Francesco.
The soaring Gothic lines of the Sadly the town suffered serious
13th-century Upper Church damage during the earthquake
symbolized the heavenly glory of September 1997, but
of St Francis. This style also restoration was relatively swift –
influenced later Franciscan completed in approximately
churches. two years. The tourist office
can give information on which
sights are open to visitors.
Piazza del Comune, Assisi’s
main square, is dominated by
the columns of the Tempio di
Minerva, a Roman temple-front
Entrance to from the Augustan age. The
Upper Church Palazzo Comunale, opposite,
is home to the Pinacoteca
Comunale, an art gallery with
works by local medieval artists.
Down Corso Mazzini lies
the Basilica di Santa Chiara,
the burial place of St Clare –
Francis’s companion and the
founder of the Poor Clares
(an order of nuns). One of its
chapels contains the crucifix
that is said to have bowed its
head and ordered Francis to
“Repair God’s church”. It
came from San Damiano,
a sublime church set
amid olive groves south
Entrance to Lower Church of the Porta Nuova.
The Duomo (San
. Frescoes by Giotto Rufino), built during the
The Ecstasy of St Francis is one 12th and 13th centuries,
of 28 panels that make up
Giotto’s cycle on the Life of has a superb Romanesque
façade. Inside is a small
St Francis (c.1290–95).
museum of paintings, and
there are archaeological
items in the crypt. From the
Duomo, Via Maria delle Rose
leads to the Rocca Maggiore
(rebuilt in 1367), an evocative
if much-restored castle.
. Cappella di San Martino Thirteenth-century San
The frescoes in this chapel on Pietro, on Piazza San Pietro, is
the Life of St Martin (1315) are a simple and carefully restored
by the Sienese painter Simone Romanesque church. The nearby
Martini. This panel shows the Oratorio dei Pellegrini, a
Death of the Saint. Martini was 15th-century pilgrims’ hospice,
also responsible for the fine contains well-preserved
stained glass in the chapel. frescoes by Matteo da Gualdo.
Giotto’s fresco, St Francis Appearing to the Friars at Arles (c.1295), in the Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi

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