The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; Latin: Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the main church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region of central Italy. Saint Francis was born and died there. The basilica is a special church recognized by the Pope and is one of the most important places for Christian pilgrimages in Italy. Along with its nearby friary, Sacro Convento, the basilica is a famous landmark visible to people traveling to Assisi. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

Construction of the basilica began in 1228. It is built into the side of a hill and includes two churches (called the Upper Church and the Lower Church) and a crypt where Saint Francis’s remains are kept. The interior of the Upper Church is an early example of the Gothic style in Italy. Both the Upper and Lower Churches are decorated with frescoes painted by many late medieval artists from Rome and Tuscany. These artists include Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, and possibly Pietro Cavallini. The variety and quality of these artworks make the basilica an important example of the development of Italian art during this time, especially when compared to other parts of Christian Europe.

History

The Franciscan friary (Sacro Convento) and the Lower and Upper Basilicas (Italian: Basilica inferiore e superiore) of Saint Francis of Assisi were started soon after he was declared a saint in 1228. Simone di Pucciarello gave the land for the church, a hill on the west side of Assisi called "Hill of Hell" (Italian: Colle d'Inferno), where criminals were once executed. Today, the hill is known as "Hill of Paradise."

On July 16, 1228, Pope Gregory IX canonized Saint Francis in Assisi and laid the foundation stone of the new church the next day. Construction may have already begun at his request. The Pope declared the church the property of the papacy. The church was designed by Maestro Jacopo Tedesco, the most famous architect of that time. Brother Elias of Cortona, a follower of Saint Francis and former Vicar General of the Order, oversaw the construction. The Lower Basilica was completed in 1230. On May 25, 1230, Saint Francis's remains were moved in a ceremony to the Lower Basilica from their temporary resting place in the church of San Giorgio (now the Basilica of Saint Clare of Assisi). The burial site was hidden to prevent theft. Construction of the Upper Basilica began after 1239 and was finished in 1253. Both churches were officially blessed by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

In 1288, Pope Nicholas IV, a former leader of the Franciscan Order, made the church a Papal Church. The Piazza del Loge, the square leading to the church, was surrounded by colonnades built in 1474 to accommodate pilgrims visiting the church. In 1818, Saint Francis's remains were found under the floor of the Lower Basilica. During Pope Pius VII's reign, a crypt was built so people could visit the saint's burial place.

On October 27, 1986, and January 2002, Pope John Paul II met with more than 120 religious leaders from different faiths and Christian denominations in Assisi for a World Day of Prayer for Peace.

On September 26, 1997, two earthquakes struck the Assisi area, measuring 5.7 and 6.0 in strength. Many ancient buildings were damaged or destroyed. While experts and friars inspected the Basilica of Saint Francis, an aftershock caused the vault to collapse, killing two friars and two specialists. Some frescoes of Saint Francis's life by Giotto in the Upper Basilica were slightly damaged, while those in the collapsed sections were mostly destroyed. The church was closed for two years to be restored. The collapse was recorded on video.

Architecture

The church was designed by Maestro Jacopo Tedesco and built on two levels, each of which is a church. The upper level is called the "Basilica superiore," or "Upper Church," and the lower level is called the "Basilica inferiore," or "Lower Church." The Lower Church was built as a large underground chamber that supported the Upper Church. In the 19th century, a new underground chamber was added beneath the Lower Church. The outside of the church appears connected to the Friary of St. Francis because the tall arches of the friary support and strengthen the church, which is built on a hillside.

The church combines elements of the Romanesque and Gothic styles, and it influenced the development of Italian Gothic architecture. When first built, both the Upper and Lower Churches had a simple cross-shaped plan with a nave that had four square sections, a square center, a transept that extended halfway on each side, and an apse. The Lower Church’s apse was semicircular, while the Upper Church’s apse was polygonal. A bell tower, designed in the Romanesque style, stands to the left of the church.

The Lower Church was entirely built in the Romanesque style, with low, rounded ribbed vaults over the nave and barrel vaults over the transept. Over time, the space was expanded with many side and transept chapels added between 1350 and 1400. The main entrance to the nave is through a detailed Gothic doorway built between 1280 and 1300, later enclosed by a simple Renaissance-style porch built in 1487 by Francesco di Bartolomeo da Pietrasanta. A large, ornate rose window is set in the doorway’s tympanum and is known as "the eye of the most beautiful church in the world."

The Upper Church has a white-washed brick façade divided into two equal horizontal sections, with a simple gable on top. A single large Gothic-style doorway is centered, divided by a column, and has a rose window above two pointed arches. Above the doorway is a large, ornate rose window with Romanesque-style details. The symbols of the Four Evangelists are carved around the window, forming a square design. Above this, an ocular window is set in the gable. To the left of the façade is the Benediction Loggia, a Baroque-style structure built in 1754 when the church was made a basilica.

Inside the Upper Church, the layout follows Brother Elias’ original simple, aisleless cross-shaped plan. The nave has four sections with ribbed vaults, similar to the Lower Church. However, only the diagonal ribs are rounded, while the transverse ribs are pointed, matching Gothic style. Each group of ribs begins at clustered columns, supported by strong, rounded buttresses. Unlike the Lower Church, the transepts also have ribbed vaulting.

The nave and the polygonal apse of the chancel have tall Gothic windows with geometric tracery. The apse windows are believed to have been made by German craftsmen in Assisi around the end of the 13th century. The windows on the left side of the nave were created by a French workshop in 1270, while those on the right side were made by the workshop of Maestro di San Francesco. These stained glass windows are among the finest examples of 13th-century Italian glasswork.

In Italian church architecture, frescoes are the main decorative feature and the primary way the Church’s message is conveyed, rather than stained glass. Some of the earliest frescoes are in the Lower Church. The work involved many artists, including Cimabue and Giotto, though many others remain unnamed.

Upper Basilica

The basilica is a large and bright building with a single nave that has four sections. The nave has a vaulted ceiling decorated with crosses and leaves. It also has a transept and a rounded apse. The four vaults are decorated with golden stars on a blue background and paintings. The second vault shows round pictures with images of Christ facing Saint Francis and the Virgin Mary facing Saint John the Baptist. The entrance vault displays the Four Latin Doctors of the Church: Saint Gregory facing Saint Jerome and Saint Ambrose facing Saint Augustine. These paintings are credited to the Isaac Master.

The choir has 102 wooden seats with carvings and inlaid designs made by Domenico Indovini in 1501. In the center, on a raised platform, is the papal throne.

The west end of the transept and the apse have many frescoes painted by Cimabue and his workshop, starting around 1280. A large painting of the Crucifixion shows Saint Francis kneeling at the foot of the cross. This highlights Saint Francis's deep respect for the suffering of Christ. Over time, the frescoes by Cimabue suffered from damp and decay. The use of lead oxide in the colors and painting on old plaster caused the colors to fade and appear like photographic negatives.

Before Cimabue, an unknown Northern artist, possibly English, painted the upper right section of the transept between 1267 and 1270. This artist created two lunettes and round pictures on the west wall with images of an angel and apostles. Another unknown artist, the Roman Master, painted scenes of Isaiah and David and the rest of the wall under the eastern lunette.

The upper parts of the nave, damaged by an earthquake in 1997, were decorated with 32 scenes from the Old and New Testaments. These scenes began with the Creation of the World and ended with Joseph forgiving his brothers, and included events like the Annunciation and the Women at the Tomb. The upper part of the entrance wall has two frescoes: the Pentecost and the Ascension of Jesus. It took about six months to paint one section of the nave, and multiple Roman and Tuscan artists, followers of Cimabue, painted these scenes, including Giacomo, Jacopo Torriti, and Pietro Cavallini.

In the middle section of the third bay, two frescoes showing the life of Isaac are traditionally credited to the young Giotto (1290–1295), though earlier they were mistakenly attributed to Cimabue by Vasari. However, this attribution is debated. Some experts believe these works were created by the Isaac Master and his workshop. Based on stylistic details, some think the Isaac Master may have been Pietro Cavallini or a follower. Pietro Cavallini painted a similar scene of Isaac blessing Jacob in a Roman church around 1290. The position of Isaac in the fresco resembles the Virgin in Cavallini's mosaic of the Birth of the Virgin in another Roman church. The Isaac Master is considered one of the first artists to use the true fresco (buon fresco) technique, which greatly influenced mural painting for centuries.

The most important decorations are 28 frescoes along the lower part of the nave, traditionally attributed to the young Giotto. Each section of the nave has three frescoes above the dado on both sides, two frescoes in the east galleries near the entrance, and two more on the entrance wall. Giotto used the Legenda Maior, a biography of Saint Francis by Saint Bonaventure, to create scenes from Saint Francis's life. The design for this cycle may have been inspired by a lost painting of Saint Francis by Pietro Cavallini in a Roman church. These paintings are vivid and seem to capture the events as if Giotto witnessed them. According to Vasari, these frescoes were painted between 1296 and 1304.

However, the authorship of Giotto is debated because early descriptions of the work are unclear. Many Italian critics still support Giotto and his workshop as the creators. However, differences in style compared to the Isaac frescoes suggest that at least three different painters may have worked on these scenes: the Master of the Legend of Saint Francis (the main painter and likely supervisor), the Master of the Obsequies of Saint Francis, and the Cecilia Master.

The first section of the ceiling has frescoes of the "Four Doctors of the Church" (Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, and Ambrose), attributed to a young Giotto or one of his followers. The third section has four heart-shaped medallions of Christ, Mary, John the Baptist, and Francis, painted by Jacopo Torriti.

The upper basilica has a pointed façade with a Gothic-style entrance featuring twin doors and a beautiful rose window.

A sculpture called Tau, created by Guido Dettoni della Grazia, is on permanent display.

Lower Basilica

Brother Elias designed the lower basilica as a large underground chamber with ribbed vaults. He gained experience by building large tombs from hard rock in Syria.

Above the doors is a large rose window, with two smaller windows beside it, called "the eye of the most beautiful church in the world." The decorations on the left wooden door were painted by Ugolinuccio da Gubbio around 1550, and those on the right door were painted by an unknown Umbrian artist in 1573. These decorations show stories from the lives of Saint Francis, Saint Clare, Saint Louis, and Saint Anthony. On the left wall of the porch stands the bust of Pope Benedict XIV, who gave the church the title of Patriarchal Basilica and Cappella Papale. In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI stopped using the title "Patriarch of the West," which caused the basilica to be renamed the Papal Basilica of St. Francis.

Inside the lower basilica, across from the entrance, is the chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, built around 1270. It was expanded by Gattapone da Gubbio and decorated by Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, who was in charge of the Papal States from 1350 to 1367. Albornoz was first buried here, but his remains were later moved to Toledo, Spain. The frescoes showing eight scenes from Saint Catherine’s life were painted by 'Andreas pictor de Bononia' between 1368 and 1369. This artist is likely Andrea de' Bartoli, who was the court artist of Albornoz, not Andrea da Bologna as often mistakenly believed. The saints in this chapel were painted by Pace di Bartolo d'Assisi. The stained glass windows were made by Giovanni di Bonino of Assisi in the mid-14th century.

On the left side of the entrance is the small Chapel of St. Sebastian. It has a painting by Giorgetti and scenes from the saint’s life painted by G. Martelli around 1646. The left wall of this chapel includes paintings by Ottaviano Nelli from the 15th century and a painting of Saint Christopher from the Umbrian School in the 14th century.

On the right side of the entrance are two monuments by unknown artists. The first is the mausoleum of Giovanni de' Cerchi, topped with a porphyry vase from the early 14th century, a gift from a queen of Cyprus. The second is the mausoleum of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem and emperor of Constantinople. Above this monument is a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and to its left is a crowned woman sitting on a lion, created by Cosmatesco in 1290.

The frescoes on the walls and vaults of the third section of the entrance, which are in poor condition, were painted by Cesare Sermei and G. Martelli in 1645. The chapel on the right side of this section is dedicated to St. Anthony the Abbot. The niches in the wall contain the burial monuments of Blasco Fernandez and his son Garcia, both governors of Spoleto (part of the Papal States) who were killed in 1367. These monuments were made by an unknown local artist in the 14th century.

The lower basilica has a central nave with several side chapels connected by semi-circular arches. The nave is decorated with the oldest frescoes in the church, painted by an unknown artist called Maestro di San Francesco. These frescoes show five scenes from the Passion of Christ on the right side and five scenes from the Life of St. Francis on the left. This arrangement was meant to highlight St. Francis as a second Christ. The ceiling above is painted blue with golden stars. Most images on the lower walls have faded, except for fragments of a painting of the Virgin and Child with an Angel by Cimabue on the right wall.

These frescoes, painted in tempera on dry plaster, were completed around 1260–1263. They are considered among the best examples of Tuscan wall paintings before Cimabue. As the church became more popular, side chapels for noble families were added between 1270 and 1350, which destroyed some of the frescoes on the opened walls.

The first chapel on the left is the San Martino Chapel, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It was built by Franciscan Cardinal Gentile Portino da Montefiore and decorated between 1317 and 1319 with ten frescoes showing the saint’s life by Simone Martini. This dedication likely honored the cardinal’s position as Cardinal-Priest of the Basilica of St. Martin "ai Monti" in Rome and was intended as his burial place. The chapel may have been incomplete when Montefiore died in 1312, so he was buried in the neighboring Chapel of St. Louis. Martini also painted a triptych of the Madonna and Child with two Hungarian royal saints and five attendant saints in the St. Elizabeth Chapel (in the southern arm of the transept). These works are among Martini’s greatest achievements and some of the finest examples of 14th-century painting. However, the use of lead paint has caused parts of these works to darken over time.

The other chapel on the left is dedicated to St. Peter of Alcantara.

The chapels on the right are dedicated to:
– Louis of Toulouse and Stephen I of Hungary, with frescoes by Dono Doni (1575) and stained glass attributed to Simone Martini.
– Anthony of Padua, with frescoes by Cesare Sermei (1610).
– Mary Magdalene. This chapel, built by Teobaldo Pontano (Bishop of Assisi from 1296 to 1329), contains some of the finest works from Giotto’s workshop and possibly by Giotto himself (around 1320). It was incorrectly attributed by Vasari to Puccio Capanna. The lateral walls show scenes from the Life of Mary Magdalene, above the portrait of Teobaldo Pontano, while the vault has roundels with busts of Christ, the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus.

The nave ends in a richly decorated semicircular apse, with a transept featuring barrel vaulting.

The frescoes in the right transept show the childhood of Christ, partly painted by Giotto and his workshop, and the Nativity by the anonymous Maestro di San Nicola. The lowest level includes three frescoes depicting St. Francis helping two children after his death. These works by Giotto were groundbreaking for their time, showing real people with emotions in realistic landscapes.

On the transept wall, Cimabue painted an image of Our Lady enthroned with Saint Francis (1280). This is likely the closest image of Saint Francis’s actual appearance. This Gothic-style painting contrasts sharply with the lively frescoes by Giotto.

The Chapel of Saint Nicholas of Bari, at the northern end of the transept, was commissioned by Cardinal Napoleone Orsini. It contains the tomb of the cardinal’s brother, Giovanni Orsini,

Crypt

Halfway down the main hall, visitors can go down to the crypt using a double staircase. This burial place of Saint Francis was discovered in 1818. His remains were hidden by Brother Elias to stop people from spreading his relics during medieval times, as described by Jon M. Sweeney in The Enthusiast. Pope Pius VII ordered the construction of a crypt beneath the lower basilica. The original design was created by Pasquale Belli using valuable marble in a style similar to ancient Greece and Rome. Later, between 1925 and 1932, Ugo Tarchi redesigned the crypt with plain stone in a style inspired by medieval Europe.

An ancient stone coffin with iron bands is placed in an open area above the altar. In 1934, Saint Francis’s most loyal followers were buried in the corners of the wall around the altar: Brother Rufino, Brother Angelo, Brother Masseo, and Brother Leo.

At the entrance of the crypt, an urn containing the remains of Jacopa dei Settesoli was added. This woman from a noble Roman family was called "Brother Jacoba" and was Saint Francis’s closest friend and supporter. She was with him at the Porziuncola when he died.

Friary of Saint Francis

Next to the basilica is the Sacro Convento friary. Its large walls have 53 Romanesque arches and strong buttresses that support the entire structure. The friary looks like a fortress from above, standing tall over the valley below. It was built using pink and white stone from Mount Subasio. Friars lived there as early as 1230. However, construction took many years, and different styles were mixed together, including Romanesque and Gothic. A major part of the building was completed during the time Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, was in power, between 1474 and 1476.

Today, the friary contains a large library with medieval manuscripts and early printed books, a museum that displays artwork given by pilgrims over the years, and 57 pieces of art (mostly from the Florentine and Sienese schools) from the Perkins collection.

The belfry, built in Romanesque style, was completed in 1239.