Assisi

Settled on a spur of Mount Subasio, overlooking the Umbrian valley, Assisi was a flourishing Roman municipium.

In the city we can still see numerous relics of the Roman era: the Roman forum, the temple of Minerva, the amphitheatre (in the upper part of the city) and two “domus”. It has an urban layout typical of medieval centres: enclosed by an imposing city wall, it is dominated by the two fortresses (major and minor) and is bordered at the edges by the architectural complexes of the basilica and convent of Saint Clare (to the east) and that of Saint Francis (to the west). Some of the most important artists of Italian pictorial art worked on the building site of the basilica named after the saint, including Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti. Outside the walls of the historic centre are other places linked to the lives of the two saints, Francis and Clare; the main ones are the Porziuncola, enclosed within the imposing basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli and the hermitage of the Carceri, nestled in the centuries-old ilex grove of Mount Subasio. The area of the Mount Subasio Regional Park alone is worth a visit, for its spiritual and naturalistic value.