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St. Francesco Church |
Of Umbrian origins, the settlement became
a Roman municipium under the name of Asisium.
Until the 13th century the extension of the
town coincided with the Roman one. Bishop
Rufinus evangelised the inhabitants in 238
A.D. Taken by Totila in 545, it then became
part of the Longobard and Frankish Duchy of
Spoleto. In the 11th century a free commune
is constituted: being of Ghibelline faith
it always lived in opposition to the Guelfish
Perugia. In 1198, taking advantage from the
absence of the imperial vicar, Conrad von
Lutzen, the inhabitants of Assisi attacked
his fortress.
As Perugia tried to interfere with the liberation
struggle of Assisi, the latter marched against
Perugia and was beaten in a battle at Ponte
San Giovanni. Among the prisoners taken by
Perugia was a certain 22-years-old Giovanni
di Bernardone, called Francesco. He was born
in the winter between 1181 and 1182 as the
child of a wealthy textile tradesman, Pietro
di Bernardone, whose family came from Lucca,
and his Provençal wife Pica. After the captivity
in Perugia, Francesco decided to make a reputation
for knighthood participating in the crusade
of Walter de Brienne, but an illness forced
him to renounce already at Spoleto. In the
meantime, in Assisi in 1197 was christened
the future emperor Frederick II, three years
after his birth on the market square of Jesi
(near Ancona). Francesco decided to change
his life, renouncing to the riches and the
eases of his family fortune and praying at
San Damiano had the vision which ordered him
to restore the Church (1205).
In 1208, Francesco who had in the meantime
received as a gift from the Benedictines the
chapel of S. Maria degli Angeli, called as
well the Porziuncola, founded his order of
the Grey-Friars. After his encounter with
Chiara di Favarone di Offreduccio, daughter
of a noble Assisi family, in 1212 he founded
for her a second order, the Clarisse's. Finally,
in 1221 he founded in Cannara the Third Order
(a lay-order). In 1224 he recieved at La Verna
the stigmata and in 1226 expired at the Porziuncola.
Only two years later he was proclaimed saint
and the day after Pope Gregory IX laid the
foundation stone of the church and the convent
planned by Brother Elias, a companion of the
Saint. Also St. Clare was canonised two years
after her death of 1253 and a year later begun
the construction of the curch in her honour.
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Assisi
square |
Notwithstanding the presence of these two
eminent religious figures the future history
of Assisi did not show many traces of it.
In 1316 it enlargened its town-walls, incorporating
the convent and church of St. Francis, the
Benedictine convent of S. Peter and the town
quarter Borgo Aretino. The decline of Assisi
begun after the black death in 1348. In order
to assure the Pontifical dominion over Assisi,
Cardinal Aegidius Albornoz erected in 1367
the Rocca Maggiore on top of the ruins of
the former imperial fortress.
Since the 14th century and until the 16th
century the two major Assisi families, the
Nepis (of the upper town=Parte de Sopra) and
the Fiumi (of the lower town=Parte de Sotto)
continued to fight each other bitterly, although
the town was dominated for long periods by
several seignories (Biordo Michelotti, Broglio
di Trinci, Galeazzo Visconti, Braccio Fortebraccio,
Francesco Sforza, Jacopo Piccinino). Only
under the reign of Pope Pius II Piccolomini
(1458-64) the domination of the Church over
Assisi has been definitely restored.

Getting to Assisi by
car:
From the north (Milan, Florence), the best exit
for Assisi on the A1 motorway at Valdichiana,
where the superstrada SS75bis branches into Umbria
at Lake Trasimene and continues towards Perugia-Assisi.
From Rome travelling northwards along the A1 motorway
the best exit for reaching Assisi is at Orte,
which is connected to the regional capital at
first by the ss204 to Terni and then by the E45
(or SS3bis) from Terni to Perugia-Assisi.
The A14 motorway down the Adriatic coast of Italy
has an exit at Cesena for the E45 "superstrada"
to Città di Castello and Perugia-Assisi.
Getting to Assisi by
train:
From the North, the main line between Florence
and Rome has a station at Terontola (on the branch
line to Lake Trasimene, Perugia, Assisi, Spello,
and Foligno), so coming from Florence take one
of the dozen daily trains to Terontola/Cortona
(1'/2 hr.) that meet up with a connecting train
to Assisi/S.Maria degli ANgeli (45 to 60 min.).
From the South, the main line between Rome and
Ancona has a station at Foligno (on the branch
line to Spello, Assisi, Perugia and Lake Trasimene),
so coming from Rome, take one of the nine daily
trains on the line to Ancona, stop at Foligno
(1 hr., 40 min. to 2 hr.), where you can transfer
to a Perugia-bound train (10 to 15 min.). All
the cited lines are part of the FS state-run railway
system and stop at a station on Santa MAria degli
Angeli, well away from the historic center (about
3km) but a 30-minute ride on buses from the center
of town (C Line). Bus services leave from the
forecourt outside the station and drop you in
Piazza Matteotti.
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