Assisi, the Mystical Geography of Francis and Clare

Resting on the slopes of Monte Subasio, Assisi is one of the most visited towns in Italy, a destination for pilgrims of every faith. Its fame is linked to Francis, born here around 1181 and died in 1226, and to Clare, who followed his example by founding a women's order. But the town also preserves an almost intact Roman temple and a network of hermitages and sanctuaries that trace a true spiritual geography, in which each place corresponds to a moment of an extraordinary life.

From the Temple of Minerva to the basilica

In the Piazza del Comune rises the façade of a Roman temple from the first century BC, with six perfectly preserved Corinthian columns. Turned into a church in the sixteenth century under the name of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, it deeply struck Goethe, who in 1786, during his Italian journey, stopped there in admiration while almost entirely ignoring the rest of the town. It is a sign of a sacred continuity that predates Christianity.

The Basilica of Saint Francis was begun in 1228, just two years after the saint's death and in the same year as his canonisation. It consists of two churches one above the other, decorated by Cimabue, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and by the cycle of Franciscan stories in the upper church, attributed to Giotto although the attribution is debated. In 1997 an earthquake brought down part of the vaults, later restored through patient work.

San Damiano and the Canticle

Just outside the walls stands the church of San Damiano. According to medieval biographies, it was here that the young Francis, praying before a painted crucifix, heard a voice asking him to repair God's house. San Damiano later became the convent of Clare and her companions, who lived there in poverty for decades.

It was at San Damiano, according to tradition, that Francis composed around 1225 the Canticle of Brother Sun, one of the first poetic texts of Italian literature. In its verses creation becomes a family, and the saint praises God «per sora nostra matre Terra», for our sister Mother Earth. It is a vision of nature as fraternity that has inspired centuries of spirituality and thought.

The hermitages and the Porziuncola

On Monte Subasio, in a wooded gorge, lies the hermitage of the Carceri, where Francis and his first companions withdrew to pray in small caves. On the plain, inside the great basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, is the Porziuncola, the chapel the saint restored and where he died on the evening of 3 October 1226.

Fourteenth-century collections of tales, such as the Little Flowers, added famous episodes to this geography, like the sermon to the birds and the taming of the wolf of Gubbio. They are texts in which history mingles with edifying legend, but they helped make Francis a universal figure. Since 2000 the basilica and the other Franciscan sites of Assisi have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Visiting Assisi attentively means following an itinerary that leads from the pagan temple to the hermit's cave, from the monumental church to the bare chapel. Each stage tells of an aspect of Franciscan spirituality, made of poverty, contemplation and a brotherly relationship with the natural world that still speaks to our own time.