Assisi is a town in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. Now a pilgrimage site for St. Francis, St. Clare and the 19th-century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows who was also born in Assisi. St Francis, the gentle saint, founded the Franciscan order (in 1208) and shares honors with St. Catherine of Siena as the patron saint of Italy. The town is dominated by a large medieval castle, called Rocca Maggiore, built by Cardinal Albornoz (1367).
Within Assisi’s city walls is The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi (St. Francis). The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun after his canonization in 1228, and completed by 1253. The lower church has frescoes by the late-medieval artists Cimabue and Giotto; the upper church houses frescoes of scenes in the life of St. Francis thought to be by artists of the circle of Pietro Cavallini from Rome. Other artists include Pietro Lorenzetti and Simone Martini . Some of the other churches include: The Cathedral of San Rufino (St. Rufinus), with a Romanesque façade with three rose windows and a 16thcentury interior; part of it is built on a Roman cistern, at its entrance is statue of a Lion eating a Christian. Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Clare) (begun in 1257) has simple Gothic interior, with 13thcentury frescoes and paintings, the venerated Damiano Crucifix, and in the crypt, the preserved body of St. Clare (1194-1253) whilst Roman columns from a former Temple of Minerva were used for the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva’s facade.
In the valley below the city walls is the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli- St. Mary of the Angels (started 1569), houses the Porziuncola, a small chapel within the Basilica.