ASSISI, DIOCESE OF. — In Umbria, in the province of Perugia, it covers an area of 352.17 km² with a population of 34,653 inhabitants, all Catholic, distributed across 36 parishes served by 54 secular priests and 102 regular clergy, 11 male religious houses and 24 female ones, a diocesan seminary, and the regional Umbrian seminary (1948).
A., situated midway between Perugia and Foligno, was built on the limestone spur of Mount Subasio, which overlooks the plain traversed by the Topino and Chiasso rivers. The birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, A. was a flourishing Roman municipality (Assisium) during the imperial period, of which monumental remains still exist. During the barbarian invasions it barely escaped complete destruction, and its life became increasingly impoverished. Under Lombard occupation it belonged to the Duchy of Spoleto until the 12th century, suffering considerable harm as it was forced to endure many wars with nearby Perugia, which for centuries fiercely contested it against the Popes and other lords. In the 13th century, its adherence to the Guelph party brought a period of truce with Perugia and the goodwill of the Popes, who in 1287 recognized its communal privileges. New struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines continued to afflict it until, in 1367, to free itself from Perugian domination, it voluntarily submitted to Cardinal Egidio Albornoz. It still had to endure various lordships until Paul III (1534–49) definitively brought the city under papal rule, which lasted until the Italian government’s occupation in the latter half of the last century (1860).
A. Harnack, basing his argument on the existence of martyrs, believed he could establish the existence of the diocese of A. before 325. Nevertheless, we must note that the existence and identity of the bishops and martyrs of the persecution era attributed to Vittorino, Savino, and even Rufinus himself, patron and protector of A., rest on documents of little or no reliability that do not predate the 11th century. The first bishop of A. known to us, whose historicity is beyond doubt, is Avenzio (in 547), who served as an envoy of the Ostrogoths to Emperor Justinian. After him, until around 800, there are many gaps, and only around the year 1000 did A. begin to flourish anew. A small church dedicated to the Virgin served as the cathedral until Bishop Ugo (1036–52) rebuilt the original church of San Rufino, which, restored by Giovanni da Gubbio, is today’s cathedral. Besides Ugo, among the bishops worthy of special mention are Guido II (1204–28), a friend and protector of St. Francis, and Marcello Crescenzi (1591–1630), to whom we owe the current location of the seminary.
A. is chiefly remembered for its illustrious citizens: Francesco di Bernardone (v. FRANCESCO, saint), Chiara (v. CHIARA, saint), founders respectively of the Friars Minor (v.) and the Poor Clares (v.), and St. Gabriel of the Sorrows (v.).
Among the various monasteries or abbeys that once existed in the diocese of A., particular mention should be made of the Abbey of San Benedetto al Subasio, generally dated to 536 (though the first secure record is from 1041), and the Abbey of San Pietro, whose first certain mention likewise dates to the 11th century, specifically 1029. Today the sons of St. Benedict reside at San Pietro, but of both ancient monasteries only remnants of the church and the underlying crypt (12th century?) remain.
Greater prominence, however, belongs to the Franciscan shrines that have imprinted upon A. a character of mysticism and grandeur. Santa Maria degli Angeli, which began with the Porziuncola donated to St. Francis by the monks of Subasio, became the cradle of the Franciscan Order. Its name is linked to the famous Portiuncula Indulgence, obtained by the Saint on 2 August 1216, to the Chapter of Mats, and to many characteristic episodes of early Franciscan history. In a cell near the Porziuncola (the Chapel of the Transit), St. Francis passed from earth to heaven on 3 October 1226, singing. The vast basilica that houses these two precious relics was declared a Patriarchal and Papal Basilica by Pius X (11 April 1909), and the Cardinal Protector of the Friars Minor serves as its Papal Legate.
San Francesco is the grand monumental complex erected on the Hill of Hell, which from then on was called the Hill of Paradise, to house the venerated remains of St. Francis. The transfer of the sacred body took place on 25 May 1230, but the church was consecrated by Innocent IV on 20 May 1253.
In 1818 the body of St. Francis was rediscovered, having remained hidden for nearly six centuries beneath the altar of the lower church. At that time the Greek-cross crypt was excavated, communicating with the lower church by two staircases, and there the sacred relic was placed. The current architectural arrangement is the work of the architect U. Tarchi. The distinguished monument is jealously guarded by the Conventual Franciscans.
San Damiano is the shrine linked to the memory of St. Clare and her first companions, who took up residence there in 1212 and left in 1257 so as not to be separated from the virginal remains of their Mother. Since then, the Friars Minor have been there, preserving a true relic of seraphic life.
Santa Chiara is the basilica that preserves the venerated remains of the Saint. The body of St. Clare was transferred on 3 October 1260, but the church was consecrated by Clement IV in 1265. In 1850 the venerated remains were rediscovered and a crypt was excavated where they rest today. The basilica preserves the famous Crucifix of San Damiano (a 12th-century panel) that is said to have spoken to St. Francis. The Cardinal Protector of the Friars Minor, as at Santa Maria degli Angeli, serves as its Papal Legate.
A picturesque site in the vicinity of A. is the hermitage of Le Carceri, on the slopes of Subasio, where St. Francis withdrew to pray. The present Franciscan convent there was erected by St. Bernardino of Siena in 1400.
Precious local historical documents are preserved in the Biblioteca Comunale of A., established in 1866 from the libraries of suppressed convents, particularly the Library and Historical and Musical Archive of the Sacred Convent. Of lesser but not negligible importance are those preserved in the Chapter Archive of San Rufino, at the Accademia Properziana, at the International Society of Franciscan Studies (founded by Paul Sabatier), and at the Chiesa Nuova.
ASSISI — General view of the Basilica of St. Francis and entrance to the lower church (1228–53).
ART. – To the profound significance that A. has in the spiritual life, there is added no small contribution from the rich artistic production preserved there, which, at least for the two centuries of its greatest flowering, the 13th and 14th centuries, may be said to be almost exclusively linked to the glorification of the Franciscan epic.
While A. preserves noteworthy traces from the Roman age (the Temple of Minerva, now the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, which dates back to the early imperial period and is one of the best-preserved monuments of classical times; the remains of the Forum, the ruins of a theatre, an amphitheatre, and the city walls), nothing remains – the city having been destroyed by Totila in 545 – of the Paleochristian and early medieval periods: only some remains in the crypt of S. Rufino can be assigned to the 8th century. This crypt, both as an architectural organism and for its ornamental sculptures and scant remains of frescoes, today documents the reconstruction of the church carried out in 1028 by Bishop Ugone, who elevated it to the dignity of a cathedral. To the 11th century may also be assigned the abbey of S. Benedetto on Monte Subasio, of which interesting remains survive, and to the end of the same century belongs the suburban church of S. Masso. The second ring of walls, which greatly enlarged the Roman one, dates to the 12th century, while a third expansion took place with the third ring in the 14th century.
The cathedral of S. Rufino, from 1144 onwards, through the work of Giovanni da Gubbio, was radically transformed, becoming one of the most significant monuments of Romanesque art: preserved externally, unfortunately its interior suffered a radical transformation begun in 1571 by Galeazzo Alessi. A work of the same Giovanni da Gubbio seems to be the church of S. Maria Maggiore, which bears an indication of the year 1162, and it is probable that this architect also worked on the apse of the church of S. Pietro, which, begun in the 11th century, today presents features deriving above all from the works executed in the second half of the 13th century.
The suburban church of S. Damiano owes much of the appearance it still retains to the restoration made there by St Francis in 1207; the earliest parts of the Eremo delle Carceri on the slopes of Subasio also date from the time of the Saint.
In 1228, less than two years after the Saint’s death, Gregory IX laid the foundation stone of the double basilica of S. Francesco. The Lower Church was built rapidly, and a few decades later the Upper Church was completed: while in the former a Romanesque sense of proportion is still visible, in the latter Gothic forms triumph, simplified as required by Italian taste. The adjoining Sacred Convent arose at the same time as the Basilica, but later underwent radical transformations. Almost certainly, Brother Elias, the companion and friend of St Francis, was the first designer and architect of the magnificent monumental complex, which soon became a model for Franciscan churches in Italy: at A. we find an imitation of it in the church of S. Chiara, begun in 1257. But it should not be thought that the affirmation of Gothic architecture in A. occurred without opposition during the course of the 13th century.
For the 14th century, the works in the basilica of S. Francesco and in the Sacred Convent, due to the great Eugubine architect Matteo Gattinoni, must be noted. In the Sacred Convent, notable works of consolidation, expansion, and transformation were also carried out later, especially in the 15th century. Modest medieval buildings survive in the heart of the city, lending it an original and evocative appearance.
Little remains in A. of sculpture: in the Basilica there are some funerary monuments from the 13th and 14th centuries; the two main altars of the Lower and Upper Churches were executed by Roman marble-workers in the mid-13th century.
The painted crucifix, from which St Francis received his first impulse to his vocation in S. Damiano, is now preserved in the monastery of S. Chiara, and is a work from the end of the 12th century. From 1236 into the following century, numerous painters, almost all among the greatest working in different parts of Italy, gathered in A. to decorate the basilica of S. Francesco. The first was Giunta Pisano (nothing remains of him in the basilica of S. Francesco, but one of his painted crosses is preserved in the museum of S. Maria degli Angeli): a great follower of his, perhaps an Umbrian, the “Master of S. Francesco,” presents particular interest with a series of mural frescoes in the nave of the Lower Church. Another notable follower of Giunta (whose work can be recognized in A. in the church of S. Chiara) is the “Master of S. Chiara.” Later, perhaps between 1277 and 1281, Cimabue worked in the Lower and Upper Churches, accompanied or followed within a few years by numerous Roman masters (among whom Jacopo Torriti and Filippo Rusuti seem to be identifiable) who painted in the Upper Church.
From Rome, where he had become acquainted with the works of Pietro Cavallini, Giotto came to A. in the late 1200s and executed the cycle of the Stories of St Francis on the lower part of the walls of the nave of the Upper Church, truly managing to say something new. In some frescoes in the upper zone of the same walls, an activity of Giotto prior to the Franciscan cycle seems to be recognisable. In the Basilica and in other churches of A., numerous followers of Giotto worked, among whom Maso reveals himself as the best; one of these painters, and not the master himself, is to be attributed with the frescoes in the lunettes of the vault above the altar of the Lower Church. From Siena, accompanied by assistants, Simone Martini arrived shortly after 1320 and Pietro Lorenzetti around 1330, leaving frescoes of notable beauty in the Lower Church, where in 1368 Andrea da Bologna was at work, completing the enterprise of the pictorial decoration of the sacred building.
Particular attention should also be given in the Basilica to the stained-glass windows of the 13th and 14th centuries. Together with many other fine works of art, the Treasure of the adjoining Sacred Convent preserves reliquaries from the 13th and 14th centuries, tapestries, and rare textiles.
In the following centuries, artistic production remained notable, in keeping with the high level maintained by religious and civil life. To remain within the basilica of S. Francesco, we may recall the choir of the Lower Church, completed in 1471 and bearing the signature of Apollonio da Ripatransone, while the magnificent one of the Upper Church is signed by Domenico Antonio Indivini da San Severino, and bears the date 1501. Paintings by Matteo da Gualdo, Pier Antonio Mezzastris, and Nicolò Alunno bear good witness to pictorial activity in the 15th century, while at the end of this century and the beginning of the next we find at work two native-born painters, Andrea da Assisi and Tiberio da Assisi, who, although the work of the former has not yet been securely identified, appear to have been active under the influence of Perugino and Pinturicchio. A. also preserves paintings by Giovanni Spagna, Dono Doni (also born in this city), and Cesare Sermei: with the activity of the latter we reach the 17th century.
In the basilica of S. Maria degli Angeli are preserved a statue of St Francis and an altarpiece attributed with good reason to Andrea della Robbia, and there the architectural features of Galeazzo Alessi can be particularly appreciated in the dome. Small but characteristic 16th-century monuments in A. are also the Fonte Marcella and the Fonte Oliviera. In the 17th century, a native architect of A., Giacomo Giorgetti, left some fine palaces and also worked as a painter. Another 17th-century painter worthy of mention is Girolamo Martelli.
Interesting ancient remains are preserved in the Museum housed in the crypt of St NICCOLÒ adjacent to the Forum; paintings and various objects from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are found (in addition to those in the Treasury of the sacred convent of St FRANCIS and in the Museum of St MARY OF THE ANGELS already mentioned: both these collections contain sacred vestments of the highest interest), also in the Municipal Picture Gallery and in the Franciscan Museum of the Capuchin Fathers.
In more recent times the most lively concern, as regards the religious and civil monumental buildings of A., has constantly been that of maintaining the city’s appearance uncontaminated, to determine which it may be said that even the humblest buildings contribute—almost all of them built, too, of that limestone from Subasio with its twofold white and pinkish hue, rendered precious by the work of time. Vedi Tav. XVIII.