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If you start visiting Assisi walking from our hotel, in a short distance you can see the remains of the Roman Amphitheatre, along the characteristic medieval alleys surrounding Piazza Matteotti, you can climb up to the Rocca Maggiore, the ancient fortress that overlooks the city.
Just a few steps away there’s the Cathedral of San Rufino, with its Romanesque facade adorned with symbolic carvings and 3 beautiful roses.
The alleys descend to “Piazza del Comune” , the city center, where the medieval tower called “Torre del Popolo” stands next to the majestic Temple of Minerva with its Corinthian columns. Under the square, you can see the ancient Roman Forum with the Roman paving.
Via San Francesco goes down to the magnificent Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, founded in 1253 by Pope Innocent III.
The basilica is a complex of 2 overlapping Churches and a crypt where the tomb of St. Francis is kept.
The Upper Basilica is adorned with Gothic frescoes by Giotto which recall the life of the saint.
From the square below you can access the Lower Basilica, which is decorated by the greatest painters of that period.
Rare manuscripts, reliquaries and precious paintings are just some of the priceless treasures kept in the Franciscan Monastery.
Back to “Piazza del Comune”, walking along “Corso Mazzini” you can get to the Basilica of Santa Clara, a Gothic church where the body of the saint is kept. It is adorned with many paintings that date from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries.
From the square in front of the church you can see a beautiful landscape.
Then, through the stairs in Via Santa Agnese you can get to the “Oratorio di San Francesco Piccolino”, “Chiesa Nuova” and “Palazzo dei Priori”.
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