Orari Visita:
Ora Solare: 6.15 > 12.30 - 14.00 > 19.45
Ora Legale: 6.15 > 19.45

Located on the site occupied by the small chapels attached to the Porziuncola, around which a small Convento had risen, the Renaissance Basilica was decided upon at the con­lusion of the Tridentine Council convened by Pope Pius V, in the same manner as the anta Casa di Loreto, with the purpose of giving new momentum to the Franciscan Order and to further the practice of the indulgences of the Pardon which could be obtained at the site. Every year, during the first days of August, thousands of pilgrims arrived at the Porziuncola seeking refuge in the Convento and creating great inconvenience for the re­ligious community. The Perugian Galeazzo Alessi, the most famous Umbrian architect at that time, was charged with drawing up a model, already finished on March 15, 1568,which received the approval of the pontifical architect Giacomo Vignola. Pius V permit­ted the use of the « malefici », the proceeds from fines collected in the SpoIeto Valley, for the construction work. On March 25, 1569 the first stone was laid by the Bishop of Assisi, Filippo Geri. Due to the shortage of funds and the hostility of the friars, who with great anguish saw the locations frequented by the Saint and his first companions fall under the pickaxe, the work proceeded slowly for more than a century, beginning with the nave and the pillars of the dome. In 1638 work was still being carried out on a pillar of the dome, which was not finished until 1679 when a copper ball was placed upon the lantern. In 1685 one of the two planned bell towers was completed; the other was never built. The earth­quakes of 1832 caused the facade and the nave vaults to collapse, but fortunately the dome resisted the tremors and the Porziuncola was saved. The nave was soon rebuilt in its original form by Luigi Poletti. The facade received temporary repairs until the present structure was erected between 1925 and 1930, following a design by Cesare Bazzani.
Despite the lengthy period of time required for its construction, its appearance conforms with the original model by Alessi. The outside is in the shape of a par­allelepiped, scanned by Doric order pilasters, with a non-protruding transept and a semicircular apse. The elegant dome, 75 m high, rises on an octagonal drum in which there are large windows with alternating lunettes and tympanums divided by Corinthian pillars and terminating in a lantern. To the right of the apse is a three-ordered bell tower, with barrel vaults in the belfry.
The facade of travertine and bricks is decorated by massive Angels designed by Guglielmo Colasanti. In two niches on the sides are the statues of St. Francis and St. Clare, done by Ernesto Vighi. On the tympanum is a colossal, gold-plated, bronze statue of the Madonna (1930), by Guglielmo Colasanti. In 1948 this statue was said to have moved, thus attracting to Assisi huge crowds of pilgrims and cu­riosity seekers. Below the arcade, next to the central portal, is a bronze relief by F. Biasia, dedicated to the visit by Pope John Paul II and the heads of the most im­portant religions in the world to the Porziuncola, on October 27, 1986.
The interior, 115 m long, has one nave flanked by Doric pillars with semicircular arches which separate it from the two aisles; the nave is covered by a barrel vault, the aisles by cross vaults. The aisles host five chapels on each side, all with square floor plans. The dome rests on four huge pillars with triangular bases. At the far end of the nave is a short transept with lateral chapels and a deep choir with semi­circular apse. In the large area under the dome, the small chapel of the Porziun­cola (A) is lovingly preserved.
The Porziuncola is a simple rectangular construction made of Mt. Subasio stone, with a gable roof and a portal with semicircular arch. The interior has the form of an apsed room covered with a stonework vault with an ogival cross section, per­haps dating from the restoration by St. Francis. The neo-Gothic shrine on its top, which replaces a small, rib-vaulted bell tower, was built after the 1832 earthquake. On the facade is a fresco by the German painter Johann Friedrich Overbeck, a member of the Nazarene group. Returning to models from the Umbrian Renais­sance, the painter re-proposed the traditional iconography of the Perdono di As­sisi (1829). The work replaces a fresco by Girolamo Martelli (1639) which had been superimposed on an earlier One by Niccolo di Liberatore (1492), mentioned by Vasari and reproduced in the stories of the Perdono of the Cappellina delle Rose. At the bottom are the words of St. Francis: HAEC EST PORTA VITAE ETERNAE, referring to the Porziuncola. On the threshold is written HIC LOCUS SANTUS EST. Oh the arched lintel of the portal the plenary indulgence of perdono is recalled by the words: PETITIONEM TUAM FRANCISCE ADMIITO. The carved wooden door is from the mid 15th century.
The interior, barren and undecorated, was restored to its original Franciscan simplicity and is an invitation to concentration and prayer. The altar wall covered with a majestic, painted wooden panel, commissioned by Francesco da Sangemini to Prete Hario da Viterbo in 1393.
Beside one of the large piers supporting the dome on the right is the Cappella del Transito the ancient infirmary of the convento near which St. Francis died in evening of Saturday, October 3, 1226. The Capel was intentionally preserved by Alessi in his project to erect the Basilica.

Texts Kindly offered by: Editrice Minerva Assisi