Italy Guide
Umbria
The Basilica di San Francesco
Opening time: daily 6.30am–6.50pm, though entry may be restricted during services and on Sun
Price: free
Website: www.sanfrancescoassisi.org
The Basilica di San Francesco is justifiably famed as Umbria's single greatest glory, and one of the most overwhelming collections of art outside a gallery anywhere in the world. Frescoes cover almost every available space and span a century of continuous artistic development. The paintings to make a real point of seeing are those by Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and Giotto.
Martini's frescoes are in the Cappella di San Martino (1322–26), the first chapel on the left as you enter the nave. He was given free rein in the chapel, and every detail, right down to the floor and stained glass, follows his drawings, adding up to a unified scheme that's unique in Italy. Lorenzetti's works, dominated by a powerful Crucifixion, are in the transept to the left of the main altar.
Giotto's dazzling frescoes on the life of St Francis are in the Upper Church. Francis Preaching to the Birds and Driving the Devils from Arezzo are just two of the famous scenes reproduced worldwide on cards and posters. The cycle starts on the right-hand wall up by the main altar and continues clockwise. Giotto was still in his 20s when he accepted the commission, having been recommended for the job by Cimabue, whose own frescoes – almost ruined now by the oxidation of badly chosen pigments and further damaged in the 1997 ‘quake – fill large parts of the apse and transepts. In the vaults, several harsh areas of bare plaster stand as graphic monuments to the collapse of that year.
Francis himself lies under the floor in a crypt only brought to light in 1818 after 52 days of digging (entrance midway down the nave). He was hidden after his funeral for safekeeping, and nowadays endures almost continuous Masses in dozens of languages.