Assisi

Basilica

Visible for miles around, the Basilica di San Francesco is the crowning glory of Assisi's Unesco-listed historic centre. The 13th-century complex is comprised of two churches: the Gothic Basilica Superiore, with its celebrated cycle of Giotto frescoes, and beneath, the older Basilica Inferiore where you'll find works by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti and Simone Martini. Also here, in the Cripta di San Francesco, is St Francis' much-venerated tomb.

Basilica

The upper church of the Basilica di San Francesco was built after the Basilica Inferiore and consecrated in 1253, and the change in style and grandiosity is readily apparent. Its bright, airy interior is home to one of the world's most famous works of art, a 28-part fresco depicting the life of St Francis. For centuries, this extraordinary work has been attributed to Giotto and his pupils, but the question of its authorship is currently under debate in the art-history community.

Basilica

The lower and earlier of the two churches comprising the Basilica di San Francesco, this basilica was commissioned by Pope Gregory IX in 1228, just two years after St Francis' death, and completed in 1230. Its dark interior features a stunning series of frescoes and several stained-glass windows, the work of master craftsmen brought in from Germany, England and Flanders during the 13th century.

Christian Site

Perched on the forested slopes of Monte Subasio, this monastery is set around the caves where St Francis and his followers prayed and contemplated spiritual matters. The carceri (isolated places, or 'prisons') are as peaceful today as in St Francis' time, even though they're now surrounded by religious buildings. It's a claustrophobic walk down to Francesco's Grotta (cave), where he prayed and slept on a stone bed in his later years.

Church

Set amid lush olive groves 1.5km southeast of Assisi's historic centre, this atmospheric sanctuary is where St Francis is said to have heard the voice of God in 1205 and later wrote his Cantico delle Creature (Canticle of the Creatures). Signs point the way through the various fresco-slathered rooms, a small Canticle museum and gorgeous cloister. You can also see a copy of the Crocifisso di San Damiano here; the original is in the Basilica di Santa Chiara.

Tomb

Hidden for almost 600 years, St Francis' tomb was discovered beneath the Basilica di San Francesco in 1818 following a 52-day dig, and painstakingly restored in 2011. You'll find the stone sarcophagus containing the saint's remains in the Cripta di San Francecso in the Basilica Inferiore.

Basilica

Built in a 13th-century Romanesque style, with muscular flying buttresses and a striking pink-and-white striped facade, this church is dedicated to St Clare, a spiritual contemporary of St Francis and founder of the Sorelle Povere di Santa Chiara (Order of the Poor Ladies), now known as the Poor Clares. She is buried in the church's crypt, alongside the original Crocifisso di San Damiano, a Byzantine cross before which St Francis was praying when he is said to have received his mission from God in 1205.

Basilica

The enormous domed church you see as you approach Assisi along the Tiber valley is the 16th-century Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli, some 4km beneath Assisi proper. Built between 1565 and 1685, its vast interior houses the Porziuncola chapel, a humble stone church where St Francis first took refuge after he'd renounced his worldly goods, which is generally regarded as the place where the Franciscan movement started. Nearby, the Cappella del Transito stands on the site where St Francis died.

Fort

Looming over Assisi is the 14th-century Rocca Maggiore, an oft-expanded, pillaged and rebuilt fortress that commands inspiring 360-degree views of Perugia to the north and the surrounding valleys below. Walk up winding staircases and claustrophobic passageways to reach the archer slots that served the Assisians as they fought off various medieval invaders.