Why go
The basilica joins pilgrimage with a survey of late medieval painting. Compare the airy upper church with the denser lower church, then notice how painters used successive scenes to connect the lives of Christ and Francis. The building’s levels make that comparison especially clear.
The full story
Work on the basilica began soon after Francis was canonized in 1228, with the Sacro Convento beside it. Built into the hillside, the complex has two churches rather than a single uninterrupted interior. The lower church received Francis’s remains in 1230; the upper church was completed later, and both were consecrated in 1253. This arrangement placed the saint’s burial within a growing pilgrimage complex while giving painters large, distinct surfaces for their work. Fresco campaigns brought artists from several traditions, among them Cimabue, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti. Scenes in the upper church associated with Francis have a debated attribution, so their narrative and setting deserve as much attention as the question of authorship. In the lower church, images of Christ’s childhood and Passion sit in meaningful relation to Franciscan themes. The 1997 earthquake damaged the basilica and its painting; the restored fabric is part of its modern history as well as its medieval one.