Why go
Read this before exploring the Franciscan sites if the many churches seem hard to distinguish. Francis’s movement began in Assisi; Clare’s community developed its own form of religious life. San Rufino, San Francesco and Santa Chiara mark different parts of those histories.
The full story
Assisi lies on the western slope of Monte Subasio, but its importance to pilgrims comes largely from the people who lived here. Francis, the son of a merchant, turned away from his former life and formed the community that became the Order of Friars Minor. Clare followed his example and founded a women’s community later known as the Poor Clares. Both were baptized at San Rufino Cathedral. The Basilica of San Francesco links Francis to the great church built after his canonization, while the Basilica di Santa Chiara preserves Clare’s memory and remains. Below the hill, Santa Maria degli Angeli encloses the much smaller Porziuncola, associated with the beginnings of Francis’s movement. These buildings tell related stories, yet each marks a different moment: childhood, commitment, death or remembrance. Reading them in that order gives the town’s religious map a human scale.