For eight centuries Assisi has belonged to the world: the city of Saint Francis, Italy's patron, has been UNESCO-listed since 2000 and draws millions of pilgrims and travellers to the two-level Basilica where Giotto changed painting by telling the saint's life. But the pink city of Mount Subasio is more than its masterpiece: Santa Chiara, the Roman temple of Minerva on the main square, the Rocca Maggiore on top.
Just outside wait the forest hermitage where Francis retreated and the basilica housing the Porziuncola chapel. In May, Calendimaggio returns the town to the Middle Ages with a contest of songs and processions between its two historic factions.
Near Assisi
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
